The Early Filipinos Essay Sample
The earliest Filipinos of whom we have historical record are the small black work forces whom the Spaniards called negrillos or negrito. They. nevertheless. called themselves merely inhabitants. or Godheads of the lands ; itself as indicant of the antiquity of their colony. When this was can non state precisely. but it may we’ll hold been when land Bridgess still connected the Philippines with the continent of Asia. It is sensible to presume that their manner of life has non changed much over the centuries. Surely they are today as the Italian traveler Gemlli Caren described them towards the terminal of the 7th century.
1The inkinesss. by the Spaniards called negrillos. who live on the mountains and in thick forests. whereof there is plenty in Manila. differ rather the remainder. They are meer savages. on provender on such fruit and roots as the mountains afford. and upon they can kill. even to monkeys. serpents and rats. They go bare except their privities. which they cover with the bark of trees. by them called bahaques. and the adult females with a coagulum woven of the fibres of trees. called tapisse. They use no other decoration but watchbands made of hastes and Indian canes of several colorss. They have no Torahs. letters or authorities but that which kindred makes. for they all obey the caput of the household. The adult females carry their kids in billfolds made of barks of trees and ty’d about them with a fabric. as some adult females of Albania do in Italy. or like the Irish adult females.
But if the earliest Filipinos had non. as Gemelli Careri says. “laws. letters or authorities save that which kindred makes. ” they had that which in clip. among more fortunate peoples. give rise to all these things: a worship. Earliest in the 17th century. missionaries on the island of Mindoro observed the Mangyans executing their spiritual rites.
They wander through the forest speed naked. salvage that nature prompts them to cover their private parts with the barks of trees… Gold and Ag coins they esteem as nil worth. but consider themselves wealthy if they own knives and cooking pots… If fortune smiling on them and they bring down a American bison. they spread a banquet in which they devoutly make libations to their dead forebears. for being savages they consider all the good things that they receive to be a gift to their ascendants. If anyone falls ill. the others. to impact his remedy. cook poulet and other nutrients and assemble the kin. The indigen who has power over hereditary liquors biddings them with unusual calls and commands them to the banquet. in order that they might do the ill adult male good once more. The feast over. they collect the choicer morsels which remain. take them to the river. and wading waist-deep into the dip the morsels into the H2O. They so stir up the sand [ of the river bed ] this manner and that. for so they think-poor ill-conceived people-to restore to the ill adult male the wellness which the liquors had taken off.
Much later. possibly when the Han were establishing an imperium in China and the Romans an imperium in the Mediterranean ( 200 B. C. -300 A. D. ) . another people came to the Philippines. this clip by sea. The seafaring Malayas took the Lowlandss and rich river vale for themselves. driving the small black people to the hills of the backwoods. Having done so they called the. logically plenty. Aelas ; hill work forces. But if can non hold been war between them ever. Occasionally they must hold come to footings in the immemorial manner. by exogamy. Therefore. the new “lord of the land. ” or some of them at any rate were Aeta-Malay half casies: the first ladino in the land whose history would be shaped mostly by ladino. This at rental is what the unwritten traditions of Batangas. is collected by Fray Agustin Maria de Castro. suggest.
This town [ of San Pablo ] used to be called Sampaloc ( which means “tamarind” ) because of many Tamarindus indica trees which grew here. The captain or cassique. who ruled Sampaloc. or San Pablo. was the old rod Pagil. that is to state. Don Pagil. The cassique Gat Pulintan ruled over the colonies of Balaquin to Masalocot. and from the river Labasin to Panghaya-an. which is now within the boundary lines of Batangas… The cassique was long remembered for his workss of heroism. From Makopa to Galamus the cassique Gat Sungayan held sway. a great huntsman of cervid and wild Sus scrofa. From the colony of Lomot and Palapaquin. and from Bitin-Olila to Cococ. which now is district of Santo Tomas. the cassique rod Salaceb was the swayer. These four cassiques were Godheads of the said lands by right of war and conquering. They were of assorted Bronean and Negrito ( or Aeta ) blood. a mixture which in their old address was called Dayhagan.
Where did they come from. these Malayans? Form nearby Borneo. no uncertainty ; but certainly besides from the islands of Indonesia farther South and the Malay Peninsula to the sou’-west. Divers currents of migration over a period of clip would at rental service to explicate the diverseness of Philippine linguistic communications ; why the Tagalog of Batangas in the southern Luzon have a different address from the Pampangos merely a few stat mis off in the great cardinal field of the island. Possibly there was something. after all. to the funny narrative which a far-wandering Pampango who had the Sumatra told Father Colin.
