Doc. 1602A The story of Fray Juan Pobre's stay at Rota in the Ladrone Islands in 1602

Chapter 70: How the good Sancho gave a detailed account of the customs of the Ladrones to Fr. Juan Pobre.

As the site was peaceful enough for Fray Juan to be informed about the customs of those Indian islanders whom we call Ladrones, he said to Sancho: "Until the next meal, do me the favor to tell me all about the nature of these Indians so that, if the Lord keeps me alive, I may be able to give an account of what is happening and in due course, I trust in the Lord, they be converted, because in the short time I have dealt with them, they seem to me to be of a peaceful nature."

-"Somewhat more than we are, said Sancho. They keep the peace, love one another, do themselves favors but they are not Christian like ourselves. Because I want to give you an account and to satisfy your wish, I will tell you all I know not only about their customs but also about their rites and ceremonies.

Firstly, as you will have seen already, dear Brother, they all go about, men and women, naked in the flesh and they do so from the time they are born until they die, and this is the same in all the islands. There are many such islands. Besides those shown on the navigation chart which are only the seven or eight they call Gani, [plus] Saipan, Guijan, Tenian, Ruta la Carpana, and Boam which is the one closest to Manila and the largest, there are may more in the direction of the Volcano [Island], so that according to what I have been informed by these Indians there are over twenty islands [and they all have the same language] (1)

These Indians are among the most robust and generally strong who have been discovered in the whole of the East [and West] (2) Indies. When they are born, they all come out white, but as they usually walk much in the sun and water they become dark. They usually anoint their bodies and hair with coconut oil and they like the luster it brings out of their very black hair, and it naturally becomes very blond. They do not [need to] make the lye water not the wash water that at home the sad and miserable ones who are not happy with what God gave them use to make themselves blond.

As for the industry and schemes they use in their fishery, it would make a very long story to narrate it all, so I will say that they use all the known nets and inventions to catch fish and many more, and that covers their fishery. As for their canoes, until now no better sailors or divers have been found in their craft. They teach their children from the time they are four or five years old to go to sea and they make them miniature canoes complete with their outriggers (like the ones their big canoes have) and they become so skilled at it that when the son becomes 14 years old he knows as much as his father and when they reach 16 or 18 the sons go out alone as I have seen to fish with a hook and a net. One of them by himself in a canoe fishes, bails out the water, manages the sail and if the canoe capsizes he straightens it up, so much is the strength they have.

The common fish they catch in the islands is the flying-fish which is a very good fish (in the islands). They use many different kinds of hooks, of very hard wood, of shells, and they make them with surprising workmanship although most of them now make them with nails from the ones the ships give them and those they found in the sad ship, the Santa Margarita which must have supplied the whole island. When they fish for these flying-fish, those from one town all come together in a bunch and they go out in their canoes, each one with from ten to twelve gourds; to each gourd is tied with a very slim cord a small two-pointed shell hook. One hook is baited with coconut meat and the other with shrimp or some minnow from the sea. All the fishermen throw these gourds into the sea together, everyone taking care of his own. It is by watching the gourds and seeing them wiggle that they know they have a flying-fish. There are so many fishermen because all those living on the coast of all the islands are fishermen. There are flying-fish for all of them as there are sardines in Spain. The average fish measures about one palm in length, and others about two. The first flying-fish they catch, they then eat it raw. The second one is placed a bait on a large hook and the cord is thrown over the poop and in this manner they usually catch many dorados, swordfish, and other big fishes. They are much enemies of the sharks and they do not eat them. The Indian chiefs do not eat any fish with leathery skins nor soft-water river fishes either. I want to conclude, as far as their fishery is concerned, with two things I have seen by which the reader will be convinced that they are the most skillful fishermen and sailors who have been discovered.

When the ships that go from New Spain to the Philippine Islands pass by, these people go out with their usual refreshments of coconuts, sweet potatoes, water and some rice and other little things produced locally. They bring it all on account of their covetousness for iron which is more useful to them than gold or silver. At the beginning, their desire for iron was so strong that sometimes it was thrown into the sea and they would throw themselves in after it and they would catch up with it before it reached bottom and pulled it out because there was a depth over two hundred fathoms. The Indians also used to go aboard the ships, then begin to go about looking for iron, because in it was their affection and heart as it is for someone pining after gold and silver. One day, one of them was walking around looking, when he saw an arquebus and underhandedly noticed that its barrel was fixed to a piece of wood, he made as if he were not looking at it and when it appeared to him that he was not being watched, like someone who hurls a spear, something they can do very well, he threw it into the sea. The Indian threw himself after the arquebus and it was a marvellous thing that, when everybody thought that the arquebus was lost and the Indian drowned, he came out a distance of an arquebus shot from the ship carrying the arquebus in the hand and showing signs of joy, and ridicule directed at those aboard the ship.

