Note 8 — EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1721–1739

The governor sent orders to the alcaldes-mayor that “all the rancherías or visitas close to the coast should be compulsorily united, either to the larger villages or to each other, so that even the smallest village should exceed, if possible, five hundred tributes—in consequence of which measure all should fortify themselves, as the lay of the land should permit.... All these measures were at that time admirable, and would have been thoroughly effective if the inclusion of the smaller villages in the larger ones, or their consolidation, had been carried out more energetically by those whose duty it was. For this undertaking, and to stir up the negligent and careless, the armadas were more necessary than for opposing and restraining the Moros; they gave but little attention to the latter, and still less to the former, and everything was left in the same necessity, and the same condition, [as before].” (Concepción, Hist. de Philipinas, x, pp. 364, 368.) ↑