A member of one of these folks. an observant Pampango ( who told me all this himself ) . holding been driven far from his class and rolling approximately in that land. noticed that the people spoke immaculate Capampangan and wrote the ancient frock of the Pampangos. And an old adult male whom he questioned approximately in this replied. “You must be the posterities of the lost people. those who in times past set out from here to settle in other lands. and who were ne’er heard from once more. ”
Nothing about the early Filipinos struck the first Spanish colonists more forcibly. coming as they did from a Europe of centralised monarchies. than that they had no male monarchs. Except as a few trading ports like Manila and Cebu. were rajahs held sway in a manner-more familiar to the topic of Philip II. the Filipinos lived in little scattered colonies under the patriarchal regulation of the independent chieftains The followerss of several captains might populate together in a individual small town or town. but they would stay distinguishable. the captains moving together for common intents of war or peace. but ever as peers. These affinity groups were called barangays. Now barangay was besides the name of the sailing vas in common usage throughout the island. This gave Fray Juan de Plasencia. for many old ages for missionaries among the Tagalog’s. a hint to the likely beginnings of their societal organisations.
The people have ever had heads called datos who ruled them and led them in war. and whom they obeyed and respected ; the topic who wronged a head or spoke amiss to his married woman of kid was grievously punished.
These heads did non hold big followerss: a 100 families at the most. and even less than 30. Such a group is called in Tagalog a barangay. My apprehension of why it is so called is as follows. It is clear from their linguistic communication that these people are Malays [ and hence immigrants ] ; and when they landed in this state the maestro of barangay ( which is decently the name of a ship ) must hold retained regulation as dato. Therefore even today it is understood that the term barangay mean originally a household dwelling a parents. kids. kinsmen and slaves.
A big figure of these barangays would from a individual town. or at rental would settle non far from each other. for the interest of common defence in instance of war. They were non. nevertheless. capable one to another. but bound together by friendly relationship. affinity and the heads. each with his barangay. fought side by side in the wars they waged.
Doubtless the datu was in the get downing the patriarchal caput of a household and its dependants. passed his headship on to his posterities. But as the household grew into kins and folks and wars broke up over farms and fishing rights. art and craft must hold become much more of import considerations in the pick of head and blood. Indeed Father Colin suggest that by the 16th century the rank of datu had become reasonably much a “career unfastened to talent”
Most of the heads are such non by blood but by ability and art. A adult male may ne of lowly birth ; but if he exerts himself. if by dint of difficult work and astuteness he accumula- tes wealth. whether it be by farming or farming. whether it be by trade or the pattern of some trade known to them. such as that of blacksmith or silverworker or carpenter. or whether it be by robbery and subjugation ( and it is normally this ) . such a adult male acquires dominance and fame. all the more so. the more over bearings and ruthless he shows himself to be. On the strength of such beginnings he assumes the rubric of dato. and gathers round a followers of kinsmen and even of aliens who acknowledge him their head. through this authorization and rubric is conferred on him non by anyone superior to himself. but entirely by his ain ability and art.
Therefore whatever one conquered one must guard. and he who the greater robber and autocrat was the greater head. If his boy followed in his footfalls. they inherited his power. But they were fainthearted work forces who allow themselves to be stepped on. or if catastrophe or bad luck of unwellness of loss deprived them of their luck. they lost power along with wealth ( as anyplace in the universe ) and it availed them observing that their parents and kinsmen were work forces of rank. And so it has happened that a adult male who has a head would hold a boy or brother a slave ; and even worse than this. a slave of his ain brother.
When the Spaniards were able to analyze the barangay society at close one-fourth. they found that it had much more in common with European society than they thought at first. Not with European society as they knew it. but with an earlier phase in its development. that of the early Middle ages. when a warier category edge by allegiance to the warlord lived on the labour of helot and slaves. and gave them. in exchange. protection and a unsmooth kind of justness. So much was this the instance that Fray Juan de Plasencia. in depicting the societal construction of the Tagalog barangay. fell easy and of course into the linguistic communication of Spanish Feudalism.
Besides the heads. who may be considered as composing the aristocracy. there were three estates: gentlemen. common mans and slaves?