What I have just said appears to be an impossible thing, and more so to those who hear about it without knowing what it is to see even a bit of a sea or countries other than Castilla la Vieja [Old Castile], [to believe that] these people are such great divers. From the time they are newborn they bathe themselves as much under water as above it; therefore, it is something worthy of admiration, which the Christian reader will also gather from this story. I will conclude the part about their fishery by saying that they are indeed the most skillful in their occupation as [any] fishermen who have been discovered.

My master, whom they called Suñama, went out to fish upon the high sea and having, as I have said, eaten his first flying-fish and placed the second one on his hook, a very large swordfish caught it and as he had a slender cord he did not dare to pull on it for fear of losing it although he wished to get the fish. He thus spent much time playing the fish and getting it tired and some space of time is required for that. There came a big shark and seized the swordfish by the middle of the back so that the Indian, on account of not letting go of the line, had his canoe overturn. He threw himself into the water and following the line and coming upon the shark pushed him off his fish, brought up the swordfish, righted his canoe and finally put a mat flag up the mast and, returning ashore, began to narrate to us what had happened, strutting on the beach and gesturing as if he had performed a great exploit. When these Indians return from fishing, in accordance with the quantity of fish they bring, and if they bring back some big fish, this [signal] flag is big. They go out with the tide and return at two and at that hour their children and the other children of the town are already awaiting their fathers or brothers. If they see the signal or flag, then they begin to make great shouts giving signs of great joy and they throw themselves into the water to receive him and he throws the fish that he has taken into the water at them. The children take it, pull it to the beach, place it upon some sticks and take it home. Upon the arrival of the fish, the first thing their children do, if they are big or with their brothers, relatives or friends, four of whom can pull the canoe and place it under a very big shed that they have for this purpose, so that their canoes are never left in the water overnight. Then, upon arriving ashore, he throws himself again into the water where he stays for a while and, when he comes ashore, the person who is his best friend brings a big gourd full of fresh water and washes him from head to foot and as a treat massages his shoulders. Then, he walks slowly home and at the cleanest place and spot he has next to his house he places a clean and well-washed mat and on top of it some plates made of fresh palm leaves. There he keeps his swordfish or his dorado or other kind of fish that he brings and he begins with a flint knife, although nowadays they all have iron ones, to cut open his fish and to the children who brought it for him he gives all the blood, the entrails, fat and gut on account of their being [considered] a delicacy. He himself places the same into his mouth raw. The children love this as much as those of Castile when a very big pig is killed and their mother distributes the blood pudding among those who are in the house and sends also to those outside. Thus, these people take from the back of the fresh fish and send it to their neighbors and the rest of the fish is salted with certain ceremonies that they have for the purpose. One such ceremony is that at a certain time when the fish must take the salt well, they take a big cord and tie it from the end of their house to some palm tree some 8 to 10 fathoms away and when the other Indians see this signal they pass on the other side of the house because they understand that, on the side where the cord is, the fish is being salted. They call the flying-fish gaga ,(3) and the dorado batogue and the swordfish batofe. This suffices insofar as it concerns their fishery.

Sometimes when they come back from fishing early or when they do not go fishing, they go up into the bush to check on their plantations where those who can work go every day. The most common product is their potatoes of which they have four kinds, some that are bitter and big which they call piga, others that are shaped like hands and feet and are called dago, other big white ones they call nica and others very hairy, round and purple in color they call sune. Then they make their ovens to cook the potatoes and the breadfruits which they use instead of bread and, to make a few presents to the Indian chiefs, they bake some pies they call tazca or tazga.(4) It would be endless to tell it all, at least to do it at the least cost, about such things as we do not have in our country as you would have already seen yourself.

