The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 38, 1674-1683: 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 38, 1674-1683: 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
15. When sailing in sight of a beach, the Indians discovered a carabao
or buffalo which was near the water. We drew to the land. I remained
on the sea, and the Indians attacked with their spears. The animal
performed some queer antics; it rushed madly into the sea, and made
furiously for the boat where I was. It struck the outside bamboos,
and, had it not done that, I would have been in danger of my life. The
Indians finally killed it, and immediately cut it into bits on the
spot for drying. I landed to await my men, when we immediately caught
sight of a band of Negrillos of the mountain. We recognized that they
were peaceful, whereupon I calmed myself. In order that the sight of
me might not scare them, I hid among some trees. About thirty men,
women, and children came, all of whom, both male and female, carried
bows and arrows. All were naked, except for the privies, which they
cover with the leaves of a certain tree. The men were tattooed in
white, the women in other colors, and they wore large wild flowers
in their ears. In truth, both men and women resembled devils. When
they began to chat with the Indians I came out suddenly and spoke
to them in their language, and offered them tobacco in the leaf, a
thing which they esteem highly. When they saw me they were thrown into
confusion, and almost all the women and some of the children ran away,
with such swiftness that one would think that they were flying. The
others remained quiet. I gave them tobacco, coaxed them and treated
them with great gentleness. Two women went to look for fresh drinking
water; and the Indians, having finished with the carabao, left these
[Negrillos] there with the intestines, stomach, and bones. The Indians
told me that, after our party would leave the place, all these wild
people would gather here, and would not go away until they had gnawed
the bones, and would even eat the stomach with its contents.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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