Read El Filibusterismo. English Page 42


  GLOSSARY

  _aba:_ A Tagalog exclamation of wonder, surprise, etc., often usedto introduce or emphasize a contradictory statement.

  _alcalde:_ Governor of a province or district, with both executiveand judicial authority.

  _Ayuntamiento:_ A city corporation or council, and by extensionthe building in which it has its offices; specifically, in Manila,the capitol.

  _balete:_ The Philippine banyan, a tree sacred in Malay folk-lore.

  _banka:_ A dugout canoe with bamboo supports or outriggers.

  _batalan:_ The platform of split bamboo attached to a _nipa_ house.

  _batikulin:_ A variety of easily-turned wood, used in carving.

  _bibinka:_ A sweetmeat made of sugar or molasses and rice-flour,commonly sold in the small shops.

  _buyera:_ A woman who prepares and sells the _buyo_.

  _buyo:_ The masticatory prepared by wrapping a piece of areca-nutwith a little shell-lime in a betel-leaf--the _pan_ of British India.

  _cabesang:_ Title of a _cabeza de barangay;_ given by courtesy tohis wife also.

  _cabeza de barangay:_ Headman and tax-collector for a group of aboutfifty families, for whose "tribute" he was personally responsible.

  _calesa:_ A two-wheeled chaise with folding top.

  _calle:_ Street (Spanish).

  _camisa:_ 1. A loose, collarless shirt of transparent material wornby men outside the trousers. 2. A thin, transparent waist with flowingsleeves, worn by women.

  _capitan:_ "Captain," a title used in addressing or referring to agobernadorcillo, or a former occupant of that office.

  _carambas:_ A Spanish exclamation denoting surprise or displeasure.

  _carbineer:_ Internal-revenue guard.

  _carromata:_ A small two-wheeled vehicle with a fixed top.

  _casco:_ A flat-bottomed freight barge.

  _cayman:_ The Philippine crocodile.

  _cedula:_ Certificate of registration and receipt for poll-tax.

  _chongka:_ A child's game played with pebbles or cowry-shells.

  _cigarrera:_ A woman working in a cigar or cigarette factory.

  _Civil Guard:_ Internal quasi-military police force of Spanish officersand native soldiers.

  _cochero:_ Carriage driver, coachman.

  _cuarto:_ A copper coin, one hundred and sixty of which were equalin value to a silver peso.

  _filibuster:_ A native of the Philippines who was accused of advocatingtheir separation from Spain.

  _filibusterism:_ See _filibuster_.

  _gobernadorcillo:_ "Petty governor," the principal municipalofficial--also, in Manila, the head of a commercial guild.

  _gumamela:_ The hibiscus, common as a garden shrub in the Philippines.

  _Indian:_ The Spanish designation for the Christianized Malay of thePhilippines was _indio_ (Indian), a term used rather contemptuously,the name _Filipino_ being generally applied in a restricted sense tothe children of Spaniards born in the Islands.

  _kalan:_ The small, portable, open, clay fireplace commonly usedin cooking.

  _kalikut:_ A short section of bamboo for preparing the _buyo_;a primitive betel-box.

  _kamagon:_ A tree of the ebony family, from which fine cabinet-woodis obtained. Its fruit is the _mabolo_, or date-plum.

  _lanete:_ A variety of timber used in carving.

  _linintikan:_ A Tagalog exclamation of disgust or contempt--"thunder!"

  _Malacanang:_ The palace of the Captain-General: from the vernacularname of the place where it stands, "fishermen's resort."

  _Malecon:_ A drive along the bay shore of Manila, opposite theWalled City.

  _Mestizo:_ A person of mixed Filipino and Spanish blood; sometimesapplied also to a person of mixed Filipino and Chinese blood.

  _naku:_ A Tagalog exclamation of surprise, wonder, etc.

  _narra:_ The Philippine mahogany.

  _nipa:_ Swamp palm, with the imbricated leaves of which the roofsand sides of the common native houses are constructed.