I now wish to talk about things that they make inside the houses which is how they make mats which in Castile are called esteras. They are very skilled at it. Mats are used as mattresses and blankets because they sleep with a mat underneath and another one on top. The men and the women use mats to make tables upon which to eat, to send their presents, to make hats of different styles, and that is why they know how to work the matting well. It is made out of some trees that look like nipa palms or shorter palms which they call nipay. (5)

They also make their ovens every day in the morning and in the afternoon in accordance with their own means. The women go to the plantations to work as in many parts of Spain to plow and sow. The plantations cost them much labor to work the earth because as they do not have any plows nor anything made of iron, which as I have said they esteem so much that they do not want it to touch the earth. Thus to work the earth they use some sticks mad of a hard palm wood they call bonga and at the tip of which they are going to use to work the earth there is a sort of blade the thickness of three fingers and, with both hands they swing it from side to side (6) and so cultivate their lands and keep them clean [of weeds].

They are not lazy and they do not like the lazy ones either. Thus the men and women are great workers and they make their sons and daughters work from the time they are small. They instruct them in their trades and from a very young age they know them as well as their parents because they are taught with much love. This love they have for their children is so great that I would need much space to extoll it as it really is. They never beat them in punishment. They are loving in their words and if the child resents what they tell him and gets angry, he moves away a little from his parents and with his back turned toward them he throws some sand or dirt or stones backward so as not to face them. After he has cried for some time the father or the mother gets up and goes where the child is and with very loving words picks him up into their arms or on the hips and take him where they were themselves and they give him something to eat, always from the best they are eating and after he is no longer angry they tell him what he has to do. If he should [already] be tall, they admonish him to be good. That is the love with which such barbarians raise their children and they in turn become obedient and orderly in their chores and functions. Naturally, they are merciful toward one another because, even though they practice from childhood in order to become skilled in their weaponry such as in shooting darts and slings both for offence and defence with those they are at war, which ordinarily takes place between one coast against the other, at present they keep the peace. The peace is such that, as an eyewitness, in all the time I have been among them (7) I have never seen them (those of the town) fight one another, surely an affront to those of our country, I don't say people, where there is hardly any peace in one house. These people keep such a great peace that I don't know how to ask why there is so much [of it] among barbarians and so little among Christians.

They have other things in which they are skillful and for which thank God I understand one must learn from them because they are naturally peaceful.

If one day the Indian is sick and cannot go fishing, his child goes to the beach at the time the people of the town return from fishing and, knowing already that the father or brother is indisposed, they give him some of what they bring, even though he had a houseful of salted fish they give him some fresh fish to eat that day. On a day when the owner of the house or the wife or the children fall sick, all the relatives in the town take them lunch and dinner and from the best they have and this until they die or get up from the bed or usually for at least nine or ten days.

When their houses become old, they have them repaired. All the relatives or neighbors gather the materials and on the appointed day, even if it were from the bottom up, the house is finished in half a day or at two or three o'clock. As far as Indian houses are concerned, these are the best I have seen because they are all based upon their stone pillars (8) which the others [elsewhere] do not have. They not only take their labor to build the house of a relative or neighbor but also they bring over food for him, for his whole household and also for themselves. Their custom is such that what one does with his other relatives and friends, he [also] does it with his friends.

They gather at certain times of holidays they have during the year, not only those from one town but other towns and they host a feast and banquet for one another. For this purpose, they keep the salted fish and at some of these meetings as many as 2,000 or 3,000 get together although only 100 or 200 eat, or 1,000 depending on the means of the one giving the feast.

They also come together to debate. The people of one party take their places inside some sheds and the other party likewise. One gets up and begins to debate and to throw verses and tell witticisms in their style against whomever is in front of him or against the other town and after he has finished another from the opposite side begins to debate against the former one. In that manner many towns come together as I have said to debate against one another. This dispute or debate persists from 8 in the morning until 2 when they eat what they have brought although usually the town where the gathering takes place gives them food. Such debates usually lead to some enmities between them as is the case with all disputes and more so when they want to show off their knowledge. The most knowledgeable among these Indians gather to attend this dispute. Some of them are taught from childhood and they call this one an ari,(9) and this meeting is the most esteemed of all those they hold. for that reason dissents arise from it and they defy one another, town against town, and they come out to their posts, plains or palisades. They have a marked boundary and they carry out their skirmishes with their slings and sometimes they meet in battle with their spears although, since I have been among them and seen a few of these disputes, they have ended peacefully.