The gentlemen were free work forces. and were called maharlikas. They paid neither revenue enhancement nor testimonial to the dato. but were bound to follow him to war conveying their arms and cogwheel. The head. for his portion. gave them a banquet before puting out. and spliting the spoils with them at the terminal of the run. So. excessively. when the dato set out to sea they manned the oars. those whom he chose for this service ; if he had a house to construct they help him. during which clip he fed them ; and this excessively was the apprehension when the full barangay set a twenty-four hours aside to assist him works a rice field.
The common mans are called the aliping mamamahay. They are homeowners who serve a lord-whether it be the dato or person else- with half the output of their farm. this being what had been agreed upon the beginning ; and they row for him when he has a head to put out to sea. They have houses of their ain ; their good and gold are their private belongings. which they kids inherit ; and they have the free disposal of their chattelrs and their lands. Furthermore. this estate is lasting and familial. and therefore neither they nor their kids can be made slaves ( saguiguilir ) nor can their Godhead sell them. The slaves are those called aliping saguiguilir. who serve their Godhead in his house of farm ; these can be sold. The Godhead allows them some portion of the crop. what he wills. This he does to do them work better ; they therefore derive some net income from their labour. For a slave born and reared in the lord’s ain house to be sold are highly rare ; but slaves captured in war. or born or raised as field custodies. are more easy sold.
There was one characteristic of the barangay society which was new to Europeans. but which is had in common with Malay peoples everyplace ; debt bondage. Doubt bondage resulted from the high rates of involvement charged for loans harmonizing to Malay imposts. The procedure by which the debitor became a slave is described by male parent Colin.
The most common cost of bondage was the desire of addition & A ; pattern of vigorish. a pattern to which they so addicted that even in instances of utmost need a male parent did non impart to a boy. a boy to his male parent. a brother to a brother. and much less a kinsman to a kinsman. salvage on status that refund would be doubled the loan. And if the debt was non paid in the clip agreed upon. the debitor was cut downing to slavery until he paid it. This was a common confidence. because the involvement on the loan increased in proportion to the hold of colony until it exceeded in value that full debitor owned. where upon his individual became confiscate and the hapless chap became a slave. along with all his kids and posterities.
How this usage originate? Was it. as Father Colin suggests vigorish motivated by greed? In ulterior pattern. no uncertainty it was. But imposts which degenerate into subjugation frequently have rather sensible beginnings. Money is barren. as the moralists of mediaeval Europe pointed out. and hence it was incorrect to take involvement on a money loan. And even this regulation held good merely until the resurgence in Europe made money one time once more productive. But in the subsistence economic system of the early Filipinos money was unknown ; what was lent and borrowed is rice. Now rice is non bare. It is nutrient. a consumable trade good ; but it is besides seed. a factor of production. Planted. it yields much more than doubled its original measure. It must hold seemed just ; hence. that anyone who borrowed rice should refund at least dual what he borrowed. and that the involvement on the loan should turn with each seting season that he failed to give it back. Observations of the conquistador Miguel do Loarce intimations at this beginning of what subsequently became indefensible vigorish.
If one lends another rice and a twelvemonth passes without the debt being paid. since rice is something that is planted. if it is non repaid in the first twelvemonth of sowing. duplicate the sum of the loan must be paid in the 2nd twelvemonth. and four times the 3rd. and so on at this rate. This alone is their twelvemonth of taking involvement. Some so give a different history of it. but they have non good understood the affair.
Like the Germans described the Tacitus. the early Filipinos settled their differences by test of conflict or ordeal. A man’s life was demanded non merely for the killer but from the slayer’s kindred. Blood feuds arose between barangay and barangay. like those among the Scots kins or the nobility of antediluvian Greece ; slaying rhythms which appears to us simply brutal they found no Shakespeare Aeschylus to transform the into poesy. And yet there is another side to this bloodstained coin. They kept. in peace. a unsmooth and ready kind of justness which more enlightened people may good envy.
Their civil order and Torahs. which. for savages. were non so really brutal. consisted wholly of traditions and uses which they kept purely that they did non even admit the possibility of their being broken. They impose among other things. such fear of parents and seniors that among them one time did non reference one’s male parent by name. merely as. among the Hebrews. one did one reference God by name ; as besides that private individuals. even kids. must subject to the will of the community. In civil suits and condemnable instances the exclusive justice was the head. assisted by certain seniors of his barangay. Siting in council. they heard a suit in the undermentioned mode. They summoned the parties to the suit and tried to do them come to an amicable understanding.
