Note 8 — Chapter XV
Reading edition
The character of these curses is indicated by the statement of the Dominican Juan Ferrando (Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, i, p. 41): “In the elections of [local] magistrates which the alcalde of Ilocos Sur held in 1844, I had the good-fortune to be present at some of them; and I noticed that the gobernadorcillos of those infidels, on receiving the rod of office from the hands of that chief, offered, in place of the oath which the Christians swear to administer justice, the following imprecation: ‘May a baneful wind strike me, the sun’s rays slay me, and the crocodile catch me sleeping, if I do not fulfil my duty.’ All their oaths are in the form of imprecations, and they usually observe these obligations faithfully.”