They are very cheerful and jokers. They wrestle and test their strength and all this very peacefully. At 20, 30, and at 40 and even at 50 paces they do not miss the target they aim at with their spears. At 100 and 20 paces they are very skillful in shooting with the sling. they make marble stones for this purpose the size of very large acorns in such a way and with such strength that they shoot them with their slings like and arquebus, always hitting what they aim at with the stone. so great is the force that if the stone hits the head or the body it penetrates it. Boys from the time they are small challenge one another, those from one shed against those of another, or one town against another; they [then] make the stones out of mud and they blunt their small spears or bars and they carry out their skirmishes and they meet and give battle. Sometimes they knock one another down but once the fight is over they embraced one another with great love.

When, Brother Fr. Juan, they arrive at the marriageable age, these Indians make a big feast and banquet and they have their own custom of the dowry, as all the Indians who have been discovered have. They reckon relationship form the first-born brothers upward and a bond also exists between father and godfather, mother and godmother, and between those who are great friends.

Friendship is such between some of them that upon arriving at the house of his friend, if he should find him at home then he may take whatever he wants from it and he does the same with respect to his property and his coconut trees as if they were his own. What these people value the most are their boars, canoes, and nets. Their friends use and consume everything they own between themselves, so great is the faithfulness they keep for each other. When two friends meet, they then embrace each other and walk while holding each other with the arms around the neck and thus they walk through the town. The boys also agree with one another to keep this friendship forever and this with great chastity, quite unlike the regretful and miserable custom that exists in many parts of Europe which is something to make one cry and more so [because it is] among Christians. These barbarians have been asked many times by the Spanish if among them they practiced some vice against nature. Arms akimbo they gasped in much surprise upon hearing about it that they said that such a thing had never been seen nor heard of in all their islands, that they did not even have a word for it and if anyone among them did it their relatives would later kill them in a bad manner."

- "Truly, Brother Sancho, these people whom we take for granted as barbarians, have some natural things that are so good that on Judgment Day our Lord God will have to judge us for it because, look what is going on nowadays in may parts of Italy and, to begin with, even in Spain on account of our sins! God save us!"

- "The holy office [of the mass], said Sancho...If our Lord had not placed this defence which serves as an undisputable barrier, the whole [world] would already have been lost or most of it corrupted.

They do not practice justice nor is there anyone among these Indians to carry it out, but there is in each town one or two or three chiefs for whom they show some respect, for example, when he comes from fishing, by pulling his canoe up the beach, by taking what he brings to his house and the same thing when he returns from his plantation. The first persons from the town who encounter their chiefs take from them and carry some thing or other in their hands or on their shoulders. They also show him respect at meetings by giving him the first and best place, and at the banquets the first slice and dish. They call such Indian chiefs omacarai (10) and they do the same to their wives. In some islands they also show the same respect to old people although they may not be as important as the others. The young men usually show off their strength in front of these chiefs and they wrestle arms open and make each other tumble. Then, the friend of the one who fell down comes forward with great arrogance saying: "Friend, you have to take me also" and he begins to wrestle with the other. Then there comes forward another and yet another, some with so much arrogance as they say: "You, you are nothing but a child and you should wrestle with children and not with me", and thus they test their strength or sometimes they move apart from each other and, although in just they usually act as earnestly as in fencing. They take some spears at 10 or 12 paces, one throws at the other and although they are skillful at hitting correctly, they are more so in avoiding being hit, and many times they grab the spear in the air and say to the one who threw it: "You think I am blind? Understand that I have very good eyes", and this is the way they prove themselves in front of the Indian chiefs.

When one kills another, if they are from the same town he absents himself from that town to go to another island so that the relatives will not kill him. He remains absent until from the killer's house or from that of his father or mother they take one or two palms of tortoise [shells] which is the thing that is most valued among them and with some big fish and rice they pay the father or mother or wife of the deceased for the death. Once this has been done, they send word to the exile and he can come freely and walk about fearlessly through his town and that is their form of justice. The Indians killed four of the Spaniards who went over to the island of Boan but the latter had no one to blame but themselves, as the Indians would tell those of us who remained: "Why are you so bad? Why don't you want to be at peace with us? If we kill you it is because you do us much harm." In truth, that is the way it was because there were some Spaniards who would punch the [native] children without provocation and do other wrongs which the parents would tolerate many times until they became angered and killed them, but at present they tolerate much because these Indians hold it as a great honor to have a Spaniard in their house and on account of the good amount of iron they hope to get in exchange for him. Thus they must be provoked very much to kill them. Even though they are barbarians, they esteem very much the Spaniards who have good customs and they say of one who is very good that he is marireri (11) and about one whom they see as dishonest or badly conditioned that he is very bad, which is the same as saying in their language areri. (12)

