Note 14 — The Conquest of Mindanao

Spanish, empuyado, from empuyar, meaning “to fasten with sharp spikes.” There seems to be no satisfactory English equivalent as a name for the defensive contrivance that has always been employed by the Malays in the use of sharpened stakes (usually of bamboo) driven into the ground, point upward, and planted thickly in the spot to be defended; sometimes these are placed at the bottom of a trench and hidden by leaves, forming a dangerous pitfall. The use of empuyado in the text suggests the possibility that the Spaniards adopted this device to guard some exposed approach to the building, fearing Malay treachery—a conjecture strengthened by the presence of the Pampango auxiliaries, who probably were accustomed to the use of this sort of defense. See Vol. XX, p. 273.