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The Mandayas are forced to seek a refuge from would-be baganis by perching on the tops of trees like birds, but their aerial abodes do not always shelter them from their enemies. They build a hut on a trunk from forty to fifty feet in height, and huddle together in it to pass the night, and to be in sufficient numbers to repulse their assailants.
Think of Filipe Buencamino, of Aguinaldo's cabinet, representing the Moros of Zamboanga; of the mild, scholarly botanist Leon Guerrero representing the Moros, Bagobos, Mandayas and Manobos of Davao; of José M. Lerma, the unscrupulous politician of the province of Bataan, just across the bay from Manila, representing the wild Moros of Cotabato; of Juan Tuason, a timid Chinese mestizo Manila business man, representing the Yacan and Samal Moros of Basilan; of my good friend Benito Legarda, since a member of the Philippine Commission, and a resident delegate from the Philippines to the congress of the United States, representing the bloody Moros of Jolo!
But, once their ammunition is exhausted, the hapless Mandayas have nothing to do but witness, as impotent spectators, the work of destruction, until the moment comes when their habitation topples over and falls. Then the captives are divided among the assailants. The heads of the old men and of the wounded are cut off, and the women and children are led away as slaves.
Fray Francisco de Villalva of the Order of Preachers, and procurator-general (in virtue of powers which he presents) of the province of Santo Rosario, which the said order has in the Filipinas Islands, declares: That, as is well known, the religious of his order in the said islands have converted to the Catholic faith, and now have in their charge, the provinces of Cagayan, Pangasinan, Mandayas, part of Tagalos, Zambales, and the island of Babuyanes in which territory there is diversity of languages, and a great number of convents provided with ministers for the instruction of the Indian natives; from this labor always has been and still is gathered the spiritual harvest which is well known. Moreover, those fathers have made extensive conquests in various parts of those kingdoms, founding many churches as they actually are maintaining public worship at this very time in the vast empire of Great China. There they are suffering immense hardships and persecutions, shedding their blood in the violent acts committed by tyranny, in order to plant there the Christian faith and religion; for this cause, and in its defense, seventy-eight religious have given their lives as martyrs in that province, leaving the church made illustrious by this triumph. And besides this, they have in the city of Manila their principal convent, which continually maintains the practices of hearing confessions, preaching, and giving consolation in the sicknesses and trials of the citizens, with great comfort to all. They have also the college of Santo Tom
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