When the time comes to get married, as I have said, and for the husband and wife to share one house, although they may have been married 20 or 30 years, if the faithful husband should cheat on his live-in wife and if the latter becomes angry enough, she leaves the house and takes all the children she has with all the furnishings from the house and goes to the house of her parents or relatives and she remains there. In all that time the children do not recognize the father although he may pass next to them. The husband's relatives must implore her very much before she goes back to him; however, when she cheats on him, it is easier for her to get pardon from the husband because this sin is more serious for males than for females.

The names which they give themselves from the time they are small are names of fishes or of trees which they use to make their canoes or of other similar things that they value very much. When they are walking and they meet one another, they make courtesies by removing their straw hats when they have them, and treating one another with betel nut that they call sano (13) which they always carry in some little baskets very well made of matting and when they have run out of them and they meet with some person, they call on his good will by showing the [empty] basket and letting him know that it has been shared with so many others that it is finished. Then the other gives him some of the betel nut which he is carrying; otherwise, he does the same thing as the other.

The island of Boan [Guam] which is biggest among those we have discovered would have nearly 400 towns and some of them with 200,300 and 400 people each. it would have a circumference of 50 leagues. Its population would be over 60,000 inhabitants. The towns have grand chiefs and are among the largest; one is called Funa and the other Motac. (14)

The island of Carpana [Rota] has as many as 50 towns; there would be more or less from 10,000 to 12,000 Indians. If I mention only these two islands, it is because we Spanish have been in them and have informed ourselves and because about the others neither the size nor the population is known although they are said to be highly populated. The people on the coasts have an abundance of fish and those who live in the interior have an abundance of land products from the land and thus they trade and deal among themselves giving in exchange for fish some rice, potatoes and other kinds of produce from the land. They value very much a type of tall trees they call rimay [breadfruit} and with reason as it provides their daily food and serves them as bread.

About the iron they have, they work it with pure force in accordance with what they need, by taking some very strong cobblestones and with pounding they make their hooks and knives without fire and they know very well how to grind them so that they can use them to make their ships and things and the other stuff they need in their fashion.

The people closest to the sea and who live along the beaches are held to be more important than those who live in the interior. They do not use slaves but they have servants and they treat them very well. The people who live in the woods are held to be the lower class; they are called mangachanes (15) and they hold those of the upper class who live on the beach in great respect, so much so that without the latter's permission they could not reach their houses nor their canoes and boats.

I could tell you many other things, Brother Fr. Juan, about the customs and the nature of these Indians but for now what I have told you will suffice."

- "Two things I would like to know about, Brother Sancho, if you don't mind. It is what they worship and how they bury their dead, that is which rites and ceremonies they use the most."

-"I am happy to tell you what I know. With regard to worship, it is the same with them as for justice. As they have neither king nor castle, similarly they have neither law nor idols to worship. They only give some sign of holding much in reverence the skulls of their ancestors, specially those of their grandparents and parents. Such skulls they keep in their houses, raised high above, and they make a sort of bowing gesture holding them in some respects. (15) Those who are more adept at these ceremonies give orders to their wives, sons, daughters and servants that, while they are gone fishing, nobody should go up where the skulls are because the deceased whom they call anite [or anito] would get angry and they would drown or would not catch any fish nor have good luck; hence, they should not touch anything. Thus they try and obey, even those of the household do not go up where the anite or skulls are until they return from fishing and the fisherman goes up first, takes the skulls from some small baskets like a box and places them in front of himself and makes his certain ceremonies offering them the flying-fish that he has brought in and talks to them very quietly so that no-one can hear what he says, and when he has taken some big fish like a swordfish or a dorado or a turtle or some small one which they call tagafe, (16) they offer it to the skulls and placing the oldest one on top of the other skulls and placing some of their fish catch on top of that, they send for their relatives and the nearest neighbors and they make a feast to their skulls, everyone bringing rice flour mixed with water ( [and/or] preserves from grated coconut) and making signs and ceremonies as if to feed that old skull they begin to sing in a high pitch as if to say grace to the Indian by saying: "I love you much, much I love you skull, much I love you skull as you give me such good luck in fishing and I give you so much honor". (17)

