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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

When any contagious disease appears, or whenever any of their relatives
die, the Bagobos believe that the demon is asking them for victims, and
they immediately hasten to offer them to him so that he may not kill
them. They are accustomed generally to show their goodwill in the act
of sacrifice in the following words: Aoaton no ian dipánoc ini manobo,
tímbac dipánoc co, so canac man sapi, [that is] "Receive the blood of
this slave, as if it were my blood, for I have paid for it to offer it
to thee." These words which they address to Búsao, when they wound and
slash the victim, show clearly that they believe in and expect to have
the demon as their friend by killing people for him. For they hope to
assure their life in proportion to the number of their neighbors they
deliver to death, which they believe is always inflicted by Búsao or
the demon who is devoured continually by hunger for human victims.

Now it is seen, your Reverence, my Father, whether I said with reason
that this place appears the kingdom of the prince of darkness as
horrible and cruel as it is in reality. His subjects, or better,
his slaves, although they easily comprehend the existence of a god,
creator and omnipotent, since they believe as they do, that sickness
and death come from Búsao, and that the latter is only fond of
blood and revolution, dedicate their altars and sacrifices to him,
consenting to the impious and iniquitous pact of eternal servitude,
which their ancestors, deceived and reduced by the great Mandarángan,
made at the foot of the Apo Volcano. Let us beseech the intercession
of the angels and the saints, and especially that of the Queen and
Lady, our Mother, the most holy Virgin, before God our Lord, so that
by His grace, He may unite the hearts of all those who can aid us in
the material and spiritual conquest of these peoples.

Here I take leave of your Reverence, saluting all the Fathers and
Brothers of those colleges, to whose holy prayers and sacrifices I
commend myself.

Your Reverence's servant in Christ,


    Mateo Gisbert, S. J.




                                               Dávao, December 24, 1886.

    Pax Christi.
    My dearly beloved Father Superior in Christ:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

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

When any contagious disease appears, or whenever any of their relatives
die, the Bagobos believe that the demon is asking them for victims, and
they immediately hasten to offer them to him so that he may not kill
them. They are accustomed generally to show their goodwill in the act
of sacrifice in the following words: Aoaton no ian dipánoc ini manobo,
tímbac dipánoc co, so canac man sapi, [that is] "Receive the blood of
this slave, as if it were my blood, for I have paid for it to offer it
to thee." These words which they address to Búsao, when they wound and
slash the victim, show clearly that they believe in and expect to have
the demon as their friend by killing people for him. For they hope to
assure their life in proportion to the number of their neighbors they
deliver to death, which they believe is always inflicted by Búsao or
the demon who is devoured continually by hunger for human victims.

Now it is seen, your Reverence, my Father, whether I said with reason
that this place appears the kingdom of the prince of darkness as
horrible and cruel as it is in reality. His subjects, or better,
his slaves, although they easily comprehend the existence of a god,
creator and omnipotent, since they believe as they do, that sickness
and death come from Búsao, and that the latter is only fond of
blood and revolution, dedicate their altars and sacrifices to him,
consenting to the impious and iniquitous pact of eternal servitude,
which their ancestors, deceived and reduced by the great Mandarángan,
made at the foot of the Apo Volcano. Let us beseech the intercession
of the angels and the saints, and especially that of the Queen and
Lady, our Mother, the most holy Virgin, before God our Lord, so that
by His grace, He may unite the hearts of all those who can aid us in
the material and spiritual conquest of these peoples.

Here I take leave of your Reverence, saluting all the Fathers and
Brothers of those colleges, to whose holy prayers and sacrifices I
commend myself.

Your Reverence's servant in Christ,


    Mateo Gisbert, S. J.




                                               Dávao, December 24, 1886.

    Pax Christi.
    My dearly beloved Father Superior in Christ:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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