  _novena:_ A devotion consisting of prayers recited for nine consecutivedays, asking for some special favor; also, a booklet of these prayers.

  _panguingui:_ A complicated card-game, generally for small stakes,played with a monte deck.

  _panguinguera:_ A woman addicted to _panguingui_, this being chieflya feminine diversion in the Philippines.

  _pansit:_ A soup made of Chinese vermicelli.

  _pansiteria:_ A shop where _pansit_ is prepared and sold.

  _panuelo:_ A starched neckerchief folded stiffly over the shoulders,fastened in front and falling in a point behind: the most distinctiveportion of the customary dress of Filipino women.

  _peso:_ A silver coin, either the Spanish peso or the Mexican dollar,about the size of an American dollar and of approximately halfits value.

  _petate:_ Sleeping-mat woven from palm leaves.

  _pina:_ Fine cloth made from pineapple-leaf fibers.

  _Provincial:_ The head of a religious order in the Philippines.

  _punales:_ "Daggers!"

  _querida:_ A paramour, mistress: from the Spanish "beloved."

  _real:_ One-eighth of a peso, twenty cuartos.

  _sala:_ The principal room in the more pretentious Philippine houses.

  _salakot:_ Wide hat of palm or bamboo, distinctively Filipino.

  _sampaguita:_ The Arabian jasmine: a small, white, very fragrantflower, extensively cultivated, and worn in chaplets and rosaries bywomen and girls--the typical Philippine flower.

  _sipa_: A game played with a hollow ball of plaited bamboo or rattan,by boys standing in a circle, who by kicking it with their heelsendeavor to keep it from striking the ground.

  _soltada_: A bout between fighting-cocks.

  _'Susmariosep_: A common exclamation: contraction of the Spanish,_Jesus, Maria, y Jose_, the Holy Family.

  _tabi_: The cry used by carriage drivers to warn pedestrians.

  _tabu_: A utensil fashioned from half of a coconut shell.

  _taju_: A thick beverage prepared from bean-meal and syrup.

  _tampipi_: A telescopic basket of woven palm, bamboo, or rattan.

  _Tandang_: A title of respect for an old man: from the Tagalog termfor "old."

  _tapis_: A piece of dark cloth or lace, often richly worked orembroidered, worn at the waist somewhat in the fashion of an apron;a distinctive portion of the native women's attire, especially amongthe Tagalogs.

  _tatakut_: The Tagalog term for "fear."

  _teniente-mayor_: "Senior lieutenant," the senior member of the towncouncil and substitute for the gobernadorcillo.

  _tertiary sister_: A member of a lay society affiliated with a regularmonastic order.

  _tienda_: A shop or stall for the sale of merchandise.

  _tikbalang_: An evil spirit, capable of assuming various forms, butsaid to appear usually as a tall black man with disproportionatelylong legs: the "bogey man" of Tagalog children.

  _tulisan_: Outlaw, bandit. Under the old regime in the Philippines the_tulisanes_ were those who, on account of real or fancied grievancesagainst the authorities, or from fear of punishment for crime,or from an instinctive desire to return to primitive simplicity,foreswore life in the towns "under the bell," and made their homesin the mountains or other remote places. Gathered in small bands withsuch arms as they could secure, they sustained themselves by highwayrobbery and the levying of black-mail from the country folk.

  NOTES

  [1] The Spanish designation for the Christianized Malay of thePhilippines was _indio_ (Indian), a term used rather contemptuously,the name _filipino_ being generally applied in a restricted sense tothe children of Spaniards born in the Islands.--Tr.

  [2] Now generally known as the Mariquina.--Tr.

  [3] This bridge, constructed in Lukban under the supervision ofa Franciscan friar, was jocularly referred to as the _Puente deCapricho,_ being apparently an ignorant blunder in the right direction,since it was declared in an official report made by Spanish engineersin 1852 to conform to no known principle
of scientific construction,and yet proved to be strong and durable.--Tr.

