Note 5 — EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND CONDITIONS

The literary works consist of pieces in verse, sometimes on very weighty subjects. Thus, for example, the “Passion of our Lord” has been translated into Tagálog verse. Then there are tragedies, which as we have mentioned above are excessively long.5 They often contain the entire life of a king. There are, furthermore, little poems, corridas, epithaliums, and songs. These last especially are very numerous and have special names, such as comintang de la conquista, the sinanpablo, the batanguiño, the cavitegan.6 Not only are the words of these songs, but also the melodies, national, and the Indians note the music of them with prodigious cleverness. All the Indians, in fact, are naturally given to music and there are some of them who play five or six instruments. Also there is not a village, however small it be, where mass is not accompanied by music for lack of an organ. The choice of the airs which they play is not always the most edifying. We have heard in the churches the waltzes of Musard, and the gayest airs of the French comic opera.