Volume 48 — CHAPTER IX

Missions to the apostates and infidels intermixed

Another mission, in my judgment more arduous than any of those I have mentioned, according to what I myself have experienced—and this is the general opinion of all those who are engaged in its cultivation—is the mission which the province maintains in a place which is called the Marangley. This is composed of some very extensive and close forests, with various mountains, so covered with thickets and lofty trees that the sunlight can hardly enter there—although at intervals the natives have their clearings, of land which is so fertile that it seems incredible; and for this very reason, thinking that it would be considered fabulous, I omit an account of the abundance with which the land responds to whatever handful of seed they are accustomed to cast into it.

They also use auguries, which they obtain from a bird that they call batala, in the manner of which Virgilius sings, and which his commentator Servius explains; upon this Gellius, Pompeius, Cicero, Tiraquellus, and other humanists expatiate at length. And it is not surprising that they should be prepossessed by this error; for, if we believe Luis Vives, it passed from Assia to Grecia, and thence to Italia and Roma. Their belief is of that sort in this particular, that, if they set out on any expedition against another people, and on encountering them this bird should appear, singing in what they think is a melancholy tone, they immediately turn back and abandon their purpose, fearing to be entirely destroyed. On the other hand, if the bird sings to them agreeably, they at once regard their success as certain.

When they make peace with their opponents, they use a thousand execrations and imprecations with which they sign their treaties; and in order to divine whether there is any insecurity in the decision they catch a hog, and having stretched it on the ground, with its feet fastened thereto, they thrust into the midst of its body a knife, very broad and sharply pointed, and, quickly drawing this out, they carefully look for the blood on both sides. If on the side which faces either of the two parties there is no blood, or if it is there but not running, they conclude that the people on that side are deceiving them; but if the blood runs on both sides they shake hands, together they feast on the hog, and they swallow powerful draughts [of palm-wine?]—forming the same opinion from the blood as did the ancients from the entrails of the animals which they sacrificed, Cicero’s statement being verified that there is hardly a nation which does not find auguries in these things.

In the eclipses they display great sadness, believing that some dragon will carry away the sun or the moon, and therefore they call upon it in terms which express that idea. Accordingly, in order to succor those heavenly bodies they raise loud yells, and shooting arrows upward, they make a thousand demonstrations of grief, as did the Romans, according to Tacitus and Livius …. To this the Chinese add still more; for, besides the said shouting, they bring out some copper instruments, a sort of timbrel, having a very loud and disagreeable sound; and striking these all at the same time, they make a frightful and horrible sound. This, they say, is to aid the sun not to be carried away by the dragon, which they think is frightened by this noise, and thus lets the sun go free.

CHAPTERS X, XI

Missions to Visayas

In this manner, then, instructed and misled by the demon, those barbarians do fearful things, especially to revenge themselves, to the continual terror of those about them. The natives say that these wizards, changed into crocodiles, follow them when in their canoes, and do not stop until they seize some person whom they hate; also that they change themselves into other animals, in order to commit other wicked acts—as likewise that, availing themselves of various enchantments, they commit horrible murders, with a thousand other diabolical acts which are attributed to them. For this reason, if any one having this reputation enters any village to settle there, or, when already resident there, some rumor arises that he may be such a person, they immediately summon him peremptorily to depart from the village within three days; and if he does not obey they burn his house, and even himself and his family, nor is it once only that they have killed such persons with their lances. I do not doubt that the vulgar herd invent much, but as little is it doubtful that there are many wizards, who do a thousand evil things.

If on a journey they lose their way in some desert plain, they attribute this to the patianac of whom we spoke before; and in order that they may be able to find the road they strip off their clothing, and with this they say that they succeed in doing so because this proceeding frightens the patianac, and he takes flight and does not mislead them. In order to discover and know who it is that has taken from them any missing article, they employ a diabolical device, which they practice with a sort of sieve, which they call bilao—an act in which one plainly recognizes that it proceeds from the demon; for by simply shaking the said sieve while they name various persons the [name of the] thief comes into their minds. They also summon their manes, or [spirits of the] dead, when they are assembled in the house where some person has died; and in order to see whether or not those spirits come they lay down a sort of fine mat, and, scattering over it ashes in order that the marks of feet may be printed thereon, often there may be seen the traces of footsteps, and with this they remain well content. It is true, however, that even over here [in Europa] such things were wont to be seen in olden times, as we read in various writings which describe the sacrifices which were offered to such departed spirits; and our father St. Augustine points out this, citing Marcus Varro, while it is individually explained by Tiraquellus and others ….