If this was non reached. each party was made to curse to accept whatever determination might be handed down. This done. they were asked to show their informants. who were examined so and at that place. If the testimony was equally balanced. the belongings in inquiry was every bit divided among the parties ; if it inclined to one side more than the other. the tribunal decided consequently. If the losing side more than the other. the justice became a party to the suit. and all present rose in weaponries to oblige the defeated party to pay what the tribunal had decided. Of this amount the justice took the lion’s portion. fees were paid to the informants for the victorious side. and the party who had won the suit received the small that was left.
In the penalties of offenses of force the societal rank of killer and slain made a great trade of difference. If the slain was a head. all his family took the warpath against the killer and hid family. and this province of continued until supreme authorities were able to find the sum of gold which have to be paid for the violent death. This they did in conformity with the appraisals which the seniors declared to be in conformity with usage. One-half of this blood monetary value went to the heads ; the other half was divided among the window. kids and kinsmen of the slain.
The decease punishment was non imposed by public authorization save in instances where both the killer and the slain were common mans. and the killer could non pay the blood-price. In such instances. if the dato of Godhead of the killer did non kill the adult male himself. the other heads did it for him by adhering the wrongdoer to a interest and despatching him with lances.
For the early Filipinos. as for crude people everyplace. hill. field and watercourse were full of liquors more powerful than work forces. Some of them
were good. some evil but all needed to be propitiated or appeased by forfeit.
Each town has a God of its ain. All these Gods are by and large called diwata. but with an extra name to bespeak of which each is god. There are besides sea Gods and river Gods. The people sacrifice hogs to these Gods. They keep particularly for these intents those of a ruddy colour. which they feed until they are of a great size and really fat. To offer the forfeit they have priests who are called baylanes. whom they regard as able to discourse with their Gods. When they have a head to offer forfeit they adorn the topographic point for it as best they can as many subdivisions of trees and coloured fabrics.
The baylan play a big reed pipe. about a fthm in length. which is a sort of cornet which they have in this state. and this. they say. is how he speaks with their God. Having done this. he kills the hog with the lance-trust. All this wife-indeed. long before the ceremonial begins-the adult females are pealing bells and playing on small membranophones and striking pieces of porcelain with sticks and doing such loud music that they can hardly hear one another. The hog holding been killed. they roast it and all eat of it. Part of it they place on tonss. roasted. and tiffin on the river or the sea ; but of the flesh around the lance-thrust no 1 eats btut the baylan entirely.
But behind this cloud of liquors bombinating like enemies around the forfeit was a greater God whom the early Filipinos indistinctly remembered. a God who stood at the beginning of things and whose yearss no adult male could figure.
The mode of worship which these Moros kept in olden clip was they adored a God who was known among them as the God Batula. this word itself decently intending God ; & amp ; they said they adored this Batula because he was the Godhead of all. and had made work forces and peoples. They said further that this batula had many ministries. or anitos. whom he sent to this universe to convey about whatever came to go through therein…
And being questioned why they offend forfeit to the anito but non to batula. they replied that Batula is the Godhead so great that no 1 may talk to him ; that he is in Eden. whereas the anito is of such a nature that he comes down from heaven to talk to them as Batula’s courier. and to mediate for them.
They believed that they did non entirely die. but that for the brave and good there was a life after in which they would go on to populate the reasonably much as they did on Earth. though with greater gusto. with limitless leisure. and under a much kinder Sun.
They are of the sentiment that their psyches [ after decease ] go down [ alternatively of up ] ; they say that this is better because it is much cooler down than up. where it is really hot. They are buried with all their wealths: their vesture. gold and porcelain ; the heads cause slaves to be killed and buried with them that they might function in the life beyond. And if the dead is a mariner and great head. they bury him in the ship he sailed in. with many slaves at the oars. in order that over there he might hold wherewith to travel out to sea.
But the early Filipinos did non wait until the following life to bask themselves. Grain grew easy in their fertile land. fish and flesh abounded. and the sap on the nipa thenar distilled into powerful spirits
They were wont in their banquetings to eat and imbibe to excess. although they surely drank a great trade more than they ate. Their occasions for banqueting were. If person was sick ; or a clip of mourning ; likewise engagements. nuptialss. forfeit. the reaching of invitees or visitants. On such occasions their doors were unfastened to all who wished to come and imbibe with them ; for this. by the way. was their thought of a banquet. a clip for imbibing instead than eating.
