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
That which has great value in all parts is sorcery; and they hold it
in such high esteem that the father hides it from the son, and unless
they receive a great profit they refuse to communicate any secret of
it. The famous sorcerers are feared, although there is no one who is
not ashamed of being called thus, and the word "sorcerer" is one of
the insulting words of these natives. My judgment from seeing these
[sorceries], so alike, is that they are implicit compacts made with
their ancestors. For it also seems impossible that there are herbs
of so powerful poison that they can kill so instantly that some
persons kill, with only the breath alone by chewing those herbs;
and others, by burying those herbs where one has to pass. They also
use figures, which they dedicate to him whom they wish to harm, and
these accordingly torment him; the figure continues to aggravate the
evil upon the sorcerer's enemy. Others work by letters, and that is
peculiar to the Moro Kasis [caciques], although the most of all this
is fabulous; but as they imagine that it is true, for any accident
for which they find no remedy, and of whose cause they are ignorant,
they throw the blame on the sorcerer. It is recounted of the king
of Burney that, on learning the name of one, he can kill him if he
chooses. Sargento-mayor Pedro Duran Monforte having made war in his
land, the king was informed of his name, and said that since he knew
his name, therefore Monforte could not live much longer, and with that
he consoled his people. But thanks to God, the sargento-mayor has been
living for three years since that threat. Thus are all their affairs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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