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. 51]

88 THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS [Vol. 51
north western coasts of the Bay of Manila are accused of having frequently attacked the boats of
ships, when these were not sufficiently guarded in
their intercourse with them. The natives of the town
in the Bay of Mariveles, at the entrance of that of
Manila, assured the writer of these pages, that it
would be madness to attempt accompanying them
into the woods, even in disguise; and in this they persisted, though money was offered them to allow him
to proceed with them.
The Indians are the descendants of the various
Malay tribes which appear to have emigrated to this
country at different times, and from different parts
of Borneo and Celebes. Their languages, though all
derived from one stock (the Malay), has a number
of dialects differing very materially; so much so, that
those from different provinces frequently do not understand each other.
They differ too in their character, and slightly in
their manners and customs. The most numerous class
of them are the Bisayas,"4 (a Spanish name, from their
than of fact; but it is still a subject of deep interest. I have heard
from respectable authority, that the language of Cagayan, the
most northern province but one of the island of Luzon, the men
of which are tall, stout, olive-coloured, almost beardless, and
proverbial for their mildness, peaceable behaviour, and fidelity, so
much resembles that of the Sandwich islanders, that some of
these at Manila found no difficulty in making the Cagayan servants understand them! The province of Ylocos is the next to
this to the north, and forms the north coast of the island. The
Ylocos are black, short-bearded men, and noted for their insubordination and dissipated character.
46 Our author here confuses the Spanish name "Pintados"
(literally, " painted," referring to their tattooed bodies) with the
native name, "Bisayas," both being indifferently applied to the
islands south of Luzon.- EDS.