They eat meagerly. imbibe enormously. and are a long clip about it. Having good eaten and imbibe. they whisk off the tabular arraies. brush the house. and unless it is a funeral banquet they fall to singing. playing stringed instruments. and dancing. and in this mode spend yearss and darks doing a enormous rackets and shouting until they fall down from sheer exhaustion and deficiency of slumber. But we ne’er see them so inflamed and exited by drink as to go disorderly. On the contrary. they retain much of their ordinary mode. and address one another with the same courtesy and decorousness as earlier. except that they are a great trade more lively and chatty and exchange many humors.
It is a common expression among us that none of them. no affair how rummy he departs from a banquet or how late at dark. of all time failed to establish his ain house. and if some concern awaits him at that place. whether of purchase or sale. he is non to the full equal to the dealing. but if there is demand of weighing to monetary value of Ag or gold ( a pattern so common that every 1s carries his set of weighs around with him ) he does it with such steadiness that his manus ne’er milk sicknesss nor misses the exact point of balance.
Not merely did they eat and imbibe good ; their gustatory sensation ran to bright blues and reds. gold ironss round the cervix and burnished bracelets on carpus and mortise joint. What a public violence of colour the market square of a haven like Manila must hold been! 15The costume and frock of this dwellers of Luzon. before the Spaniards entered the state. normally consisted of. for work forces. seashore cangan without neckbands. sewed together in forepart. with short arms. coming a small below the waist. some blue. others black. and a few of colorss for the main work forces. these they call chininas: and a colored negligee folded at the waist and between the legs. so as to cover their centers. and half-way down the thigh. what they call bahaques ; their legs bare and their pess unshod. the caput uncovered and a narrow fabric wrapper unit of ammunition it with which they bind the brow and temples. called potong.
Ironss of gold lesion unit of ammunition cervix. worked like spun wax and with links in or manner. some larger than others. Watchbands on the weaponries which they call colombigas. made of gold. really thick and different forms. and some with strings of rocks. cornelias and agates. and other of bluish and white rocks which are much esteemed among them. And for supporters on their legs some strings of those rocks and cords pitched and black. lesion round many times…
The adult females in the whole of this island were small frocks with arms of the same materials. and of all colorss. which they call varos ; without displacements. but some white cotton wraps folded from the waist downwards to the pess ; and other coloring material garments suiting the organic structure like cloaks. which are really graceful. The great ladies wear ruby. and some silk and other material woven with gold and edged with fringed and other decorations. Many gold concatenation round the cervix. calombigas ( watchbands ) on the carpuss and thick earrings of gold in the ears. rings on the fingers of gold and cherished stones…
Work force and adult females. and specially the great people. are really flawlessly and elegant in their individuals and frock. and of a goodish bearing and grace… In their visits and in traveling about the streets and to the temples. both work forces and adult females and specially the chief 1s walk really easy and pay attending to their stairss. and with a big followers of male and female slaves. and with silk sunshades which they carry as a safeguard against Sun rain.
All this suggests that among the early Filipinos the humanistic disciplines of weaving and dyeing were reasonably good developed. while workmanship in the cherished metals had reached a surprisingly high degree of virtuosity. Industry. nevertheless. was chiefly of the family type. with each small town and kin community bring forthing most of what it needed. And yet. we can non altogether regulation out the being of production for the market. The people of Catanduanes. for case. seem to hold supplied the coastal towns of southern Luzon with sailing boats.
16They were shipwrights by profession. They made a great measure of really light trade. which they took for sale throughout the part in a really funny manner. really much like the nests of boxes they make in Flanders. They build a big vas. undecked. without utilizing either nails or futtock lumbers ; so they build a smaller vas which fitted precisely inside the first ; so a 3rd which fitted inside the 2nd ; and so on. so that the big biroco might in the terminal have ten or twelve other vass inside it of four specific types which they called biroco. virey. barangay. and binitan. When they reach a port where they hope to do a sale ?and they go every bit far as Caligaya. Balayan. Mindoro. and other topographic points more than a 100 conferences from their shipyards? they take out the smallest vas and so the remainder in order. so that he who saw but one ship enter seaport would in an hr be puzzled to see ten or more trade in the water…
While we are still reasonably much in the dark with respect with the strictly domestic trade of the early Filipinos. we are slightly better informed as to their foreign trade. Surely. the Chinese carried on trade with the islands from a really early period. The clayware being unearthed by archeologists in southern Luzon. Mindoro. Palawan and elsewhere provides dramatic conformation of the grounds from Chinese historical beginnings. These suggest that by the 13 century Chinese merchandiser ships were naming on a regular basis at Palawan and the Calamianes group. and that just trading patterns had been established by common consent.
