242 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GAR VAN rM '"°{vo£xxii" 



five of his wives, and protected the missionaries in every way possible. 7 Religious fervor is said 

 to have reached such a height that the people publicly flagellated themselves until the blood 

 flowed. 



Ledesma and Martinez were succeeded by other Jesuit missionaries who preached the doc- 

 trine to the Hadgaguanes, 8 "a people untamed and ferocious — to the Manobos and to other 

 neighboring peoples." 9 



There must have been opposition to the propagation of Christianity as we find that a fort 

 was constructed in Linao 10 some time after 1596. The headman, however, of the Linao region 

 invited one Father Francisco Vicente to visit his people and it seems that "even the blacks ll 

 visited him and gave him hopes of their conversion." 12 



Morga in his Sucesos 13 speaks of Butuan as being peaceable. He makes mention of the 

 industry of obtaining civet from the civet cats. 



1597 



In the General History of the Discalced Augustinian Fathers, by Fray Andres de San 

 Nicolas, 14 we learn that missionaries had penetrated the district of Butuan as early as 1597, 

 but that they had been unable to withstand the hostility of the mountain people. 



1622 



In 1622 the Recollects succeeded the Jesuits in ecclesiastical administration of Butuan 

 district. Father Jacinto de Fulgencio sesms to have been the most energetic of the band of 

 eight that undertook the conquest, for it is related 16 that he traveled 50 leagues up the river, 

 preaching the faith to the villages. "He had serious and frequent difficulties in making him- 

 self heard, " polygamy and slavery being the two great obstacles to the reception of the Christian 

 doctrines. The results, however, were successful, for he is said to have converted 3,000 souls, 

 and to have founded three conventos 16 one of which was in the village of Linao. 17 At this 

 period Butuan is said to have had 1 ,500 Christians, and Linao, or Laylaia as it was also called, 

 1 ,600 souls. 



1629 



In 1629 18 there was a general uprising of the Stilus and of the Karagas. One Balintos 

 arrived in Butuan with letters from the famous Corralat, decreeing the death of all the mission- 

 aries and urging the people of Butuan to rebel, but they, "with a faithfulness that has ever 

 been a characteristic of them," refused to follow the orders of Corralat, and instead of killing 

 the missionaries, protected them by every means in their power. 



1648 



The arrival of the Dutch in Manila 19 in 1648 incited the natives to sedition. A decree, 

 issued by the Governor of Manila, Don Diego Faxardo, helped to foment the restlessness into 

 rebellion. Santa Teresa M sets forth some of the results of the rebellion among the Manobos. 



7 Ibid., 13: 47, et seq. It is interesting to note here that Ledesma in one of his letters mentions the fact that the Ternatans were accustomed to 

 Bwoop down on the coast of Mindanao and kept the natives of Mindanao on the alert. In citations from other writers quoted by Blair and 

 Robertson we find evidence of dealings of the Ternatans, both friendly and unfriendly, and with the natives of Mindanao. 



• Perhaps the Hadgaguanes here referred to are the Higagaons or Banuaons of the present day. 



» Ibid., 44: 60. 



'° Linao was a town situated some miles to the south of Veruela. It and the surrounding country subsided in recent times. Its former site is 

 now under a maze of mad torrents that carry the waters from the upper to the middle Agusan. 



ll We should bear in mind that Spanish historians frequently referred to the mountain people as little blacks (Negrillos), otherwise wo might be 

 led to believe that the ancestors of the present people living in the vicinity of the old townsite of Lfnao were Negritos. 



» Ibid., 44: 60, et seq. 



» Ibid., 15. 



» Ibid., 21. 



<• Ibid., 21: 221. 



w A convento is a building erected for the accommodation of the spiritual administrators of a town and their assistants. 



» Ibid., 21: 221. 



"Ibid., 35: 65. 



» Ibid., 36: 126. 



» Historia de los rebgiosos descaljos, translated by Blair and Robertson (36: 128, et seq.). 



