The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700: 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 41 of 55, 1691-1700: 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
786. Its inhabitants had sufficient courage to cause all their
neighbors to fear them. Especially at sea were they powerful and
daring as was lamented at different times by the islands of Panày,
Luzòn, and others, when they were attacked by the fleets of Mindòro
which they completely filled with blood and fire. But at the same time
they showed a very great simplicity, which was carried to so great an
extreme, as is mentioned by father Fray Gaspàr de San Agustin, that
when they saw the Europeans with clothes and shoes--a thing unknown
among them--they imagined that that adornment was the product of nature
and not placed through ingenious modesty. [35] That simplicity produced
in them the effect of their not applying themselves to the cultivation
of the earth, but of contenting themselves with wild fruit and what
they could steal as pirates, or better said, robbers. The sequel of
that so far as their laziness is concerned, has lasted even to our
own times; for as says father Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio,
all who have discussed the matter, agree that they are the laziest
people and the most averse to work of all the inhabitants in those
islands, notwithstanding that they are corpulent enough. [36] However,
my experience of the Philipinas obliges me to say that so blamable
a peculiarity is only too common to all of them, almost without any
distinction of more or less. Neither could that courage of theirs
save them from subjection to España, and if they earlier considered
that subjection unfortunate in the extreme, now they regard it with
the light of the faith as their greatest fortune.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account