380 REMARKS AND OPINIONS. 



Los Indios of the Spaniards, speak, according to 

 their tribes, seven different chief dialects ; namely, 

 in the north of Lu9on the Pampangos, the Zam- 

 bales, Pangasinanes, Ylocos, "and Cayayanes, in 

 the neighbourhood of Manilla the Tagalese, and 

 on all the southern islands the Bisayas, with some 

 idioms.* 



The Spaniards are strangers in the Philippine 

 islands. Many tribes of the Indians, even in the 

 interior of Lii9on, have maintained their inde- 

 pendence, and those on the coasts, wlio, on being 

 converted to Christianity, have submitted to a 

 foreign yoke, have not learned the foreign lan- 

 guage. The religious orders v^ho accomplished 

 the spiritual conquest of the country, and ensure 

 the political supremacy, have adopted their lan- 

 guage. The Tagalese, in particular, which, from 

 the circumstance of its being spoken in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the capital, is become the chief lan- 

 guage, has been greatly enriched by them, not only 

 with books to faciUtate the acquisition of it, but also 

 edifying compositions of all kinds in verse and prose. 

 Fr. Francisco de San Joseph is called El Ciceron, 

 and Fr. Pedro de Herrera, El Horacio Tagalo ; 

 there is even no want of tragedies. The artes and 



* Natives of the Molucca islands were formerly settled in 

 Marigondon, on the shores of the Great Bay of Manilla ; their 

 descendants, besides the Tagalese and the Spanish, still speak 

 their own language, which they carefully preserve. F. Juan 

 de la Conception, t. vii. p- 102. 



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