The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 36]

1649-I666] JESUIT MISSIONS IN 1655

59

The Mindanao Missions
The island of Mindanao'3 is the largest of these
Filipinas Islands, next to that of Manila. A great
portion of it is yet to be subdued. In that part which
is conquered, the Society has charge of the jurisdictions of Iligan and Zamboanga. The latter is the
chief presidio of the Spaniards, where a college is
in the first years of foundation, which has a rector
and five priests who work in it. The villages that it
instructs are as follows: The village of the natives
and Lutaos14 of the same Zamboanga, who number
800 families. In place of paying tribute, they serve
as rowers in our fleets, which are quite usually cruising about in defense of our coasts and to harass the
enemy. The island of Basilan opposite the presidio
of Zamboanga and two leguas distant, has about
1,ooo families - who, attracted by the industry, affection, and care of the mission fathers are most ready
to show themselves for the Christian instruction, but
few appear at the time of collecting the tribute. The
Christian kindness of the Spaniards, which attends
rather to the welfare of the souls than to personal
interest, is tolerant with those people, as they are not
yet entirely tamed and subdued, and because of the
danger of losing everything if they are hard pressed.
That happens not only in the island of Basilan, but
also in all the other places of that jurisdiction of
13 This information is obtained by Montero y Vidal from a
report made in 1654 by the Jesuits, at the order of the colonial
government; it is probably one of the local reports used by Solana
in compiling the preceding account.
14 Murillo Velarde says of the Lutaos (Hist. de Philipinas, fol.
73b): "They are capable and alert, and remind me of the
gypsies in Espafia."