N a t i v e s .
C u r l e d
H e a d e d
I n d i a n s .
affert that the Chinefe had a (dually begun to revolt, and had murdered
feveral of the Europeans. The Chinefe charge the horrible
tranfaction on the Europeans, and fay it was excited by their avarice,
in order to make themfelves matters o f the rich effedts o f
their countrymen. The emperor fent an embaflador to demand
fatisfattion, and fpoke in high terms of the revenge he would
take ; all ended by a pacification; the Chinefe fleets reforted to
Manilla in as great a number as ever, and the fuburbs were foon
re-peopled with inhabitants. The wealth that we are told the
Chinefe brought into the iflands was unfpeakable. The Jefuits
were expelled the country in 1768, and in the year following, by
the bigotry o f the governor, every one o f the Chinefe were ba-
niihed from the Philippine iflands, fince which trade and the
arts have declined, and depopulation and diftreis promife to be
the confequences o f fo imprudent a meafure.
In the mountanous parts o f the iflands are remnants o f the-
original inhabitants, a moft Angular race o f men, who through-
an exceffive love o f liberty, have relapfed into a ftate o f nature.
Thofe who inhabit the foot o f a mountain are mortal
enemies to thofe that refidd at the top, and both are equally hated
by thofe who live in the middle; happy pidture o f ' enthufiaftic
independency 1 They are feen wandering lingly amidft the;
woods, armed with bows and arrows; naked, excepting the fkin
o f a goat flung over their ihoulders; they lodge in hollow trees,
or hollows of the rocks; have no notion o f iociety, and, like the
primaeval inhabitants o f the world,
Venerem incertam rapientes, more ferarum.
T h e s e m e n a r e f t r o n g l y m a d e , o f h a g g a r d c o u n t e n a n c e s , b l a c k ,
with
with.curled hair like the negroes, and called by the Spaniards,
Negrillos. They certainly are o f the fame race as the Papuans
or people of New Guinea, who might driginally have fpread
themfelves over this tra£l. Thefe curled headed tribes are found
in moft o f the other iflands. Navarette mentions other black
Indians ; the men paint themfelves with white, the women with
other colors. Thefe, and other Indian people, often defcend on
the Spanijh fettlements, and commit horrible murders. Some of
them, like the antient Scythians, make drinking cups o f the fculls
o f their enemies.
T h e r e are other Indians that profefs a fort o f dependency
on the Spaniards, and have an Alcayde among them ; yet their
mannérs are barbarous ; they are brave, but ferocious ; and appear
to have been defcended from the Malayans, fettled here in
very early times. They are called lagalefe, and the Negrillos
pretend, that they had been originally their flaves. Their arms
are bows and arrows ; they took part with the Spaniards during
the fiege of the capital ; and ignorant of the laws o f nations,
flew in the moft favage manner our admiral’s fecretary, carrying
:a flag o f truce, and even the nephew of the Spanijh Governor,
who attempted to refcue him from their fury. The ftrength of
their arms was .fatally experienced by that gallant officer major
More, who fell transfixed by an arrow in leading our troops to
the ftorm.
I s h a l l now mention a few particulars refpeiting the natural
hiftory of the Manillas. It is not to be .wondered that, in one
fo abundant in volcanoes, there fhould be found fprings o f hot
' water. The moft noted is that which appears two leagues from
K a -, Calamba ;
N a t u r a l
H i s t o r y .