The Indolence of the Filipino

5 See B. and R., vol 34, pp. 183-191 for a description of the
early Chinese trade in the Philippines, also translated by Hirth from
Chinese sources, but evidently not the same as referred to by Rizal,

6. This citation is translated directly from the original Italian
Ms. Rizal’s account is seen to be slightly different and arises from
the fact that he made use of Amoretti’s printed version of the Ms.,
which is wrong in many particulars. Amoretti attempted to change
the original Ms. into modern Italian, with disastrous result. It is
to be regretted that Walls y Merino followed the same garbled text,
in his Primer viaje alrededor del Mundo (Madrid, 1899).

Dr. Antonio de Morga’s book is perhaps the most famous of all the
early books treating of the Philippines. Its full title is as follows:
“Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas: Dirigido a Don Cristoval Gomez de
Sandoval y Rojas, Duque de Cea, Mexico, En casa de Geronymo Balli,
1609.” The original edition is very rare, and is worth almost its
weight in gold. The manuscript circulated for some years before the
date of publication.

The second Spanish edition of the work was published by Rizal himself,
who was always a sincere admirer of the book. It bears the following
title-page: “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas por el Doctor Antonio de
Morga. Obra publicada en Mejico el ano de 1609 nuevamente sacada a luz
y anotada por Jose Rizal y precedida de un prologo del Prof. Fernando
Blumentritt. Paris, Libreria de Garnier Hermanos, 1890.” Shortly
before Rizal began work on his edition, a Spanish scholar, Justo
Zaragoza, began the publication of a new edition of Morga. The book
was reprinted, but the notes, prologue, and life of Morga which
Zargoza had intended to insert, were never completed because of that
editor’s death. Only two copies of this edition, so far as known, were
ever bound, one of which belongs to the Ayer collection in Chicago,
and the other by the Tabacalera purchase to the Philippine Library,
in Manila. Still one other Spanish edition has appeared, namely:
“Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas por el Dr. Antonio de Morga. Nueva
edicion enriquecida con los escritos ineditos del mismo autor ilustrada
con numerosas notas que amplian el texto y prologada extensamente por
W. E. Retana, Madrid, Libreria General de Victoriano Suarez, Editor,
1909.” Retana adds a life of Morga and numerous documents written by
him. An English edition was published as follows: “The Philippine
Islands, Moluccas, Siam, Cambodia, Japan, and China. at the close
of the sixteenth century. By Antonio de Morga. Translated from the
Spanish, with notes and a preface, and a letter from Luis Vaez de
Torres, describing his voyage through the Torres Straits, by the
Hen. Henry E. J. Stanley, London, Printed for the Hakluyt Society,
1868″. However, Stanley’s translation is poor, and parts of passages
are not translated at all. [It was this edition then in preparation by
the Hakluyt Society, which Sir John Bowring, a director of the society,
mentioned on his visit to Rizal's uncle in Binan, so that to make the
book available to Spaniards and Filipinos became an ambition from
childhood with Rizal.-C.] A second English translation appears in
B. and R. vols. 15 and 16. A separate copy of this translation was
also published in a very limited edition, with the title: “History
of the Philippine Islands from their discovery by Magellan in 1521 to
the beginning of the XVII century; with descriptions of Japan, China
and adjacent countries, by Dr. Antonio de Morga, alcalde of criminal
causes, in the Royal Audiencia of Nueva Espana, and counsel for the
Holy Office of the inquisition. Completely translated into English,
edited and annotated by E. H. Blair and J. A. Robertson. Cleveland,
Ohio, The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1907.” See B. and R. vols. 9-12
for other documents by Morga, and vol. 53 (or Robertson’s Bibliography
of the Philippine Islands, Cleveland, 1908), for bibliographical
details regarding Morga and titles to documents. Perhaps the most
famous of all his writings outside of his book is his relation
mentioned ante, note 3.

7. Published at London in 1783. See p. 346.

8. See B. and R., vol. 4, pp. 221, 222, for an old boatsong.

9. Colin’s Labor evangelica, published in Madrid, 1663; a new edition,
in three volumes, and greatly enriched by notes and was published by
Pablo Pastells, S. J. (Barcelona, 1900-1902).

10. See B. and R., vol. 33, pp. 233-235. The original says the
ransom included 150 chickens; hence 450, an error due again to
Amoretti.

11, Conquistas do las Islas Fillpinas (Madrid, 1698). There is no
doubt of the frequency of inter-island trade among the peoples of the
Philippines at an early period. Trade was stimulated by the very fact
that the Malay peoples, except those who have been driven into the
mountainous interiors, are by their very nature a seafaring people. The
fact of an inter-island traffic is indicative of a culture above that
possessed by a people in the barbarian stage of culture. Of course,
there was considerable Chinese trade as well throughout the islands.

12. This estimate is somewhat high. A writer in speaking of the
population of Manila, the metropolis of the Philippines then as now,
about 1570 says that its population scarcely reached 80,000, instead
of the 200,000 reported.