[337] The balate is an echinoderm found abundantly in the Visayas, of which Delgado describes three varieties (p. 935): namely the Holothuria scabra (Jager), which is white; the Holothuria atra (Jager), which is black; and the bacongan or Synapta similis (Semper), which is of larger size. The second variety is most esteemed. It was sold dry in the Visayas or taken to Manila and sold, where they were worth thirty-five or forty or even more silver pesos per pico. The Chinese especially esteemed them (and do so yet) and large sums were paid for them in that country. The Filipinos occasionally ate them fresh, but only in the absence of fish. [338] Juan Francisco de San Antonio was born in Madrid in 1682, and made his profession in the Franciscan order at the age of twenty. In 1724 he brought a mission band to the islands, and spent there the rest of his life. His lifelong employ was in preaching, and as instructor in theology--save fifteen years spent in Indian villages near Manila. He died in that city May 29, 1744, the same year in which the last volume of his Cronicas was published. See Huerta's Estado, p. 537. [339] These are the Tagablis or Tagabili, also called Tagabelíes, Tagabaloy, Taga-bulú, Tagbalooys, etc. Murillo Velarde, in his map, places them west of Caraga and Bislig in Mindanao, but this district has been found to contain only Manobos and Mandayas. They are probably the heathen Malay people living between the bay of Sarangani and Lake Buluan, whence their name, meaning perhaps "people of Buluan." See Blumentritt's Native Tribes of Philippines (Mason's translation), and Census of Philippines, i, p. 476. [340] The cloth made from abacá alone is called sinamay; that made of abacá and pineapple fiber, jusi; and that from a specially selected grade of abacá, much finer and more difficult to extract than commercial hemp or that used in making other cloths, lupis. See Census of Philippines, iv, p. 19. [341] Zúñiga (Estadismo) mentions the Chinese mestizo population of Tambóbong or Malabón (now in Rizal province) as about 7,500. Some of them had acquired by trade property to the value of 40,000 pesos. The tribute collected from all the Chinese mestizos of Luzon numbered 10,500, over 8,000 of which came from the provinces immediately north of Manila--Tondó, Bulacán, and Pampanga. The Chinese mestizo element is very evident today in the provinces of Bulacán and Pampanga, and probably forms the principal element among the native owners of haciendas. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 435, 436, 438. [342] Spanish, con que se da Borney la mano; literally "shakes hands." [343] An evident lapsus calami for Legazpi, such as has occurred in other writers. [344] A Moorish garment resembling a herdsman's jacket, with which the body is covered and girt. It is still used on some festive occasions. (Dicc. Academia, 1726.) [345] See ante, p. 123, note 48.