Note 5 — Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon

Blumentritt says (Dic. mitológico de Filipinas, pp. 34, 35), of the appellation Bathala: “This name, of Sanscrit origin, is or was given to various gods of the Malay Filipinos. The ancient Tagalos called their principal god Badhala, or Bathala mey-kapal [“God the creator”], and gave the same name to the bird Tigmamanukin, ... and sometimes to the comets or other heavenly bodies, which, in their opinion, predicted future events.” This is analogous to the manner in which the North American Indians apply such terms as “Manitou,” “wakan,” or “medicine,” not only to their divinities, but to any phenomenon that is mysterious or incomprehensible to them.