wing note by the
Spanish editor, Father Coco: "The Indians have not changed in this
regard. Since they have not lost their disposition they preserve
with it their vices. If the father does not interest himself in the
regulation of bridges, roads, the maintenance of the children at
school, etc., nothing useful is done. In this interest and zeal, the
father must not relax one instant, for the very moment in which the
vigilance of the father rests, little by little all the good that he
has done in the village disappears. The greater number of the Ilocan
plains are crossed by irrigation canals, brought to completion by the
initiative of the fathers, and preserved until now by the watchfulness
of the same persons. All this, as is natural, brings endless troubles
and not small sorrow to the parish priest."

[98] Psalms xxxv, 7.--_Coco_.

[99] The author might have added something more, namely, that from
the little that is enjoyed from the Spanish race, it is becoming so
degenerate in the course of time that it is losing completely even the
characteristic traces of its origin. It is giving the "leap backward,"
as we say here in common parlance.--_Coco_.

[100] The original is _bozales_, which is a term applied to negroes
lately imported, or to inhabitants of the less polished provinces of
Spain, newly arrived in Madrid.

[101] Dative of _agibilis_, a late Latin word coined from _agere_;
meaning "what can be done or accomplished."

[102] _Visitas_ in the Philippines are the distant suburbs of a
village. They generally have their chapel and patron saint, and
the chapel is called _visita_. The term has been extended to the
suburbs. Many of the _visitas_ are distant from the mother village
four or six hours by horse, along impassable roads which cause great
annoyances to the parish priests.--_Coco_.

[103] Odes, book iv, 24, 11. 30, 31. William Coutts in his translation
of Horace (New York and Bombay, 1898) renders this passage as follows:
"We hate virtue when safe amongst us, but seek for it when removed
from our eyes, envious alike."

[104] Still today [1893], thanks to God, one may sleep in the convents
with doors unlocked, without the slightest fear. However, now they
are generally locked in the province of Manila.--_Coco_.

[105] Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians iv, 9.--_Coco_.

[106] Job iii, 3.

[107] Much more might be said about these points, which Father Medina
treats with as much skill as delicacy...