When
Fr. Pedro Chirino[i],
three other Jesuit priests and a brother arrived in Carigara, Leyte in July
1595, they were impressed by the abundance of natural resources of the place.
He would write about these some six years later in what is considered one of
the most important historical resource of the era, Relacion de las Islas Filipinas. Immediately evident to Chirino was
the marked division of the island into two distinct regions or districts
separated by a mountain ridge (which he called ‘Carigara’) running from north
to south, providing a ‘remarkable inequality and variety in its temperature and
seasons.’ The ridge, he reasoned out,
explained the two distinct seasons, so that when half of the island’s
inhabitants were sowing, the other half was harvesting. That way, there were
two harvests in a year, which were both ‘very abundant.’ Compared to Manila
where Chirino had been earlier, the temperature in Leyte as in other parts of
the Pintados (Visayas) was not so hot, even if the island was said
to be two degrees nearer the equinoctial line.
Villages
were mostly situated near ‘a large grove of palm trees’ and ‘full-flowing
rivers,’ their source of drinking water and natural bathing pools. Here in these villages, the natives raised
cows from China , fowl, deer, hogs and planted fruit trees, rice, vegetables
and various root crops, while the sea teemed with fish. Since fish constituted
an important part of their diet, native settlements tended to be near the
coasts. Those palm trees and huge trees, some with trunks as large as 12 brazas[ii]
in circumference, according to Chirino,
gave shade to the roads and trails from one village to the other, ‘providing a
comfort and refreshing coolness indispensable for those of us who must travel
on foot for lack of any other convenience .’
He added that ‘throughout the island, the roads traversed groves and
forests, with foliage so cool and abundant that even at high noon, the sun
caused us no annoyance.’
He
noted that the inhabitants were ‘honest, simple, and intelligent’, and possessed
two ‘good and laudable’ qualities. One
was their generosity and hospitality to travellers, which he had probably
experienced in his many travels. He said they had no need of wallets or
provisions because wherever they went, they were sure of being ‘welcomed,
sheltered and offered food.’ The second
admirable trait was the natives’ sense of fairness which was shown in their
pricing of an essential commodity, like rice. Whether the harvest was good or
bad, the natives never took advantage of the situation. They sold their rice at
fixed rates, Chirino observed. Such qualities were not found only among the
Pintados but in many places in the colony he had visited. [iii]
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| Sandha oil from India |
[i]
Pedro Chirino was born in 1557 in Osuna of Andalucia. He graduated in both
civil and canon law at Sevilla and entered the Society of Jesus a the age of
23. Having been appointed to the mission in the Filipinas in place of Fr.
Alonso Sanchez, he arrived here in 1590 with the new governor Gomez Perez
Dasmariñas. He acted as missionary to the Tagalogs and the Pintados (Visayas),
and was superior of the Jesuit colleges at Manila and Cebu. He cultivated the
friendship of Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, whom he advised to found the
college of San Ignacio and the seminary of San Jose in Manila. On July 7, 1602, he left Cavite for Acapulco
by the vessel ‘San Antonio’ with appointment by visitor Diego Garcia as
procurator of the mission at both the royal and pontifical courts. He obtained
a decree from Father General Claudius Aquaviva, by which the mission in the
Filipinas was elevated to a vice-province, independent of the province of
Mexico. His Relacion was written in 1603. On July 17, 1606, he returned to
Manila. He died on September 16, 1635. His most important manuscript,
entitled Primera Parte de la Historia de
la Provincia de Philipinas de la Compania de Jesus, was kept by Pablo
Pastells, S.J. (Relacion... p. 169)
[ii] 12 brazas is roughly equivalent to 30 meters
[iii] Op cit.
Chirino, pp. 280-282
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