There are some Indians among them whom the call macana, (18) which means learned man, and who makes rain and knows how to foretell the future. Such men own many skulls in their house and are more adept than the others. When those of the town need water for their fields, they ask these macanas to make it rain and they like to be coaxed and thus they are much coaxed and are give some presents which they receive willingly and because the other Indians understand that they have power. To make rain, they take some of the skulls to talk to and they bury them for two or three days before the conjunction of the moon and, as for the most part the weather is usually damp and it rains then, those barbarians think that the Indian macana makes it rain and although he fails sometimes and most of the times, if at some other time by luck he hits it correctly, they esteem him a lot for that and they give him a few presents of which they are fond of (which does not surprise me much), as well as in many other parts because few are those who throw gifts away (I say that most of these are fond of gifts).

As the devil works for our perdition, although he holds all these barbarians under his banner, he tries to deceive them also with his tricks and schemes and by appearing to a few Indians, in particular these macanas who are most familiar to him, in the guise of one of their ancestors whose skull the macana keeps in his house and because they did not carry out very well the ceremonies that he has imposed upon them, he beats them and leaves them many times crushed and broken and at other times threatens them and tells them: "Why did you not take care to have the people show me some respect, not to have them touch the skulls and why do you let them go up into your house? I will have you drowned. Don't go fishing, neither today nor tomorrow, as the boat will capsize and you will not have any luck either in fishing or in your plantation because you do not carry out my commands."

Sometimes, after having beaten them well, he takes possession of their bodies and they usually go out between 11 or 12 at night shouting through the town saying a thousand nonsensical words and then the other Indians who are awake learn about the sickness that the miserable one suffers from and from then on they hold him a little esteem because they say that the anite which is the skull threats him very badly because he must not have carried out his orders well and they tell him to hurt his pride: "Go on, go, go away! You have not done well what it had ordered you to do so, go on", and he becomes so ashamed with what they tell him that he returns to his house and out of shame he does not come out where he would be seen for over ten days. Even though these Indians appear like barbarians to us, they think of themselves as being very knowledgeable and, by the questions they ask and the answers they give, that there is nobody in the world more informed."

- "I don't know the reason why they presume themselves to be so knowledgeable, said Fr. Juan."

- "It is not remarkable that most of the barbarians in the world think of themselves as the most knowledgeable, said Sancho. Neither these Indians nor the gentiles presume. Why, they are simply blind in their knowledge of themselves."

- "Well, they do not know about God and they do not fear him, and what surprises me the most is that those who have the light and torch of our holy catholic faith, because they do not regulate their lives based on the fear of God which is the true knowledge, they are on their way to perdition. A large part of the world has already been lost on account of some arrogant and envious men who have chosen to dispute wittily like Luther, (20) Pelagius (21)l and others. It is necessary, very necessary for us, Brother Sancho, to prostrate ourselves upon the earth and with deep humility to live with the fear of God because the wheel of science overfills those who are not so well knowledgeable about their own selves but humility destroys that very wheel with the fear of God. Among all the opinions and esteems, the one that the pride of man esteems the most (said Fr. Juan) is to want to, and to appear to and to be esteemed as a prudent and wise man. It is by being so prudent that our first father [i.e. Adam] had a great fall and that we all fall with him on account of wanting a knowledge greater than the one we were given, and even the wise Solomon, who is the one commonly said to have been the wisest man in the world and the one who had received the most favors from God who, after having told the 3,000 parables through the Holy Spirit, fell into many errors. He who becomes crazy on account of God has no such doubt, although the whole world may call upon him. There is a very correct and true proverb and warning that says: "He who saves himself knows", although he may appear to be the most ignorant in the world. So, Brother Sancho, it is very necessary for us, I have already said, to lower ourselves as much as we can and subject our lives to the yoke of the fear of God in order not to misbehave by rising so much as to lose the foundation of the fear of God and to fall even lower."