  [4] Don Custodio's gesture indicates money.--Tr.

  [5] Duck eggs, that are allowed to advance well into the ducklingstage, then boiled and eaten. The senora is sneering at a customamong some of her own people.--Tr.

  [6] The Jesuit College in Manila, established in 1859.--Tr.

  [7] Natives of Spain; to distinguish them from the Filipinos, _i.e.,_descendants of Spaniards born in the Philippines. See Glossary:"Indian."--Tr.

  [8] It was a common saying among the old Filipinos that the Spaniards(white men) were fire (activity), while they themselves were water(passivity).--Tr.

  [9] The "liberal" demonstrations in Manila, and the mutiny in theCavite Arsenal, resulting in the garroting of the three nativepriests to whom this work was dedicated: the first of a series offatal mistakes, culminating in the execution of the author, that costSpain the loyalty of the Filipinos.--Tr.

  [10] Archbishop of Manila from 1767 to 1787.--Tr.

  [11] "Between this island (Talim) and Halahala point extends a straita mile wide and a league long, which the Indians call 'Kinabutasan,'a name that in their language means 'place that was cleft open';from which it is inferred that in other times the island was joinedto the mainland and was separated from it by some severe earthquake,thus leaving this strait: of this there is an old tradition amongthe Indians."--Fray Martinez de Zuniga's _Estadismo_ (1803).

  [12] The reference is to the novel _Noli Me Tangere_ (_The SocialCancer_), the author's first work, of which, the present is in a waya continuation.--Tr.

  [13] This legend is still current among the Tagalogs. It circulatesin various forms, the commonest being that the king was so confinedfor defying the lightning; and it takes no great stretch of theimagination to fancy in this idea a reference to the firearms usedby the Spanish conquerors. Quite recently (January 1909), when thenearly extinct volcano of Banahao shook itself and scattered a fewtons of mud over the surrounding landscape, the people thereaboutrecalled this old legend, saying that it was their King Bernardomaking another effort to get that right foot loose.--Tr.

  [14] The reference is to _Noli Me Tangere,_ in which Sinang appears.

  [15] The Dominican school of secondary instruction in Manila.--Tr.

  [16] "The studies of secondary instruction given in Santo Tomas,in the college of San Juan de Letran, and of San Jose, and in theprivate schools, had the defects inherent in the plan of instructionwhich the friars developed in the Philippines. It suited their plansthat scientific and literary knowledge should not become general norvery extensive, for which reason they took but little interest in thestudy of those subjects or in the quality of the instruction. Theireducational establishments were places of luxury for the children ofwealthy and well-to-do families rather than establishments in whichto perfect and develop the minds of the Filipino youth. It is truethey were careful to give them a religious education, tending to makethem respect the omnipotent power (_sic_) of the monastic corporations.

  "The intellectual powers were made dormant by devoting a greaterpart of the time to the study of Latin, to which they attached anextraordinary importance, for the purpose of discouraging pupilsfrom studying the exact and experimental sciences and from gaininga knowledge of true literary studies.

  "The philosophic system explained was naturally the scholastic one,with an exceedingly refined and subtile logic, and with deficientideas upon physics. By the study of Latin, and their philosophicsystems, they converted their pupils into automatic machines ratherthan into practical men prepared to battle with life."--_Census ofthe Philippine Islands (Washington, 1905), Volume III, pp. 601, 602._

  [17] The nature of this booklet, in Tagalog, is made clear in severalpassages. It was issued by the Franciscans, but proved too outspokenfor even Latin refinement, and was suppressed by the Order itself.--Tr.

  [18] The rectory or parish house.

  [19] Friends of the author, who suffered in Weyler's expedition,mentioned below.--Tr.

  [20] The Dominican corporation, at whose instigation Captain-GeneralValeriano Weyler sent a battery of artillery to Kalamba to destroythe property of tenants who were contesting in the courts thefriars' titles to land there. The author's family were the largestsufferers.--Tr.