17Whenever foreign bargainers arrive at any of the colonies. they live on board before embarking to travel on shore. their ships being anchored in mid-stream. denoting their presence to the indigens by crushing membranophones. Upon this the barbarian bargainers race for the ship in little boats. transporting cotton. xanthous wax. native fabric. cocoanut-heart mats. which they offer for better. If the monetary values can non be agreed upon. the head of the [ local ] bargainers must travel in individual in order to come to understanding. which being reached the indigens are offered present of silk umbrellas. porcelain. and rattan baskets ; but the aliens still retain on board one or two [ indigens ] as sureties. After that they go on shore to traffic. which being ended they return the hostages…
The undermentioned articles are changed in swap: porcelain. black damask and assorted silks. beads of all colorss. eaden doughnuts for cyberspaces. and Sn.
The trade in the North of the archipelago seems to hold been most active and extended at Ma-i. which is normally identified as the island of Mindoro.
The state of Ma-i is to the North of Po-ni. Over a 1000 households are settled together along both Bankss of a creek…
When trading ship enter the anchorage. they stop in forepart of the official’s topographic point. for that is the topographic point for bartering of the state. After a ship has been boarded. the indigens mix freely with the ship’s common people. The head are in the wont of utilizing white umbrellas. for which ground the bargainers offer them as gifts.
The usage of the trade is for the barbarian bargainers to piece in crowds and carry the goods away with them baskets ; and even if one can non at foremost cognize them. and can but easy separate the work forces who remove the goods. there will yet be no loss. The barbarian bargainers will after this carry these goods on to other islands for swap. and. as a regulation. it takes them every bit much as eight or nine months till they return. when they repay the bargainers on shipboard with what they have obtained [ for the goods ] . Some. nevertheless. make non return within the proper term. for which ground vas trading with Ma-i are the latest in making home…
The merchandise of the state consist of xanthous wax. cotton. pearls. tortoise-shell. medicative betel-nuts. and yuta fabric ; and the foreign bargainers barter for these porcelain. trade-gold. Fe thurible. lead. colored glass beads. and Fe acerate leafs.
At Sulu. the Chinese bargainers besides found it both safe and profitable to set out their goods to native bargainers on cargo.
Trade is carried on in the undermentioned manner. When a ship arrive at that place. indigens take all the goods and carry them for sale into the inside. whilst they sell to the adjacent count- ries. and when they come back the indigen articles are delivered to our merchandisers as payment. When many pearls have been found during a twelvemonth and our bargainers get big 1s. they make a net income of a 100 per cent ; but even if there are merely a few pearls. still a net income of a 100 per cent is made.
By the early 15 century the trade between Sulu and China was of sufficient importance to warrant a tribute mission to Peking. It was one of the more grave fictions of Chinese diplomatic negotiations that aliens could hold merely one object in coming to China ; to curse allegiance to the emperor and pay the testimonial of serfdom. It was. nevertheless. by and large recognized on both sides that such “tribute” mission were truly trade missions. and that while the emperor and the foreign minister plenipotentiaries exchanged gifts. their several followings engaged in instead more mercantile minutess.
In the twelvemonth 1417 the eastern male monarch of this state. Paduka Pa-ha-la. the western male monarch Ma-ha-la-chi. & A ; the male monarch of the mountain of Ka-la-ba-ting. called Paduka Prabu. brought their households and their heads. wholly more than 340 individuals. and came over the sea to Court in order to transport testimonial. They presented a latter of gold with the characters engraved upon it. and offered pearls. cherished rocks. tortoise-shell and other articles. They were treated as those of Malacca. and after some clip they were each appointed male monarch of their state and presented with a seal. a committee. a complete court-dress. a cap. a girdle. a Equus caballus with furnishings. insignia of their rank and other rank and other things ; their followings besides got caps and deaden harmonizing to their rank. The three male monarchs remained 27 yearss and when they were about to return each of them got a girdle adorned with cherished rocks. a 100 taels of gold. two 1000 taels of Ag. two hundred pieces of field silk. ten 1000 taels in paper money. two 1000 strings of hard currency. one roe embroidered with aureate serpents. one with firedrakes and one with kilins.