As for the missions which the [Augustinian] province has in the Visayas Islands, the toil with which they have been and are being cultivated is inexpressible, and very little, if anything, has been published or known about them—partly because, as this work is carried on more remote from sight, it has been less likely to attract applause; and likewise because the religious, content that God, for love of whom they are employed therein, should be cognizant of their labors, care little for the rest, thus avoiding the subtle vainglory which, under pretext of the glory of God and the honor of the religious order, often deceitfully seeks praise for oneself ….

Let the first mission, then, to become known to the public be that of Bugasson, in the mountains of the province of Panay, in order that it may be known how great has been the labor in the conversion of those infidels. In the year 1704, father Fray Thomás Sanchez, a son of this province of Castilla, when he had finished baptizing the Indians who lived on the plains in that region, was assigned by his obedience to the said mountains, with two other fathers, as his associates. They obeyed the orders of their superior, and, after having conquered various difficulties, with a thousand risks of their lives, and having endured a thousand hardships of hunger, want, the fatigues of the wretched roads, and other inclemencies of the weather, amid the terrors of death they were able to secure the baptism of a number of barbarians, enough to establish a foothold in that region and erect a church. They continued in their task, reaping considerable fruit, although in a short time, worn out by fatigues, the said father and one of his companions died. Others were sent in their places by the province, who were able to imitate the zeal of the first missionaries so closely that in the year 1733 they were able to form a village of the recent converts alone, on a most favorable site, of more than two thousand five hundred souls; and, our Lord continuing His favors, so great a number have been added to the flock of Christ, by means of the continual preaching and industry of the missionary religious, that in the original chart of the said village which was sent to his Majesty in the past year of 1760, it is shown to have, counting women, men, and children, six thousand and eighty-nine souls, who are now baptized and reclaimed to civilization.

At the western side of the province of Panay, about twenty-five or thirty leguas out at sea, there are some little islets called the Cagayans; they are so low that they can hardly be seen, except when one is very near, and therefore when the Indians sailed thither they followed a star, by which they had marked the location of these islets. In them were many infidels, and even therein took refuge all the outlaws, and men who committed murders. There is no water in the said islands, but they contain so great an abundance of the palms called “cocoa” that, with the water of the said fruit, they do not feel the need of any other. [To go among these people was exceedingly dangerous, on account of their fierce natures; but it was accomplished (in 1703) by Fray Hypolito Casiano, who succeeded in winning their friendship and converting them to the Christian faith, so that in two years (as stated by the provincial Olarte, ante) he had “baptized all the infidels there, and induced all the criminals who had resorted thither to repent of their deeds and reform their lives.” He continued these labors and these triumphs until his death, in 1726.]

[All these missions were still conducted, when Mozo wrote, and were saving many souls; but their work was greatly limited and hindered by the scarcity of workers. These missionaries displayed the same spirit of devotion, zeal for souls, and self-sacrifice as did the earlier ones, but “with this difference [in results], that our predecessors dealt with peoples who were gentler and more civilized, while those of the present time are handling people who are more fierce and barbarous; and for this reason their triumphs must be the more glorious, and their virtue and constancy most firmly grounded. Many other souls are caught for Heaven in these islands by those religious who serve in villages near the districts where there are infidels, of which there are many in the said islands. They penetrate further into the country when they are permitted to do so, and they lose no opportunity when those [infidels] go down to their villages to procure articles that they need, which occurs often; those [thus converted] amount to several hundred persons annually.”]

