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                                   AN
                            HISTORICAL VIEW
                                 OF THE
                          PHILIPPINE ISLANDS:

                               EXHIBITING
                 THEIR DISCOVERY, POPULATION, LANGUAGE,
                     GOVERNMENT, MANNERS, CUSTOMS,
                       PRODUCTIONS AND COMMERCE.


                          FROM THE SPANISH OF
                          Martinez de Zuniga.


                       PUBLISHED AT MANILA, 1803.

                            IN TWO VOLUMES.

                                  WITH
                 A NEW AND ACCURATE MAP OF THE ISLANDS,
             FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.


                               TRANSLATED
                          BY JOHN MAVER, ESQ.



                                VOL. I.

                                LONDON:
            PRINTED FOR J. ASPERNE, CORNHILL; AND NONAVILLE
                       AND FELL, NEW BOND-STREET:
                      By T. Davison, Whitefriars.

                                 1814.







INTRODUCTION.


The original, of which the following translation is offered to the
English reader, is, probably, the only copy which has yet reached this
country. Whether the chance which threw it in the way of the translator
may be deemed fortunate or otherwise must be left to the decision
of the candid public; but it appeared to him that the information
it contains respecting a Spanish colony, the most interesting of any
other to a British subject, supplies that desideratum so much wanted
in our language;--a correct view down to a very late period of the
Spanish establishments in the Philippines.

The position of these islands, and, indeed, that of the eastern
Archipelago generally, whether considered in a political or commercial
point of view, is sufficiently important. They form the entrepot
of Europe, India, China, the immensely extended regions of Spanish
America, the north-western coasts of the new, and north-eastern coasts
of the old world; and in the storms which at present convulse the
political atmosphere of Europe, as well as that of both the Americas,
it is not easy even to conjecture what may be their fate.

The productions of these islands are various, and of a value and
importance unquestionably high. In the hands of an industrious
population, and under a fostering government, there is scarcely any
vegetable substance which, by slender exertion, they may not be made
to yield, whilst the choicest treasures of the mineral kingdom, lodged
beneath their irregular surface, minister largely to the cupidity,
and furnish materials for the more enterprising labours of man.

Gold is in abundance; iron, steel, copper, lead, pitch and tar, hemp,
cotton, indigo, sugar, cocoa, pepper, betel, cowries, tortoiseshell,
mother of pearl and pearls, hides, coyar, tobacco, corn and rice
excellent and abundant, with a variety of other productions, contribute
to the wants of commerce; while in this enumeration will be found all
the articles which, with the aid of the finest building timber in the
world, are requisite for the construction and complete equipment of
ships of every description.

The established intercourse of these islands with Japan and
China offers a ready transit for manufactures; and although it is
understood that the East India Company furnishes an adequate supply
of our woollen staple to the China market, we may yet fairly expect
that British enterprize will not overlook the advantages which the
opening of the India trade holds out in this quarter; nor will the
introduction of British manufactures into these islands, either with
an ultimate view to the above markets, or to those of Spanish America,
in any material degree interfere with the staple trade of the Company:
there is full scope for adventure in this new vineyard, and labourers
will not be wanting.

The political jealousy, and the national and religious prejudices
of the Spaniards, have till lately opposed a bar to an extended
intercourse with the Philippines; but the tide which hitherto
has flowed in that direction seems of late to have commenced its
ebb. The events of the last twenty years have been in their nature
so extraordinary, and in their effects so powerful a solvent of all
the prejudices, fostered by ignorance and superstition, that the dawn
of a new day seems to open upon mankind. Let us hope that while these
clouds vanish before the morning sun, the great bonds of society will
remain unbroken, and that the liberties of Europe, and consequently
those of the world, will be fixed on a permanent foundation.

The well-wisher to the temporal and eternal felicity of the human
race will hail, with becoming exultation, the opportunity which
it is hoped will now be offered of spreading the Christian faith,
and amicably and peaceably lending the reformed religion in aid of
the Catholic missions, to civilize the population of this extensive
portion of the eastern hemisphere.

As a literary production, the original has probably little claim to
merit, the author conveying his matter in a style more monastic than
flowing; at the same time that he seems to be generally under the
influence of that bias, which an early seclusion from life entails
upon the mind, and upon which even his official opportunities of
intercourse with the best society in Manila seem to have had a very
limited effect. The translator has found him too often occupying
his pages with contentions between the respective religious orders,
insignificant in their nature even to a Spaniard, and so much more so
to the English reader, that he has taken the liberty of altogether
omitting them in the translation, except where connected with the
political affairs of the settlement; and although by these means
several of the chapters are reduced to almost nominal importance;
yet considering the division of the subject in this form as adopted
on fair grounds by the author, he hopes he will be deemed justifiable
in retaining it even with the sacrifice of something of appearance.

Having said as much as he hopes can be urged against the original
production, the translator willingly advocates Zuniga's cause
in respect to its intrinsic value, as giving to the public the
only correct view of this interesting settlement, purporting to be
brought down to the peace of 1763; but in fact, as we may reasonably
conclude, extended to the period of publication at Manila in 1803. From
information which may be fully relied on, it appears that Zuniga may,
with more propriety, be deemed the editor than the author, as he was in
Manila, and superintended the publication in 1803; with the credit of
having only arranged for the press the papers of a deceased collector;
a conclusion justified by the circumstance of the work closing with
the peace of 1763, for there could not be any very solid reason for his
declining an account of the forty years intervening between that event
and the period of publication, had he himself been the author. If,
however, we are by these means without a detail of the actual events
which took place, it is probable we may have less cause for regret on
account of the very limited progress which we well know improvement,
or even amelioration, have been suffered to make under the Spanish
monarchy during the period in question. At any rate, we have grounds
for supposing that if any alteration, favourable or unfavourable, has
taken place, Zuniga has contrived to weave it into the work; for it is
asserted by those whose residence renders them competent judges, that
the view he gives of the settlement is correct to the latest period.

The origin and language of these islanders have engaged the attention
of our ablest orientalists. From certain similar characteristics in
the persons of the inhabitants of the interior, or aborigines of the
islands, they have hitherto had an African origin assigned to them;
and nearly from the same source (Madagascar), it has been supposed that
the Malay population has flowed, which has in a great measure inundated
the Archipelago, as well as some parts of the continental coasts.

Similarity, or even approximation of language and manners
unquestionably offer great facilities in enquiries of this nature,
and they have accordingly been resorted to by all our oriental
physiologists in their researches respecting the eastern Archipelago;
and so far as regards the Malays and Malayan language, these researches
have