The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 43, 1670-1700: 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 43, 1670-1700: 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
By certain ill-informed persons, that tragic event has been ascribed
to the urgency with which Pinzon, it is said, begged to wife the
daughter of a dato of Tágum. But being well informed by trustworthy
persons contemporaneous with the event, who accompanied the governor
on that sad journey, I am able to state that that idea is a calumny
and destitute of every foundation of truth. The deed as is related
by those persons, happened in the following manner. Señor Pinzon had
proposed to establish a numerous reduction of Mandayas at the mouth
of the Tágum River; and worked at it with great enthusiasm and good
success. Everything was ready and the heathens were summoned for a
given day, on which the said governor intended to go to inaugurate the
said reduction. The Moros, seeing that the project was succeeding, and
that all their plots in order to frustrate it were in vain, called in
the rest of their malice, and resolved to kill the governor. In effect,
they feigned that they were friendly to and desired the reduction. On
the appointed day they assembled at the place where the Mandayas
were to await the governor in order to plan the village. The first
chief of the village arrived and the datos received him with great and
feigned demonstrations of joy, and consented in all things to what the
governor proposed. Then they invited him to one of their rancherías,
where they said that they had prepared feasts in order to serve him
and to solemnize the inauguration of the new village, with another
unworthy offering, but one very suitable to the degrading customs
of the Moros. There were not lacking those so bold as to advise the
governor not to trust the Moros, for they were plotting some trick
against him. But they say that he laughed at everything, and replied "I
want to see whether what they tell me is true." Therefore he took eight
companions and went with the datos to their ranchería. A feast was held
there, and there was playing on culintángan, dances, etc., but not a
woman, large or small, was to be seen in the whole ranchería. At the
end of the ceremony, a dato invited the governor to enter an apartment,
and when the latter was about to lift the curtain, at that moment the
dato stabbed him violently in the back with his kris. Pinzon turned,
and wounded as he was, advanced toward the murderer. Already did he
have the latter at his mercy and unarmed, but before he could rise,
another dato ran in, and cut off Pinzon's head with a two-handed
blow. Meanwhile the other Moros were murdering the eight companions
of the unfortunate Pinzon in the lower part of the house.
Such is the blackest event registered by the annals of this gulf,
which paralyzed for many years the reduction of the heathens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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