  [21] A relative of the author, whose body was dragged from the tomb andthrown to the dogs, on the pretext that he had died without receivingfinal absolution.--Tr.

  [22] Under the Spanish regime the government paid no attention toeducation, the schools (!) being under the control of the religiousorders and the friar-curates of the towns.--Tr.

  [23] The cockpits are farmed out annually by the local governments,the terms "contract," and "contractor," having now been softened into"license" and "licensee."--Tr.

  [24] The "Municipal School for Girls" was founded by the municipalityof Manila in 1864.... The institution was in charge of the Sistersof Charity.--_Census of the Philippine Islands, Vol. III, p. 615_.

  [25] Now known as Plaza Espana.--Tr.

  [26] Patroness of the Dominican Order. She was formally and sumptuouslyrecrowned a queen of the skies in 1907.--Tr.

  [27] A burlesque on an association of students known as the _MiliciaAngelica_, organized by the Dominicans to strengthen their hold onthe people. The name used is significant, "carbineers" being thelocal revenue officers, notorious in their later days for graftand abuse.--Tr.

  [28] "Tinamaan ng lintik!"--a Tagalog exclamation of anger,disappointment, or dismay, regarded as a very strong expression,equivalent to profanity. Literally, "May the lightning strikeyou!"--Tr.

  [29] "To lie about the stars is a safe kind of lying."--Tr.

  [30] Throughout this chapter the professor uses the familiar _tu_in addressing the students, thus giving his remarks a contemptuoustone.--Tr.

  [31] The professor speaks these words in vulgar dialect.

  [32] To confuse the letters _p_ and _f_ in speaking Spanish was acommon error among uneducated Filipinos.--Tr.

  [33] _No cristianos_, not Christians, _i.e_., savages.--Tr.

  [34] The patron saint of Spain, St. James.--Tr.

  [35] Houses of bamboo and nipa, such as form the homes of the massesof the natives.--Tr.

  [36] "In this paragraph Rizal alludes to an incident that hadvery serious results. There was annually celebrated in Binondo acertain religious festival, principally at the expense of the Chinesemestizos. The latter finally petitioned that their gobernadorcillo begiven the presidency of it, and this was granted, thanks to the factthat the parish priest (the Dominican, Fray Jose Hevia Campomanes)held to the opinion that the presidency belonged to those who paidthe most. The Tagalogs protested, alleging their better right to it,as the genuine sons of the country, not to mention the historicalprecedent, but the friar, who was looking after his own interests,did not yield. General Terrero (Governor, 1885-1888), at the adviceof his liberal councilors, finally had the parish priest removed andfor the time being decided the affair in favor of the Tagalogs. Thematter reached the Colonial Office (_Ministerio de Ultramar_) andthe Minister was not even content merely to settle it in the way thefriars desired, but made amends to Padre Hevia by appointing him abishop."--_W. E. Retana, who was a journalist in Manila at the time,in a note to this chapter._

  Childish and ridiculous as this may appear now, it was far from beingso at the time, especially in view of the supreme contempt with whichthe pugnacious Tagalog looks down upon the meek and complaisant Chineseand the mortal antipathy that exists between the two races.--Tr.

  [37] It is regrettable that Quiroga's picturesque butchery of Spanishand Tagalog--the dialect of the Manila Chinese--cannot be reproducedhere. Only the thought can be given. There is the same difficultywith _r's, d's_, and _l's_ that the Chinese show in English.--Tr.

  [38] Up to the outbreak of the insurrection in 1896, the only genuinelySpanish troops in the islands were a few hundred artillerymen, therest being natives, with Spanish officers.--Tr.

  [39] Abaka is the fiber
obtained from the leaves of the _Musa textilis_and is known commercially as Manila hemp. As it is exclusively aproduct of the Philippines, it may be taken here to symbolize thecountry.--Tr.

