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
110. To give a list of the omens and auguries would consume much time
and be useless. If the owl lit on the roof at night it was a sign of
death. Consequently, when a house was built some sort of scarecrow
was set up to keep that bird away, so that the house might not be
lost; for a house would under no circumstances be lived in if that
happened. The same was true if any serpent was seen in it after it had
been newly built. If they came across a serpent in any road they would
not proceed farther, even if their business was very pressing. The
same was true if they heard any one sneeze, a rat squeal, a dog howl,
or a lizard [26] sing. Fishermen would not make use of the first cast
of the net or a new fish-corral, for they thought that they would get
no more fish if they did the opposite. Neither must one talk in the
fisherman's house of his new nets, or in that of the hunter of dogs
recently purchased, until they had made a capture or had some good
luck; for if they did not observe that, the virtue was taken from the
nets and the cunning from the dogs. A pregnant woman could not cut
off her hair, under penalty of bearing an infant without hair. Those
who journeyed ashore could not mention anything of the sea; and those
who voyaged on the sea could not take any land animal with them, or
even name it. When a voyage was begun they rocked the boat to and fro,
and let it vibrate, and if the vibrations of the right side were more
pronounced the voyage would be good, but if bad they were less. They
cast lots with some strands of cord, with the tusks of swine, the teeth
of crocodiles, and other filthy things, at the ends; and their good or
evil fortune would depend on whether or not those ends became tangled.
111. The oaths of these nations were all execrations in the form of
awful curses. Matay, "may I die!" Cagtin nang Buaya, "may I be eaten
by the crocodile!" Maguin Amo, "may I turn into a monkey!" The one
generally used is Matay. When the chiefs of Manila and Tondo swore
allegiance to our Catholic sovereigns, in the year one thousand five
hundred and seventy-one, they confirmed the peace agreements and the
subjection with an oath, asking "the sun to pierce them through the
middle, the crocodiles to eat them, and the women not to show them
any favor or wish them well, if they broke their word." Sometimes
they performed the pasambahan for greater solemnity and confirmation
of the oath. That consisted in bringing forward the figure of some
monstrous beast asking that they might be broken into pieces by it if
they failed in their promise. Others, having placed a lighted candle
in front of them, said that as that candle melted and was consumed,
so might he who failed in his promise be consumed and destroyed. Such
as these were their oaths.
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