r which
reason they had recourse frequently to this image in their necessities,
calling it "the Divata of the Castilians;" for among them "Divata"
is God, whom the inhabitants of Manila call Bathala or Anito, [40]
as we shall see later. The good Biscayan upon seeing the holy Child,
was filled with a strange joy and happiness, and desiring to share
it with the rest of the expedition, began to cry aloud in his own
absurd language, "Bear witness to God, thou hast found His Son." The
religious at once took possession of the image, regarding it as
a good omen; and out of respect and devotion to it named the city
that they founded Santissimo Nombre de Jesus, and placed the image
in a church of their order erected in the city. There it remains
in highest veneration, and has wrought many miracles, particularly
in childbirths, whence it is both facetiously and piously called El
Partero ["man-midwife"]. Each year it is borne in solemn procession
from the church of St. Augustine to the spot in which it was found,
where a chapel has since been erected. The procession takes place upon
the same day when the discovery was made--namely, on the twenty-ninth
of April, the feast of the glorious martyr St. Vital, who is patron
of the city, and as such that day is kept as a solemn feast in his
honor. One of the regidors, appointed each year for this purpose,
brings out the banner of the city; he is on that day clad in livery,
and invites the public to the festivals. [41] There are bull-fights and
other public festivities and rejoicings, with many novel fireworks,
such as wheels and sky-rockets, which the Sangleys make the night
before; on this occasion they construct things well worth seeing, and
which appear well-nigh supernatural. The city of Manila holds similar
festivities on the feast-day of the glorious apostle St. Andrew,
who was chosen as its patron because, on his feast-day, the city was
delivered from the blockade of the pirate Limahon. At that time the
city had no fortress or walls, or any stone buildings; and in all
the islands there were no more than five hundred Spaniards, as I
learned from one of them. These few men alone compelled the enemy,
who numbered more than a thousand fighting men, to withdraw from the
city; and they even pursued and harried the pirates in such wise, by
blocking the mouth of the river Pangasinan (where they had retired
with their ships), that to escape the fury of our men they were
obliged to construc