- "Well, then, said Sancho, so that you may see the presumption of these Indians who think that there are no people who are better, more knowledgeable, or more informed that they in the world. Look at the answers they give. Some of the questions are so barbarous; for instance, I have told them, by saying to them: "Who made the sky?" They answered me: "Well, we look at it, [therefore] we made it."

- "Who made the earth?" and they respond: "What a fool you are! If I go and sow my rice and plant my potatoes, who would have to do it if not me." And they say the same thing about the sea: "Well, we go fishing and we sail on it in our canoes, [therefore] we made it." With such nonsense they answer our questions and many times they say that we are the foolish ones.

They laugh a lot at our clothes and other stylish manners. They are ashamed to cover their body with any kind of clothing, so much are they naturally used to go about naked, as I have said, both men and women. Only the women above 8 or 10 upward carry a piece of tortoise [shell] in front or a leaf from a plant, the size of the palm of the hand, and appropriate for covering their nakedness. Although, as I have said, they go about all naked, I have not seen in the daytime shameful behavior among them, although in their dancing events and dances some behave that way, although not so badly as among Christians who dance that damned and devilish dance of the Etc. [sic] and I have not yet heard anyone witness here what Christian eyes can see when watching such a dishonest and shameful dance. These Indians also sing and make music in harmony and with much concert. They teach one another how to dance and sing. And now, Brother Fr. Juan, I wish to conclude with the burial of the dead."

- "About 8 or 10 days ago, Brother Sancho, I was called to a house in the town of Atetito which is where they killed our Spaniards, and they told me to go up into it and I saw a dead man they had there called Soom (22) who was one of the most important chiefs in the town. He was lying on a mat. Near his house they made a platform for him with coconut trees and very high beams and on top of it a chair where they could place the dead Indian and while he laid there the platform was surrounded by the other chiefs. A few were singing, crying and there they were telling him many things which I did not understand, then they took him down and they all together took him to the beach in front of the house of one of his brothers who was the one who was his heir, because among them the children do not inherit, but the brothers do. They made him a grave and threw him in. They buried him and placed a new mat on top. Around the grave they made a sort of bier with a roof, a small platform covered with new mats and they went from there with the older brother to the house of the deceased where they held a big feast mixed with some tears."

- "That is what they usually do, said Sancho, with the Indian chiefs. That Soom, I have known him and he was one of the leaders of the town of Atetito, but what they commonly do to their dead is to wrap them in a new mat that serves as a shroud, and to cut his hair. Two women from among the oldest in the town who are his relatives arrive and, placing on top of the shrouded corpse a few tree barks or painted papers, they begin to sing and to cry together saying to so and so, calling him by his name: "Why have you left us? Why did you absent yourself from our sight? Why did you leave the women you were so much in love with? Why did you leave the sling, the spear, the nets and the canoe in which you went fishing? Why did you leave the little basket where you carried your betel nut? Why did you leave the axe and the knife?" They carry on in this manner for more than two hours saying such things and more. All of his relatives embrace him and carry him off together to bury him with great weeping and afterward they return to his house and each drink one mortarful of pounded rice (or grated coconut) diluted with cold water. They bury them in front of the house of the most important relative. (23)

When men or women are sick, the cure and remedy they apply to them is [by massaging] the part [of the body] where it hurts. They get up on top of them and they step over them as if to beat them, lifting one foot and lowering the other. One such sick person may have one Indian working on one muscle, another on another and yet another on the shoulders. sometimes, there are as many as four Indians on top of the sick one. If he should have a headache, given that they cannot step on the head, they press on it with the thumbs. That is the way that they commonly cure the sick bodies."

- "My Lord God, Brother Sancho, may take pity on them and cure their souls and send them the light of the holy gospel."

- "It will be difficult, Brother Fr. Juan, because until now no gold nor silver has been found in these islands."

- "Well, then, for the light of heaven to come among them, said Fr. Juan, I say that neither gold nor silver is necessary, my brother, because for the conversion of these Indians a ship has to come from Manila or from New Spain where the religious have come and the Spanish would not want to bring them unless motivated by some interest in gold or silver or another thing of value to them. What can be of greater interest, said F. Juan, than the conversion of the soul for which the Son of God came down from Heaven!"

- "That is good for sure, Brother Fr. Juan, but I tell you the truth. If these Ladrone Indians had any gold or silver, they would be Christians already and even greater thieves to take the gold from us after having traded it for iron."

