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
This is the manner in which they lived upon the sea during the seventy
days while they had been at the mercy of the waves. They threw into
the sea a sort of weir, made of several small branches of trees tied
together. This weir had a large opening to allow the fish to enter,
and ended in a point to prevent their going out. The fish that they
caught in this manner were all the nourishment they had, and they
did not drink any water except that which the rain furnished them;
they caught it in the shells of cocoanuts--which are the fruit of
the palms of this country, as I have already said; they are of the
shape and size of a man's skull.
There are no cows in those islands. The natives tried to run away when
they saw some cows browsing the grass, just as when they heard a small
dog bark in the house of the missionaries. There are neither cats
nor deer, nor horses, nor, in general, any four-legged beast. There
are but few birds, except those which live on the sea. They have,
however, fowls which they eat; but they never eat their eggs.
In spite of this lack of all things, they are happy and content
with their lot. They have some songs and dances in tolerably regular
time. They sing all together and make the same gestures, which has
a pleasing effect.
They are surprised at the government, the politeness, and the
manners of Europe, of which they have no knowledge. They admire
not only that august majesty of the ceremonies by which the church
celebrates divine worship, but also the music, the instruments, the
dances of the Spaniards, the weapons which they carry, and, above
all, the gunpowder. They admire also the whiteness of the Europeans;
for the inhabitants of this country are all of swarthy complexion.
They appear until now to have had no knowledge of God, nor do
they adore idols. We have noticed in them only a life altogether
barbarous. All their care is to seek for food and drink. They have
a great deference for their king and the chiefs of their villages,
and they obey them with the greatest exactitude. They do not have
regular hours for their meals. They drink and eat at any time and
wherever they may be, when they are hungry and thirsty, and when they
find wherewith to satisfy themselves. But they eat little at a time,
and one of their meals is not enough to suffice for all the day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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