Question

Excerpt 2
            Morga:
            In the rivers and streams there are ver large and small scorpions and a great number of very fierce and cruel crocodiles which frequently get the natives from their bancas on which they ride... However much the people may trap, catch and kill them, these reptiles hardly seem to diminishin number. For this reason, the natives build on the border of their rivers and streams in their settlements where they bathe, traps and fences with thick enclosures and bars of bamboo and timber within which they do their bathing and washing, secure from these monsters which they were somehow superior to them.
            Rizal’s annotation:
            Perhaps for the same reason, other nations have great esteem for the lion and bear, putting them on their shields and giving them honourable epithets. The mysterious life of the crocodile, the enormous size that it sometimes reaches, its fatidical aspect, without counting anymore its voraciousness, must have influenced greatly the imagination of the Malayan Filipinos.

QUESTIONS
1.      In Excerpt 2, how did Morga portray the Filipinos?
2.     In Rizal’s subsequent annotation, what does he mean when he says, “ Perhaps for the same reason, other nations have great esteem for the lion and bear, putting them on their shields and giving them honourable epithets”?
3.    In general, what is Rizal’s motive in writing his annotations of Morga’s work/ how does this fit into the aims of other propagandists working for reforms during this time?

Answer 1

alread" de!onstrated that this belief is fallacio&s, as the"co&nt with good te!perat&re, !an" people, food s&ppliesand other factors fa'orable to the !aintenance of h&!anlife) The" li(ewise ha'e !an" !inerals, rich !etals, precio&s stones and pearls, ani!als and plants, in which -at&re has not shown la+it")The totalit" of islands of this large Archipelago bothlarge and s!all, is inn&!erable) Those which are incl&dedin the na!e and go'ern!ent of the Philippine Islands, properl" spea(ing, n&!ber appro+i!atel" fort" si+ largewitho&t an" s!aller ones) The" are all e+tensi'e and the principal and best (nown ones are 2&3on, /indoro,Tenda"a,

4

Cap&l, 5&rias, /asbate, /arind& d&.&e, 2e"te,a!ar, Ibabao,

607

Ceb&, Pana", 5ohol, Catand&anes,Cala!ianes, /indanao, and other less i!portant ones)The first island which the panish con.&ered andsettled was Ceb&

1

where the con.&est was began, andcontin&ed in all the other s&rro&nding islands which are allinhabited b" nati'es residing therein (nown as 8i sa"ans,otherwise called #the tattooed ones% for the reason that the!ost i!portant !ale residents here ha'e since theirchildhood, decorated their entire bodies b" painting theirs(ins, following a pattern therein drawn9 and b" p&ttingcertain blac( powder where the blood oo3es o&t, and thiscan ne'er be re!o'ed) Howe'er, as the capital ofgo'ern!ent and the principal settle!ent

5 It is very difficult no* to determine e$actly hich *as this island of 6endaya, called for some years 7Isla +ilipina8! 2ccording to the accounts of +r!9rdaneta, his island *as far to:the east of the group, passing through themeridian of the #oluccas! #ercator places it in: Panay and +r! /olin in 3eyte,bet*een 2buyog ad /abalian against the opinion of others *h;< place it inIbabao, or south of Samar! ut according to other documents of the epoch, there*as no island *ith this name, but a chief called 6andaya, lord of a to*n locatedi<p-= that part, and because the Spaniards could not understand: the Indios of the time, so many contradictions in their accounts occurred! e see in 3egaspise$pedition (document, %>?"&@& 2cademia de la Aistoria) that *hile theSpaniards *ere tal1ing of islands, the Indios *ere tal1ing of a man,

etc.

2fterloo1ing for 6endaya for ten days ,they had to leave *ithout having found itB72nd *e pass on *ithout seeing either 6andaya or 2buyo!8 It seems, ho*ever,that the Spaniards continued giving this name to the southeastern part of Samar,called Ibabao or Cibabao, the southeast, and Samar the north of the same island!

"

Southeastern part of Samar!

%

SiigbH

in the language of the country!

D

6hat is, dra*ing first on the s1in *hat has to be tattoed! 2s it *ill be seenfurther, the isayans used the same method the 4apanes use today!

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