  [40] Yet Ben-Zayb was not very much mistaken. The three legs of thetable have grooves in them in which slide the mirrors hidden belowthe platform and covered by the squares of the carpet. By placingthe box upon the table a spring is pressed and the mirrors risegently. The cloth is then removed, with care to raise it instead ofletting it slide off, and then there is the ordinary table of thetalking heads. The table is connected with the bottom of the box. Theexhibition ended, the prestidigitator again covers the table, pressesanother spring, and the mirrors descend.--_Author's note._

  [41] The Malay method of kissing is quite different from theOccidental. The mouth is placed close to the object and a deep breathtaken, often without actually touching the object, being more of asniff than a kiss.--Tr.

  [42] Now Calle Tetuan, Santa Cruz. The other names are still inuse.--Tr.

  [43] The _Sociedad Economica de Amigos del Pais_ for the encouragementof agricultural and industrial development, was established by Bascode Vargas in 1780.--Tr.

  [44] Funds managed by the government for making loans and supportingcharitable enterprises.--Tr.

  [45] The names are fictitious burlesques.--Tr.

  [46] "Boiled Shrimp"--Tr.

  [47] "Uncle Frank."--Tr.

  [48] Messageries Maritimes, a French line of steamers in the Orientaltrade.--Tr.

  [49] Referring to the expeditions--_Mision Espanola Catolica_--to theCaroline and Pelew Islands from 1886 to 1895, headed by the CapuchinFathers, which brought misery and disaster upon the natives of thoseislands, unprofitable losses and sufferings to the Filipino soldiersengaged in them, discredit to Spain, and decorations of merit to anumber of Spanish officers.--Tr.

  [50] Over the possession of the Caroline and Pelew Islands. Theexpeditions referred to in the previous note were largely inspiredby German activity with regard to those islands, which had alwaysbeen claimed by Spain, who sold her claim to them to Germany afterthe loss of the Philippines.--Tr.

  [51] "Where the wind wrinkles the silent waves, that rapidly break, of their own movement, with a gentle murmur on the shore."--Tr.

  [52] "Where rapid and winged engines will rush in flight."--Tr.

  [53] There is something almost uncanny about the general accuracy ofthe prophecy in these lines, the economic part of which is now sowell on the way to realization, although the writer of them woulddoubtless have been a very much surprised individual had he alsoforeseen how it would come about. But one of his own expressions was"fire and steel to the cancer," and it surely got them.

  On the very day that this passage was translated and this note written,the first commercial liner was tied up at the new docks, which havedestroyed the Malecon but raised Manila to the front rank of Orientalseaports, and the final revision is made at Baguio, Mountain Province,amid the "cooler temperatures on the slopes of the mountains." As forthe political portion, it is difficult even now to contemplate calmlythe blundering fatuity of that bigoted medieval brand of "patriotism"which led the decrepit Philippine government to play the AncientMariner and shoot the Albatross that brought this message.--Tr.

  [54] These establishments are still a notable feature of nativelife in Manila. Whether the author adopted a title already common orpopularized one of his own invention, the fact is that they are nowinvariably known by the name used here. The use of _macanista_ was dueto the presence in Manila of a large number of Chinese from Macao.--Tr.

  [55] Originally, Plaza San Gabriel, from the Dominican mission for theChinese established there; later, as it became a commercial center,Plaza Vivac; and now known as Plaza Cervantes, being the financialcenter of Manila.--Tr.

  [56] "The manager of this restaurant warns the public to leaveabsolutely nothing on any table or chair."--Tr.

