meal to be prepared, consisting of fish, meat, and wine. When the
guests are all assembled and the feast set forth in a few plates on
the ground inside the house, they seat themselves also on the ground
to eat. In the midst of the feast (called _manganito_ or _baylan_ in
their tongue), they put the idol called Batala and certain aged women
who are considered as priestesses, and some aged Indians--neither more
nor less. They offer the idol some of the food which they are eating,
and call upon him in their tongue, praying to him for the health of
the sick man for whom the feast is held. The natives of these islands
have no altars nor temples whatever. This _manganito_, or drunken
revel, to give it a better name, usually lasts seven or eight days;
and when it is finished they take the idols and put them in the
corners of the house, and keep them there without showing them any
reverence. As I have said, they all, from the least to the greatest,
eat and drink to the point of losing their senses. In the villages
nearest the sea some do not eat pork, the reason for their not eating
it, which I have already given, being that, in trading with the Moros
of Burney, the latter have preached to them some part of the nefarious
doctrine of Mahoma, charging them not to eat pork. In this they act
most childishly, and when, by chance any of them are asked why they
do not eat it, they say that they do not know why; and if one asks
them who Mahoma was and what his law commands, they say that they do
not know the commandment or anything about Mahoma, not even his name;
nor do they know what his law is, nor whence it came. It is true that
some of them who have been in Burney understand some of it, and are
able to read a few words of the Alcoran; but these are very few, and
believe that he who has not been in Burney may eat pork, as I have
heard many of them say. They swear by the sun and by the moon, and
all the islands have this oath in common--a fact that I have noticed
since our coming to this land. It does not seem to me that they are
accustomed to worship animals, stars, clouds, or other things which
many idolatrous pagans are wont to adore. I believe, nevertheless,
that they have many other customs with regard to sacrifices and
witchcraft, for they actually practice these; but there is little
advantage in wasting the time or burdening the mind therewith, for any
rational person will be able to understand sufficiently the rest after
re