Note 155 — Chapter VII

Dogs do not bark at the Spaniards only, in any country, but at those who are strange to them. Neither do the Indians detest the fathers from birth. The fact that the Indians yield to anyone who assumes a boasting attitude, especially if he be drunk, and have a knife, is not so much cowardice as prudence. “I believe that the reverend father was very melancholy, and tired of the ministry, when he began to write his letter.” (Delgado, pp. 317, 318.)

“If our father had traveled, he would have known that dogs bark at anyone whose clothes are unfamiliar to them. In regard to their horror of white faces, he at least exaggerates. It is not at all strange that a child should cry at an object being presented to him that he has never had in his ken before. I have seen many children burst into sobs at the sight of my eye-glasses. It is a fact that some of them have just as little as possible to do with us, either for contempt, embarrassment, or antipathy; but there are a very great number who profess affection for us. When the government secretary, Cambronero, died in the year 1840, all his servants shed tears abundantly. A serving-maid of the Señora de Recaño was left desolate, when the latter embarked for España a short time ago. An old woman on the occasion of [the engagement of] Movales in the year 1823, gave Col. Santa Romana proofs of great affection and fidelity. During the same engagement, while Don Domingo Benito was haranguing his artillery sergeants and telling them ‘I shall die the first,’ one of them answered, ‘No, Sir, I shall die before you.’ When the Jesuits were exiled, the villages that they administered grieved exceedingly. In the archives of St. Augustine, I have seen the relation of one of the friars who went there for their relief, and he paints in lively colors the memory preserved of the Jesuits: ‘Here they cannot look upon a white habit; notwithstanding the kind words that we speak to them, and the presents that we make them, we cannot attract to ourselves the good-will of these people; hence, when we call a child, he runs away instead of coming to us.’ I have seen some servants ready and anxious to go with their master to any part of the world; and, if the Spaniards would take than, many would go to España. When some insurgents in the island of Leite put Alcalde Lara in the stocks, his servant feigned to be in accord with them. He made them drunk, and then took his master from the stocks. He fitted up a barangay quickly, in which they attempted to escape, but the night was stormy, and all were drowned. And finally, I myself have received several disinterested proofs of their good-will.” (Mas, pp. 118, 119.)