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. 48]

100

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 48

who was already past the age of ninety years, who
never was willing to leave me until he died; and on
various occasions he explained to me the method of
making the said poison, naming to me the separate
ingredients, although I never was acquainted with
them. These same people have other plants, the use
of which I tried, in my religious instructions, to
banish among them - not only because some persons
make use of them for evil purposes, but also because
they lead one to suspect some diabolical aid, for those
people accomplish with them things which are truly
amazing. But since information of this may be of
great assistance in explaining some things which,
written by the ancients, give the moderns material
for many and various curious inquiries, I will briefly
describe what those barbarians are accustomed to do
with the said plants. They use, then, I was told, certain herbs that are amatory, or adapted for philters,
if thus they should be called (which I do not dispute), in order to captivate the love of those whom
they desire to win. For instance, do they desire to
marry some woman who does not love them? Then,
obtaining their herbs (which they know very well),
they carry these with them, endeavoring at the same
time to carry them in the mouth when they talk with
the woman; and the attraction is usually such that
in a short time they succeed in gaining the affection
of women who before were very averse to loving
them. They do the same when they enter the presence of some person whom they have offended and
whom they fear. They take the said herbs in their
mouths, and, armed with this antidote, they are not
afraid to be seen by him and to talk with him; and
such are the results that they experience that, even