THE PPIILIPPINE ISLANDS 31 



honour of Philip II., the son of Charles V. Meanwhile 

 they became known to the Portuguese as the Eastern 

 Islands, while the Spaniards called them the Islas del 

 Poniente, for while the latter nation sailed westwards round 

 the world, the Portuguese carried on their explorations in a 

 contrary direction. This curious circumstance involved 

 another. To the first circumnavigators the necessity of 

 altering their day on passing the meridian of 180° w"as 

 unknown, and so it came about that Hongkong and Manila 

 called the same day Monday and Sunday, and it was not 

 until the 31st December, 1844, that the matter was 

 rectified by the omission of that day from the Manilau 

 calendar. The more civilised people of the archipelago, 

 when first seen by the Spaniards, were very far from being 

 savages. They cultivated corn, wore textile fabrics, and 

 worked iron and gold, had domestic animals for food and 

 labour, and used a phonetic written character. 



The Spaniards owe their possession of the Philippines 

 to Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, who with a force of little 

 more than 400 men reached Zebu in 15G5. In six years 

 he had subdued the greater part of the archipelago. This 

 facile conquest was effected without much bloodshed, and 

 was not a little due to the efforts of a band of Augustine 

 monks under Andrea de Urdaiieta, who had commanded 

 a ship in Loyasa's ill-fated expedition. The gradual 

 settlement and civilisation of the islands, indeed, have 

 been to a very considerable extent the work of ecclesias- 

 tics, who dominate the superstitious and /este- loving 

 " Indian " without difficulty. In 1571 Manila was taken, 

 the present city founded, and the greater part of Luzon 

 brought under Spanish rule. Legaspi died the same year. 



Although at this period the Moors, as they were 

 termed, were well known and numerous in many of the 

 larger ports as traders, the inhabitants of all the northern 



