THE EARLY MALAYS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS 1:5 



Meanwhile communication between the two countries 

 appears to have continued, persistently even, if intermittent- 

 ly, until checked by unwise and ill-adapted immigration re- 

 strictions; and one begins to understand from the antiquity of 

 this contact how it is that the Chinese people and their 

 civilization have come to exert such an extensive and per- 

 manent, though withal unobtrusive, influence upon the 

 Philippines. The motive of this contact seems to have been 

 primarily^ commercial. The "New History of the T'ang 

 Dynasty, ' ' dealing with the period from the seventh to the 

 tenth centuries of our era, states that : 



"When Chinese merchants arrive there, they are entertained 

 as guests in a public building and the eatables and drinkables are 

 abundant and clean." 34 



This takes as a matter of course the presence of Chinese 

 merchants in the Philippines and points to long established 

 •custom. Incidentally it affords an early instance of the pro- 

 verbial Malay hospitality. A later work describes in greater 

 detail the manner in which this trade was conducted, relating 

 how the traders, 



"live on board ship before venturing to go on shore, their 

 ship being moored in midstream^ announcing their presence to 

 the natives by beating drums. Upon this the savage traders 

 race for the ship in small boats, carrying cotton, yellow wax, 

 native cloth, cocoanut-heart mats, which they offer for barter. 

 If the price (of goods they may wish to purchase) cannot be 

 agreed upon, the chief of the (local) traders (JCjfl) must go in 

 person, in order to come to an understanding, which being 

 leached the natives are offered presents of silk umbrellas, por- 

 celain, and lattan baskets; but the foreigners still retain on 

 board one or two (natives) as hostages. After that they go on 

 shore to traffic, which being ended they return the hostages.. 

 A ship will not remain at anchor longer than three or four days, 

 after which it proceeds to another place ; for the savage settle- 

 ments along the coast of San-su are not connected by a common 

 jurisdiction." 35 



One need not wonder, after tracing this phase of the 

 subject, that the retail trade of the Philippines remains 

 to-day in the hands of Chinese merchants. 



But these old writers whose work is here made accessible 

 have something more to record than commerce. Social 

 customs, religious beliefs and practices and even juridical 



34 Particulars of the Philippines' Pre-Spanish Past, 10. 



35 The Pre-Spanish Philippines, 4, reproducing extracts from the 

 work of Chao Ju-kua on the Chinese and Arab Trade (in the 12th and 

 13th centuries). See a translation of part of this work in Blair and 

 Robertson's Philippine Islands, XXXIV, 183-191. The book was also 

 translated and Annotated by Friedrich Hirth and W. W. Rockhill, 

 (St Petersburg, Printing Office of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 

 Vass. Ostr., Ninth Line, 12, 1911). Mr. Rockhill's last appearance 

 before the Royal Asiatic Society was to deliver an address on the 

 theme of that work. 