[Mozo here describes certain remedies for sickness which are used by the natives. Among these are the gall and fat of the python (called saua and biting, in various dialects) and another similar species of serpent, which reach an enormous size in the forests of the interior. The gall is used both internally and externally by the natives, to cure chills and pains in the stomach—to which they are especially liable from going barefooted, and more or less naked, through mud and rain at all times; also for malignant fevers and any inflammation which causes them. Mozo relates how he had cured himself of a high fever, when the physicians had “sentenced him to death,” by the use of this remedy, and had on other occasions been relieved or cured by it; “consequently, I guard what I have of it like a precious jewel.” The fat of these serpents is equally efficient for swellings or pains in the muscles and sinews, especially those caused by chills and exposure to weather; also it relieves the pains of gout.]

[The rest of Mozo’s work (pp. 152–234) is occupied with the relation of the Augustinian missions in China; at the end is a list of the baptisms solemnized by one missionary during the year 1760–61, giving the name, age, and residence of each; most of these persons are children, and one had been a priest of an idol.]

DOMINICAN MISSIONS IN PANIQUI AND ITUY

[In the villages of Bujay and Dupag, and still more in the district of Ytuy, they met many obstacles and afflictions, as those natives were not so docile as those of Paniqui. “Nevertheless, much fruit has been gathered, in baptizing many infidels of the neighboring tribes, Ygolot, Ylong̃ot, and others; and in reclaiming some apostates who were hiding in the mountains.” The missionaries were troubled not only with the obstinacy of those in Ytuy (or Ysinay), and the persistent efforts of the devil to render their labors vain, but with the hostilities committed on their converts by a tribe close by Ytuy, called Panoypuyes, who made head-hunting raids on their Christian neighbors. The Ysinays were a timid people, and these fierce marauders kept them in abject submission to their tyranny—killing them when found alone or unprotected on the road, killing or snaring their cattle, demanding from them contributions of produce, and even human beings whom the tyrants slew and then “offered in sacrifice to their false gods.” The missionaries feared that they must abandon this mission; but, hearing that Auditor Arzadun was then making his official visitation in the province of Pangasinan, they appealed to him for aid. He sent a body of armed men from that province against the Panoypuyes, but they could not administer sufficient punishment; he then ordered troops from Cagayan, two hundred and eighty-two in number. To these were added fifty of the Indian guards from the mission of Santa Cruz of Paniqui, and some of the native converts there; and this expedition was able to check the insolence of those dreaded marauders. Ustáriz presents an extract from the report of this enterprise which was furnished to him by Fray Antonio del Campo, the vicar-provincial of the said missions. The expedition captured and burned the villages of Ajanàs (the principal village of the Panoypuyes), Masi, Taveng, Bang̃ao, and others; and slew Sapàc—the chief who ruled that tribe, and had been most tyrannical toward “the poor Ysinay Christians”—with many of his followers. In Ajanàs was a large building, on higher ground than the rest, and surrounded by a wall of stones, which was their sole fortress; “it was destined only for the residence of the unmarried men, who, according to the custom of that tribe, are not allowed to cover the more shameful part of their bodies, nor sleep where the married people live; the said pavilion also served as a watch-tower the duty of sentinel service belonging to the unmarried men.” Since this castigation, the missions and Christian Indians had enjoyed peace; and the natives, relieved from their terror of the enemy, had flocked to the missionaries for baptism. In Bujày there were baptized about two hundred persons of the Ygolots alone, and at this writing there were “more than seven hundred souls newly added to this mission; for, the report of the valor of the Cagayan Christians in this undertaking having spread abroad, it has penetrated into even the most remote part of the mountains, attracting even the most secluded of the Ylong̃ots, a tribe who rival the Panoypuyes in valor and fierceness. The mission of Paniqui likewise felt these benign effects; for at the report of such an achievement more than six hundred persons came to enroll themselves for the [instruction in] catechism, from the Yogad and Gaddàng tribes—besides forty souls from the village of Ybana in the Ygolot tribe, who united themselves to the village of Bayombong. Nor was this blessing monopolized by these two missions, but, crossing the mountains, it went on to Pung̃can—to which place many families, influenced by the rumor of this influx of people [to the missions], have come down from the Gumang̃i tribe, in whose instruction the reverend Augustinian fathers are occupied.”]