6 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XII. 



to give evidence under oath concerning the extent and nature of Chinese 

 trade. It was believed that if trade in Chinese cloth and the like could 

 be stopped, the natives and Chinese would continue to trade without 

 using money; "for if they should wish to barter in the Islands — which 

 is not forbidden them — they can and will obtain goods as they formerly 

 did, in exchange for such articles as siguey (a small white snail), dye 

 wood, and carabao horns; to this mode of trading the Chinese will 

 adapt themselves and the outflow of money will cease." x The nine 

 Filipino chiefs, from villages near Manila, agreed that before the 

 Spaniards came to the Islands the people raised cotton, which they 

 made into cloth for their own garments and did not depend on the 

 Chinese, "for although one or two ships came from China each year 

 at that time, these brought no cloths or silks, but only iron and earthen- 

 ware and camanguian, 2 while since the arrival of the Spaniards, often 

 twenty or thirty ships come each year." 1 



The inquiry was without result, and the Chinese increased in 

 numbers and power until 1596, when about twelve thousand were 

 expelled from the Islands. 3 Despite hostile laws and massacres, they 

 continued to increase and spread out over the Islands throughout the 

 time of Spanish rule, and to-day they dominate the trade with the 

 natives of the Archipelago. The commerce with the Spaniards, whom 

 the civilized natives imitated, was so much more lucrative than that 

 previously carried on with the various villages that the old trade in 

 pottery and the like seems practically to have ceased. Despite the 

 constant references of the early writers to the Chinese and their trade 

 the importation of earthenware and common glazed pottery seems not 

 to have been mentioned after about the year 1600. 



While the greater part of the Chinese wares doubtless entered the 

 Islands through direct trade, a considerable amount came in through 

 trade with "Borneo, Maluco, Malacca, Sian, Camboja, Japan and 

 other districts." 4 "A few years before the Spaniards subdued the 

 Island of Luzon, certain natives of Borneo began to go thither to trade, 

 especially to the settlements of Manila and Tondo ; and the inhabitants 

 of one island intermarried with those of the other." 5 "The cargoes of 

 these traders consisted of fine and well made palm mats, a few slaves 

 for the natives, sago, and tibors: large and small jars, glazed black and 

 very fine, which are of great service and use." 6 Legaspi tells of captur- 



1 Blair and Robertson, Vol. VIII, pp. 82-84. 



2 Incense. 



3 Blair and Robertson, (Morga). Vol. IX, p. 266. 



4 Blair and Robertson, Vol. Ill, p. 298; Vol. V, pp. 73, 105; Vol. XVI, p. 176; 

 Beccari, Wandering in the Great Forests of Borneo. 



8 Morga, Ibid., Vol. XVI, pp. 134, 185. 



