The Philippines before Magellan | Inquirer Opinion

When I was a boy, my father regularly brought home “pirated” copies of current United States bestsellers from Taiwan. It seemed that anything and everything published anywhere in the world could be had cheaply in Taiwan. One of my father’s associates, the eminent modernist architect Antonio S. Sindiong, proudly showed me his loot: the four-volume operations manual of the Boeing 747! He had no practical use for these books, thick as telephone directories, except for bragging rights: “You will not get a set of these unless you buy an airplane!” He then explained to me that the first three volumes were technical specifications and the gem was Volume 4—”Troubleshooting the 747.”

Many years ago, in my favorite Tokyo used bookshop, I picked up a 1967 Taiwan bootleg edition of “Chau Ju-kua: His Work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, entitled Chu-fan-chi.” This was a translation from the original Chinese, annotated by Friedrich Hirth and W.W. Rockhill first published by the (Russian) Imperial Academy of Sciences Printing Office, St. Petersburg, 1911. The title of the book could be translated two ways: the racist “A Description of Barbarous Peoples” or the politically correct “Records of Foreign Nations.”

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“Chu-fan-chi” is divided into two parts. The first 46 chapters describe foreign lands and people; the second part, 43 chapters, describes the different products to be had in these lands. The fascinating list of trade products includes aromatics: camphor, musk wood, sandalwood, and rose water. Two items—frankincense and myrrh—remind us of the gifts of the Magi. Also on the list are things ordinary to us but new to the Chinese merchants: jackfruit, areca nuts, coconuts, cotton, and pepper. There were precious products: dragon’s blood, ebony, coral, cat’s eyes, pearls, ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoiseshell, and civet. I did not realize that kingfisher feathers and parrots held some value in the 12th century.

In today’s column, we cover the San-su or “Three Islands” described by Zhao: Jiamayan (that has been identified as Calamian), Balaoyou (identified as Palawan), and Bajinong (tentatively identified as Busuanga because the ancient Chinese name does not match the present name phonetically. In the new translation, it is suggested that Bajinong is not Busuanga but another nearby island). Zhao adds that each of these three islands were vassal states of Mayi, settled by their own people, who lived “scattered among the islands.” Text continues:

“Their customs are essentially the same as those of Mayi. Each settlement includes about a thousand families. The terrain is very mountainous, with range after range of steep cliffs-like walls. The local people live on high and inaccessible ground for safety, building houses out of rushes. There is no water in the mountains, so the women balance two or three stacked pitchers on their heads to draw water from the rivers. When they go back up into the mountains [with their jugs filled], they walk as surely as if on level ground.

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“In the remote valleys of these islands, there live another kind of people called the Haidan [Aeta]. They are small in stature, with round yellow eyes, curly hair, and prominent teeth. They live in nests in the treetops. Sometimes they form bands of three to five and wait in ambush in the undergrowth to shoot arrows at people passing through. Many people have been thus killed by them. But if one throws a porcelain bowl at them, they will stoop down, pick it up, and run away, leaping and shouting with joy.

“Whenever foreign merchants arrive at a settlement, they dare not go ashore immediately. Instead, they weigh anchor in midstream and beat drums to attract the locals. Barbarian merchants then race to the ship in small canoes, bringing with them kapok, beeswax, native cloth, and coir matting to trade with the foreign merchants.

“If they cannot agree on a price, then the chief of the merchants comes himself to negotiate. The foreign merchants give him presents of silk parasols, porcelain vessels, and rattan baskets. One or two local men remain on the ship as hostages, while the foreign merchants go ashore to trade. Once the trading is concluded, the hostages are handed over. Every merchant ship only stops for three or four days before moving on to another settlement. The barbarians live all along the shores of the Three Islands and every settlement is independent of the others.

“Their mountains (or islands) run in a northeastern direction, and when the south[west] wind blows in, great waves dash against the mountains (or islands). The breakers roll so fast that ships cannot anchor there securely. For that reason, merchants coming to trade in the Three Islands usually prepare to make their return voyage in the fourth or fifth lunar month.

“PULILU. Pulilu is connected to the Three Islands, and its settlements are slightly larger. Many of its people are fierce and violent, given to pillaging and banditry.

From trade winds to porcelain vessels, all these details give us a glimpse of the Philippines long before Magellan.

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