  [57] "We do not believe in the verisimilitude of this dialogue,fabricated by the author in order to refute the arguments of thefriars, whose pride was so great that it would not permit anyIsagani to tell them these truths face to face. The _invention_ ofPadre Fernandez as a Dominican professor is a stroke of generosityon Rizal's part, in conceding that there could have existed _any_friar capable of talking frankly with an _Indian_."--_W. E. Retana,in note to this chapter in the edition published by him at Barcelonain 1908_. Retana ought to know of what he is writing, for he was inthe employ of the friars for several years and later in Spain wroteextensively for the journal supported by them to defend their positionin the Philippines. He has also been charged with having strongly urgedRizal's execution in 1896. Since 1898, however, he has doubled about,or, perhaps more aptly, performed a journalistic somersault--havingwritten a diffuse biography and other works dealing with Rizal. Heis strong in unassorted facts, but his comments, when not inane andwearisome, approach a maudlin wail over "spilt milk," so the aboveis given at its face value only.--Tr.

  [58] Quite suggestive of, and perhaps inspired by, the author's ownexperience.--Tr.

  [59] The Walled City, the original Manila, is still known to theSpaniards and older natives exclusively as such, the other districtsbeing referred to by their distinctive names.--Tr.

  [60] Nearly all the dialogue in this chapter is in the mongrelSpanish-Tagalog "market language," which cannot be reproduced inEnglish.--Tr.

  [61] Doubtless a reference to the author's first work, _Noli MeTangere_, which was tabooed by the authorities.--Tr.

  [62] Such inanities as these are still a feature of Manilajournalism.--Tr.

  [63] "Whether there would be a _talisain_ cock, armed with a sharpgaff, whether the blessed Peter's fighting-cock would be a _bulik_--"

  _Talisain_ and _bulik_ are distinguishing terms in the vernacular forfighting-cocks, _tari_ and _sasabungin_ the Tagalog terms for "gaff"and "game-cock," respectively.

  The Tagalog terminology of the cockpit and monkish Latin certainlymake a fearful and wonderful mixture--nor did the author have toresort to his imagination to get samples of it.--Tr.

  [64] This is Quiroga's pronunciation of _Christo_.--Tr.

  [65] The native priests Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, charged withcomplicity in the uprising of 1872, and executed.--Tr.

  [66] This versicle, found in the booklets of prayer, is common on thescapularies, which, during the late insurrection, were easily convertedinto the _anting-anting_, or amulets, worn by the fanatics.--Tr.

  [67] This practise--secretly compelling suspects to sign a requestto be transferred to some other island--was by no means a figment ofthe author's imagination, but was extensively practised to anticipateany legal difficulties that might arise.--Tr.

  [68] "Hawk-Eye."--Tr.

  [69] Ultima Razon de Reyes: the last argument ofkings--force. (Expression attributed to Calderon de la Barca, thegreat Spanish dramatist.)--Tr.

  [70] Curiously enough, and by what must have been more than a merecoincidence, this route through Santa Mesa from San Juan del Monte wasthe one taken by an armed party in their attempt to enter the city atthe outbreak of the Katipunan rebellion on the morning of August 30,1896. (Foreman's _The Philippine Islands_, Chap. XXVI.)

  It was also on the bridge connecting these two places that the firstshot in the insurrection against American sovereignty was fired onthe night of February 4, 1899.--Tr.

  [71] Spanish etiquette requires a host to welcome his guest with theconventional phrase: "The house belongs to you."--Tr.

  [72] The handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast, foretellingthe destruction of Babylon. Daniel, v, 25-28.--Tr.

  [73] A town in Ciudad Real province, Spain.--Tr.

  [74] The italicized words are in English in the original.--Tr.

  [75] A Spanish hero, whose chief exploit was the capture of Gibraltarfrom the Moors in 1308.--Tr.

  [76] Emilio Castelar (1832-1899), generally regarded as the greatestof Spanish orators.--Tr.

  [77] In the original the message reads: "Espanol escondido casa
PadreFlorentino cojera remitira vivo muerto." Don Tiburcio understands_cojera_ as referring to himself; there is a play upon the Spanishwords _cojera_, lameness, and _cogera_, a form of the verb _coger_,to seize or capture--_j_ and _g_ in these two words having the samesound, that of the English _h_.--Tr.

 
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