26 BULLETIN 137, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



musketeers under the heroic Salcedo was instrumental in saving 

 Manila. To the present day Moro mythology makes the waters 

 and streams the abiding place of an evil dragon which bears the 

 name of the Chinese pirate, Limahong. 



Casting of brass cannon and use of ftrearms. — Brass cannon, the 

 pride of the Moro soldier, were effective enough against other Fili- 

 pino tribes not possessing firearms. Respect for the fighting quali- 

 ties of the Moro was bestowed by the Spanish also on the small 

 cannon or " lantaca " of native Moro manufacture. The Spanish, 

 liowever, attributed them to Bornean or Chinese origin. These 

 small culverins have a bore of from 1 to 2 inches. They were 

 mounted on a single swivel bar and placed on the stockades, forts, 

 and war praiis (" prahus ") of the Moro. As other Mohammed- 

 anized Malays of western Malaysia employed similar cannon and 

 as the entire war complex of the Moro was derived from the Asiatic 

 mainland through the agency of the Saracen missionary, it is prob- 

 able that both the knowledge of making gunpowder and brass can- 

 non did not come from China, as was believed by the early Span- 

 ish, but from Arabia by way of the island chain of western ]Malaysia. 



At the arrival of the Spanish, natives of Borneo exchanged in 

 trade with the Filipinos many articles which they themselves had 

 obtained from China and India. Such merchandise included copper 

 and tin, porcelain, dishes, gongs, bells, and cooking vessels of metal 

 from China ; cloth and blankets from India ; and iron lances, blades, 

 and knives, which were derived either from India or had been fash- 

 ioned by the natives of Borneo. Slaves, beeswax, gold, shells, and 

 cloth were received from the Filipino in exchange. Junks from 

 Siam trading with the Visayan Islands were encountered by the 

 Spanish. Malays sent their war praus to trade with islands as re- 

 mote as northern Luzon, Legaspi while at Bohol Island engaged 

 in battle with one of these trading vessels belonging to the southern 

 or Mohammedan Moro. 



Everywhere in the vicinity of Manila " Maynila," on Lubang, in Pampanga, 

 at Cainta and Lngnna de Bay. the Spaniards encountered forts mounting small 

 •cannon, or " lautakas." " 



Not only firearms but the art of casting brass weapons had been 

 acquired by the Filipinos along with the art of making gunpowder. 

 Morga's account of the conquest of Manila, 1570, by Martin de Goiti, 

 and of the small island of Lubang near Mindoro by Salcedo (Sucesos 

 de las Filipinas) relates how the Moro had strong forts with high 

 walls on which were mounted brass cannon. Moats surrounded these 

 forts. It is interesting to note that the Mohammedan IMoro defender 

 of Manila was known as a " raja " (Hindu), and that after the battle 



* Relaci6n de la Conquista de la Isla de Luzon, 1572 ; in Retana, Archive del Bibli6fllo 

 Filipino, vol. 1. 



