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. 40]

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THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 40

of the chiefs; if he passed near where the chief's
wife was bathing; or if any dust or any other dirt
fell from the house of the timaua upon the chief or
his wife when passing through the street: then in
these and numberless other similar cases the powerful ones deprived the poor wretches of liberty, and
tyrannically made them slaves- and not only them
but their children, and perhaps the wife and near relatives. The worst thing is that all those who had been
made slaves by war, or for punishment or debts, were
rigorously regarded as such, as slaves for any kind
of service or slavery, and served inside the house.
The same was true of their children, in the manner
of our slaveries, and they could be sold at will.
However, the masters were not accustomed to sell
those born under their roof, for they regarded them
in the light of relatives. Those slaves were allowed
to keep for themselves a portion of any profit which
they made. The Tagalogs called such true slaves
sanguiguilir, and the Visayans hdlon.
Other slaves were called namamahay, for they did
not serve their master in all capacities, nor inside
his house; but in their own houses, and outside that
of their masters. They were bound, however, to
obey their master's summons either to serve in his
house when he had honored guests, or for the erection
of his house and its repair, and in the seasons of
sowing and harvest. They [had also to respond] to
act as his rowers when he went out in his boat, and on
other like occasions, in which they were obliged to
serve their master without any pay.
I26. Among both kinds of slaves, sanguiguilir
and namamahay, it happens that there are some who
are whole slaves, some who are half slaves, and some