They are but ill supplied with cloth. They use a kind of cloth made of wild banana leaves[1] which is as stiff as parchment, and not very durable. The natives of Panae and Luzon manufacture a cotton cloth with colored stripes, which is of better quality. This cloth is used by the Spaniards when they can find it; otherwise they use the cloth above-mentioned. Both kinds are so scarce, that we are suffering great privations for lack of clothing. The people are very poor. There are few islands where, as it is reported, gold does not exist—but in so small quantities that quite commonly [as I think I have said] a native can be hired to dig, or to work as he is commanded, for three reals a month. A slave can be bought for fifty reals, or sometimes for a little more. It is therefore evident that it is not possible to save from the mines much gold, as can be seen by any man who zealously wishes to serve your Majesty who laments the great expenses of both men and money incurred here.
In that land people buy and sell slaves to one another in great numbers, and even bring them to the islands of the Moros. Most slaves are children and grandchildren of slaves from time immemorial. In this connection, it seems to me that it would be less troublesome, and that God would be better served, if the Spaniards bought these slaves and took
- ↑ An interesting reference to one of the earliest and most characteristic industries among the natives of the Philippines. The "wild banana" is the abacá (Musa textilis); its product (made from the fibers of the leaves) is commonly known as "Manila hemp," and is one of the chief exports from the islands. Two kinds of cloth are now made by the natives from the abacá, called sinamay and tinampipi; in making them, they use only primitive hand-looms. See Zúñiga's description of this manufacture, in Estadismo (Retana's edition), vol. ii, pp. 41, 42: cf. pp. 94, 95, where he praises the cotton cloths made in the Philippines.
