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
Their clothing is very simple, without stiffening or linings. All
are dressed after the same style, and innovations due to curiosity
are not allowed. As the country is so hot, they dress very loosely,
a fact which makes the cutting out very easy. Each one is the tailor
of his own garments. This is the reason why the Indians are so lacking
in the communal idea, and are so hostile to assembling and uniting
in villages; for since their misery and laziness make them content
with the easiest and most natural, which all obtain, they do not need
one another. For in each house are found all the trades, and no one
makes use of them unless his own necessity compels him. If one goes
to fish, he is content with what will satisfy either his appetite or
his necessity; and the desire of acquiring does not make him break
with his laziness in order to work.
Returning to their clothes, the stuffs worn are generally common to
nobles, and plebeians, kings and slaves, and there is no difference
between them--except it be in something extraordinary, in which the
obligation and ostentation of their chief persons induces them to
depart from their accustomed use. At such times they are wont to wear
silks and very beautiful stuffs, with buttons and gold lace. Their
krises (which are their inseparable weapons) have gilded scabbards
and hilts of massy gold. I have seen some of them which were valued
at nine slaves each, all covered with precious stones and perhaps
encrusted with pearls. But in daily appearance all resemble one
another, both in the garments in which they dress and in the fashions
that they employ. These clothes consist of breeches and short jacket
[ropilla]--or skirt, to be more accurate. That is not worn over
a shirt, for with them the first garment is not the shirt, but the
skirt, for it is all one. Sometimes they wear a jacket with long
skirts cut in the French style; which, although it can be buttoned,
is generally worn open, with the breast exposed. In this particular
this nation is quite different from the others of this region. They use
another style of cut; the skirts and sleeves each ending in a point,
and the ends which ought to close over the bosom are brought together
in double points, fastened either with a button or with a knot, so that
almost all the breast is left open. The breeches are full and white,
resembling those which the Spaniards wear for the sake of cleanliness
under their black ones. They are girt with a bit of native linen,
so long that after having been knotted it hangs from the waist to the
knees; and it serves to make their garb more decent than it would be
because of the meagerness and thinness of the breeches. Or if they
do not have that, then they use two brazas' length of the same cloth
or silk, which at its full width they wind about the body, joined in
front with one end crossed below the other. In that manner they cover
the breeches entirely, and the clothing is much more decent. In this
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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