It is the tradition among the people of Magindanao that the faith of Islam was brought to them by a Lord of Johore named Kabungsuwan. toward the terminal of the 15 century.
Sarip Zayna-1-Abidin came to Juhur and that the grand Turk of Juhur. Sultan Sulkarnayn. had a girl called Putri Jasul Asikin. The sarip married Putri Jasul Asikin and begot Sarip Kabungsuwan. As Sarip Kabungsuwan grew up and reached adulthood he obtained his father’s permission and put out on a sea ocean trip with a big figure of followings from Juhur. As they got out to the unfastened sea they unfurled their canvass to do velocity. but a really strong air current blew and scattered them in all waies. so that they lost path of one another. As a consequence Sarip Kabungsuwan arrived at Magindanao. The scattered to Balunary. Kuran. Tampasuk. Sandakan. Palimbag. Bangjar. Sulug. Tubuk and Malabang.
The Magindanao records make reference of a cryptic power which Kabungsuwan and his work forces possessed of killing person from a distance by “beckoning” to him. It is rather possible that the alien brought with them non merely a new faith but a new arm: the gun.
22Sharif Kabungsuwan… anchored at Tinundan. There was cipher at that place so ; but the sharif saw a cocoyam works and a corn stalk drifting down. and said. “There must be some people at the river ; allow us wait until they come down. ” Subsequently there came down the river Manumbali. the day of the month of Slangan. with seven work forces. to angle at Tinundan. They saw Sharif Kabungsuwan. The sharif called them but they could non understand him. He beckoned to them. but one of them died on that history. and they were frightened and returned. Later the people of Katitwan. holding heard of this. came down the river to see the sharif. but they besides could non understand him. and one of their work forces died of the same cause. They once more returned and told Tabunway and Mamalu who both understood him and came into his boat.
The migrators from the Malay Peninsula do non look to hold come in any big Numberss ; but by virtuousness of superior arms and organisation they were able to enforce on the autochthonal population both their faith and their regulation. This procedure. which must hold taken several coevalss to finish. is telescoped in narrative from in the traditions of the Magindanaos.
23Tabunaway sent Mamalu up the river to convey down all the work forces of Magindanao. After the reaching of the work forces Tabunaway invented Kabungsuwan to attach to him to Magindanao. Kabungsuwan refused to attach to them unless they become Moslems. Tabunawan and Mamalu so repeated their invitation and all of them promised to go Moslems. Kabungsuwan insisted that he would non set down at all unless they came together so and at that place and were washed and became Mohammedans. This they did. and on history of the bathing at that topographic point they changed its name to Paygwan.
Kabungsuwan so accompanied Tabunawan and Mamalu. and so work forces towed them up all the manner from Tinundan to Magindanao. Thus Kabungsuwan converted to Islam all the people of Magindanao. Matampay. Slangan. Simway and Katitwan.
While MAgindanao and Sulu were developing into sultanates under the sway of Muslim princes from Malaysia. the Net incomes of Chinese trades were easy conveying Forth in the northern islands more sophisticated signifiers of political and societal organisation. In 1544. an aged dweller of Abuyog in Leyte told one of Villalobos officers where these trading towns were to be found.
24I asked him [ writes Escalante ] whether there was a large town anyplace on the island to the of Abuyo and he said yes. on the other side of the island to the northwest there was a large town called Sugut whither Chinese debriss come every twelvemonth and where there are resident Chinese who have a house for their ware. He said that what they buy there is gold and slaves. He besides told me about the island of ?ubu… that the Chinese are wont to name at that place to purchase gold and cherished rocks. because there are to be found in that island. And he said that near ?ubu there is another large island called Bulane. rich in gold. to which debriss come from many topographic points to merchandise. He said that North of Tendaya there was an island called Albay where there were mines of gold…
By the 2nd half of the 16th century Butuan in northern Mindanao was a port of call non merely for Chinese but for Muslim Malay merchandisers. It had besides advanced sufficiently beyond the clan organisation of the barangay to be ruled by what to a Westerner was recognizably a male monarch. ”
We went to the town called Butuan to talk to the male monarch. Equally shortly as we got there we went to the house of the male monarch. and the first things they did to us in the house of the male monarch was to do us sit down. after which there came out to us seven or eight adult females. pretty 1s. I mention this because they were surely reasonably. and some of them were dressed in Indian silk. They told us that it was a usage of the names of the male monarch and queen. and he said that the male monarch was called Lumanpaon and the queen Bucaynin and the king’s boy Lian and the king’s brother Sigoan. Then the male monarch appeared and sat down. I told the translator to state the male monarch that I was the pilot of the ship out at that place and that had come at the captain’s order to convey him a nowadays. He took it put it on instantly. I so told him that the captain had come at the behest of the King of Castile in order that his exchequer functionaries might convey ware to sell to the indigens ; and I asked him if it was his pleasance that the cloth [ we brought ] be sold to his topics. He said yes. adding that some of the indigens had much gold and other small and so each will by what he can…
[ After the royal audience ] the Moor took me to see his ship. which was a large parao with a foremast and a mainmast. He showed me a swivel gun of bronze and asked me if we brought many rials. I said yes. He said that he had three quintals of gold which he would merchandise for rials. He asked me if we wanted beeswax. I said yes. He said that there was much beeswax in the state. I asked him if it came from China. He said no. on the reverse ; the Chinese came to his state with porcelain. Fe tips for lances. blades. and jars. which they sold throughout these island for gold to convey back to their state. and besides beeswax. because it was or these things they came.