- "My Lord God in his mercy, said Fr. Juan, will incline the good nature of the Indians toward preparing them to receive the light of Heaven even though there is neither gold nor silver. If our Lord sees them prepared, he will send them help so that they may become Christians and that is what we have come from Castile for."

- "Well, we Castilians, Brother Fr. Juan, do not come only for that but we are almost all dissolute. And because it is already time to eat, let us go toward the lodge and afterward you will do me the favor to narrate to me the loss of the ship San Jeronimo to see if it was equal to ours."

- "Surely, Brother Sancho, not many more escaped from one ship than from the other. The troubles were almost the same. Although the big storms that you tell me about have surprised me, the ship San Jeronimo also passed through the same storms, not surprisingly since both were there at about the same time."

When they arrived at the lodge they learned from the Indians that they had to embark for their island the next day in the morning. Then they all ate together and I ended up with a good part of the potatoes, breadfruit, and some flying-fish, and this meal was the last one and the [last] proper bite that the good Sancho ate. After the meal, the two returned to the point they occupied in the morning whereupon Fray Juan began to say:

- "Now, my dear brother Sancho, I want to give you an account of what happened to those who were in the disastrous and pitiful ship San Jeronimo and as you have shown me the order I have to follow, in the name of my Lord I will begin."

1 Ed. note: Later addition to the manuscript
2 Ed. note: Later addition to the manuscript
3 Ed. note: Now written gaaga
4 Ed. note: The origin of the name of the town where Fray Pobre lived (that of its founder)
5 Ed. note: The same custom and work are used in the Philippines.
6 Ed. note: That must be the traditional Chamorro tool called fusiño.
7 Ed. note: Six months, from April to October 1602
8 Ed. note: Now known at latde or latte stones
9 Ed. note: Is this word akin to the Polynesian word for a wise man, alii? Fr. Pérez has transcribed this word as "mari".
10 Ed. note: Or so it appears in the manuscript. Fr. Pérez has transcribed this as "magaraies ó macaraies". One may wonder if the word macana was meant instead, even though the word seems to have been reserved for chiefs who were also priests or sorcerers, as will be seen below.
11 Ed. note: Fr. Pérez has transcribed this as "mastreri".
12 Ed. note: The author mentioned earlier that the words for "very bad" were are ari.
13 Ed. note: Fr. Pérez has transcribed this as "sauo".
14 Ed. note: In 1602, the largest towns in Guam were therefore Fuña, located abeam of Funa or Aluton Island where the old site of Agat was located in more modern times, and Umatac, both on the west coast. The predominance of Agadña occurred later, after the arrival of the missionaries in 1668.
15 Ed. note: I think that the word "mangachan" could have been misunderstood by Fr. Pobre. There was then an inland village called Machanag (or Macham) situated southward of As Teteto.
16 Ed. note: There is a 2-line addition to the manuscript which is scribbled so small that it cannot be meaningfully deciphered. Fr. Pérez has transcribed it as follows: "Por eso dicen algunos que usan de Fotoques y anitos, como a la verdad no usan dellos, sino de solares' [That is why they say that some of those, who use idols and anitos - in truth they make use of the ground floor only - those etc.]
17 Ed. note: This corresponds to the red snapper, according to Amesbury &#38 Myers' "Guide to the Coastal Resources of Guam", vol. 1, page 51.
18 Ed. note: Similar customs existed in the Philippines and the idols were also called anitos. On the other hand, the priests (and priestesses) were called catalonas.
19 Ed. note: It is a pure coincidence that the same word, of Mexican origin, was used by the Spanish to describe a "war club".
20 Ed. note: Heretic born in Germany [1483-1546] who believed that salvation could not be obtained by faith and indulgence alone.
21 Ed. note: Heretic born in England [360-422] who believed that divine grace was not necessary for salvation.
22 Ed. note: Not pronounced as in English, but as two separate syllables, So-om. The name of this Chamorro family was later written Soon (See a later volume, ca. 1690, for the story of Captain Soon who had been sent to discover the central Carolines)..
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From Rodrigue Lévesque, History of Micronesia Vol. 3, pages 36-38. Reproduced with permission of Lévesque Publications, 189 Dufresne, Gatineau, Québec, Canada, J8R 3E1.

Copyright © 1993 by Rodrigue Lévesque

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