The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 35, 1640-1649: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 35, 1640-1649: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
1. Inland from the coast which faces Bohol on the north of Mindanao,
and in the latter island, is located the lake of Malanao. [20] Its
shape is triangular; one of its angles extends about four leguas
eastward, another southward for three, and the third and longest
of all, westward. Its shores contain many small villages, where
live about six thousand inhabitants, although united to them is
the district of Butig, with about two thousand warriors. Through
this route they communicate with the Mindanaos, a circumstance
which renders them formidable. The land is sterile, and yields no
other products than rice and a few edible roots. Their clothing is
wretched, for cotton is scarce. All their textiles are of lanote,
a sort of wild hemp--not that it is that plant, but it resembles it
because of the fibers, which they obtain from a wild banana [i.e.,
abacá], to which they impart a blue color. This constitutes their
greatest gala attire. Heavy storms of wind and water are experienced
on this lake, and are called mangas by sailors. [21] [Here follows a
description of this peculiar form of storm--the waterspout--which was
much dreaded because of its fury and ravages.] This lake furnished
much convenience to the Mindanaos for their incursions, as the ports
nearest to our islands were easily reached by it. For since the deep
bay of Panguil penetrates far inland, and is quite near their lands,
they thus save many leguas of navigation--about one hundred--and a
rough coast. With such activity do they make a jest of the efforts
that were assured by the presidio of Zamboangan, with their resort
to more easy piratical raids. Since the said presidio was of no use
for this, it became necessary to devise another remedy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account