But by this clip the Filipinos were no longer content to wait for trading vass to see them. They were striking out on their ain. The first old ages of the 16th century saw merchant mariners from Luzon sailing their debriss into Malacca Roads and set uping a colony North of Selangor.
The Lu?oes are about 10 days’ canvas beyond Borneo. They are about all pagan ; they have no male monarch. but are ruled by groups of seniors. They are a robust people. small idea of in Malacca. They have two or three debriss at the most. They take the ware to Borneo and from at that place they come to Malacca.
The Borneans go to the land of the Lu?oes to purchase gold and groceries every bit good. and the gold which they bring to Malacca is from the Lu?oes and from the environing islands which are infinite ; and they all have more or less trade with one another. And the gold of these islands where they trade is of low quantity? so really low quality.
They Lu?oes have in their state plentifulness of groceries. and wax and honey ; and they take the same ware from here as the Borneans take. They are about one people ; and in Malacca there is no division between them. They ne’er used to be in Malacca as they are now. but the Tomunguo’ whom the governor of India appointed here was already get downing to garner many of them together. and they were already constructing many houses and stores. They are a utile people ; they are hardworking…
In Minjam there must be five hundred Lu?oes. some of them of import work forces and good merchandisers. who want to come to Malacca and the people of Minjam will non allow them permission because now they have gone over to the side of the former male monarch Malacca. non really openly. The people of Minjam are Malays.
Merely before the reaching of the Spaniards. the swayers of Manila had accepted the religion of Islam. They have besides evolved a feudal kingship non far removed from that of early medieval Europe.
27there used to be among these Moros. as among the Visayans. towns under feudal Lordship. There were heads in their small towns to whom they were capable. who punished offenses and framed Torahs for them to maintain. In those towns where there were 10s or twelve heads. merely one of them. the wealthiest. was obeyed by Al. antiquity of line of descent they made much of. and this was of great advantage to their Godheads.
This was how they made Torahs for the authorities of the commonwealth. The paramount head whom all obeyed called all the other head of the town together in his house. and when they were all assembled he made them a address of this consequence: Many offenses were being committed. to rectify which it was needed to enforce punishments and frame regulations ; and since they were the Godheads. allow them confer with as to what seemed best and publish their edicts that all might populate in peace. ( This civil order the Visayans did non hold. because no head was willing to admit another as greater than he. )
The other main thereupon made answer that what he proposed seemed good to them ; and seeing that he was the greatest head of them all. allow him make what he considered harmonizing to justness. and they would stand with him on it. That main so framed the Torahs which seemed to him necessary? for these Moros usage authorship. which the other indigens of these island lack? and what he set down the other heads approved.
Thereupon a trumpeter called amongst them viulahazan. which more decently means a steward. came. and taking a bell went through the town and to every small town shouting the regulations which had been made ; and the people made answer that they would obey them. Therefore did the trumpeter travel and make from town to town within the territory of that head. And from that clip garrison. whoever incurred the punishment was brought before the head. and if the punishment was decease and the condemned adult male asked to be made a slave alternatively. he was reprieved and became a slave.
The other head were justice likewise. each in his ain small town. If some of import instance came up for judgement the paramount head called the other heads together to seek it. go throughing sentence by their common ballot. They used to bear down tribunal fees. but these were non fixed ; they paid what the justice determined.
