The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55, 1690-1691: 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 40 of 55, 1690-1691: 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
429. Of the mountain people it is already known that their own skin
is their clothing, and that they only use the bahag, which is a linen
or cloth which keeps in the privies. But the clothing of the men
who live in villages is a half-shirt of linen, silk, or some other
material--which, at the most, reaches to the navel; it is open to the
air, and has wide sleeves without wristbands, and this is called the
baro--and certain garments that they call saluàles, which correspond
to our small-clothes or under-drawers. These are also loose and
wide, and made of any kind of linen or other material; they do not
open at the front, but at the side, and they are tied there. They
never wear anything on feet or legs. The above is the whole amount
of their clothing, and, at the most, a cord or belt at the waist,
like a girdle, where they hang the knife. The chiefs and others wear,
for church functions and other meetings of theirs, in addition to
the said clothing, a long black garment reaching to the feet, with
sleeves fitted at the wrists. This they call barong-mahaba, which
signifies "long baro." It is an eminently modest and decent garment,
and is worn loose and not girdled. For outside wear, these garments
are of ordinary materials. For gala attire, they are of silk, and
much worked with embroidery, except the long baro, which is always
the same. Today the people of highest rank in the villages dress
in the Spanish fashion, with coats, trousers, stockings, and shoes,
although it is the most usual practice to wear stockings of natural
skin, in the midst of all these adornments. In former times, their
greatest care was exercised in supplying the lack of clothing with
abundance of gold, with which they adorned all the body. That custom
is still preserved, although not in the abundance of which we read
earlier. In what they wore the full complement of their gala attire
was a colored sash drawn up under the arm, which is no longer worn at
the present time. All the clothing of the Filipino Indian is reduced
to the above, and I believe that it is so throughout this archipelago,
without any difference of special note.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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