to establish and maintain- the Christian religion in their
foreign possessions, and a- great number of missionaries were
Sent to the Philippine Islands?»The population of the islands
was said to amount to three millions io^-souls, f The first
ecclesiastics who attempted the work óf converting these
pagan ^Öóple4 to th e Catholiejfhith were the Augustinians.*
Missionaries of other orders soon followed* and the monks
were very assiduous in learning the languages of the islanders,
and in. translating into some of" them the offices) andicate^
chisms o f their church, and in propagating tits doctrines
among the native people. Each religious order, compilnduthe
history of its particular province in three, or four foli®vphimesy
containing narratives of their proceedings for thei conversion
of thé nativesy and likewisehistorical notices of the countries
arid their inhabitants. Of these the work of the -Fran®kea®6|/
published at Manilla in 1738, is considered to be the- best.
Some parts of it have been translated by M. Le Gentil, whó
made it the basis of his excellent history-of-the Philippine
Islands. According to the testimony of these writers miracles
accompanied and facilitated the work of conversion. The
country of Taal, not -far from Manilla, was agitated by a
powerful volcanos which hroke out in an island « situate* in a
lagoon. Father Albuquerque passed over into, .the islahd,
and led a ’procession and celebrated mass. During allathé
time occupied by these ceremonies the .mountain uttered a
frightful noise, but afterwards it was found that^the summit
had fallen in; and all was quiet. Some years afterwards the
natives were -again affrighted 'by thick . volumes of smoke
which issued from the Summit, when a repetition' of the
ceremonies was followed by a like effect. Still the mountain
uttered occasionally horrible noises, until a procession of
monks headed by Father Thomas de Abren ascended to tbe
very crater of the volcano and fixed on the summit a wooden
cross, «o heavy that it required four hundred men to bear it
up the mountain. Since that time the volcano of the lagoon
has ceased to. terrify tbe neighbouring country, and the
valleys of Taal have regained their pristine fertility. Such is
Le Gentil, Hist, des Iles Philippines.
the »Narrative of Father .Gaspard, a . monk of the Augustinian
order who wrote the> history-of the Philippines^**
Valuable and-original information*respecting' the races of
ijlfeople in thesedslahdsiis to be found in the*deters of several
ecclesiastics;1' published! *by Achate = Hervas M#hlsj work on
languages. The. >following are;: remarks'sby ■'Don Francisco
Garcia de Torres; a ^missionary id- the island offCapul or
Abac, which- lies hik the. way from the Marian Islands to
Luzon. :This'(missionary had composed^ a.,dictionary,-cater
ehism, and other works in the language! ©f Gupul,’ and was
acquainted!' also with the fiisayd, Tagala, tand Pampanga
languages, and others which were .spoken in the Philippine
' Islands.1- Heisays, “ I agree with-yotidhsbelieving almost*<all
the'idioms.«of4 the Philippine and. of the -othersislands, in
their vicinity, to be dialects of; that is,(.-nearlytatted«.-Mj the
Malayan* language; which is s^Sken: on ithe* continent of
Malacca j thienam beperceived clearly in the • more cultivated
idioms, suchbas the Tagala, .Bisayay Paaapahga;; &c*. I
understood, perfectly the language of Capul; and, in con?
■v^Sing with vone* of the Borneans^Ti.disfioveredthe dialects
of GapuP and Borneo to be the; same; witfcS6me miniite
variations. Im the islandiof Gapul Or Abac,- •<as the. natives
call it, there are three languages; or rather three dialects;
One of these is spoken in that part of. the island which looks
southward. I tis called Inagta, whicbmeans iNfegrp; .because
the negroes inhabit1 that quarter,---; In the northern part
another dialect is - spoken, termed , Inabaenum. .-There is
another general language; in whieh we «preached and administered
the holy sacraments. The .Inagta or Inabacnumi and
all the other islanders, mutuallyri understandi/cachj other,
though each speaks in his own propori language. . I learned
all the three, and composed catechisms; a «dictionary, &e, in
the Inabaenum.”
It appears from thisaccountydhat thete&gi»>.bri;woolly-
haired tribes speak, at least in some o f the Philippine
Islands, dialects cognate to those, ©f the Malayan, or rather
the Polynesian race.
The Tagala and Bisaya dialects are nearly allied, as it may
; be seen by comparing vocabularies or the version of the