FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>   >|  
r about and are forgotten by the Christianity of those districts. The settlements that follow from that point to Bolinao are so near to the black Zambals and Aetas that, when the latter revolt, one cannot go there without running great risk of his life. But when peace makes them tractable, some souls are obtained for God. The villages of Uguit and Babayan, which have recently been founded in this century with the converted blacks and wild Indians, [Zimarrones] clearly attest that fact. In Mindanao the territory conquered by our religious, namely, the district of Cagayang and the province of Caragha, ought to be considered as the rose among the thorns, oppressed by Moros, Mindanaos, and Malanaos, and by infidel Tagabaloyes and Manobos. Of those peoples, the former keep the evangelical ministers in continual fear, because of their persecutions; the latter keep us in a perpetual mission for converting them to our holy Catholic faith. As proof of the great and continual advance of Christianity there, it suffices to state that at the end of the last century the tributes which those who have been subdued paid to the king did not equal the expenses occasioned to the royal treasury by the maintenance of the said province; in the year 1720, the expenses and collections were equal; but now the royal income exceeds the expenses necessary for conservation. [34] Since the expenses have not decreased--for there is always the same number of infantry forces in the presidios of Tandag, Catel, and Linao, to which all the expense is reduced--it is inferred that the royal tributes have increased, and consequently the number of Christians. 739. There are so many heathen in the islands of Calamianes, especially in the island of Paragua, that at least one hundred heathens will be found for each Christian. In the island of Mindoro only the coasts are conquered, and heathen fill all the interior of the island. The same success as I said was obtained in the province of Caragha has also been secured in the above two provinces; although a very notable decrease of Christianity has taken place in them because of the invasions of the Moros of which I shall speak later. The island of Zibuyan, whose mountains are peopled by infidels--who, as they are exceedingly obstinate in regard to conversion, give us considerable anxiety, although some converts are obtained among them--is located in the Romblon district. The island of Maestre de Campo, formerly pe
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
island
 

expenses

 

Christianity

 

province

 

obtained

 
conquered
 
century
 

district

 
heathen
 

Caragha


tributes

 

number

 
continual
 

Christians

 
islands
 

Calamianes

 
Paragua
 
presidios
 

conservation

 

decreased


exceeds

 

income

 

infantry

 

reduced

 

inferred

 

increased

 

expense

 

forces

 

Tandag

 

infidels


exceedingly

 
obstinate
 

regard

 

peopled

 

mountains

 
Zibuyan
 

conversion

 
Maestre
 

Romblon

 
considerable

anxiety
 

converts

 
located
 
invasions
 

Mindoro

 

coasts

 
interior
 

Christian

 
hundred
 

heathens