The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes | Page 2

pictured in those
pages; (2) foreign observers are apt to emphasize what is strange to
them in describing other lands than their own and to leave unnoted
points of resemblance which may be much more numerous; (3) Rizal's
judgment that his countrymen were more like backward Europeans than
Orientals was based on scientific studies of Europe's rural districts and
Philippine provincial conditions as well as of oriental country life, so
that it is entitled to more weight than the commoner opinion to the
contrary which though more popular has been less carefully formed.
University of the Philippines,
Manila, March 11th, 1916.

Contents
Jagor's Travels in the Philippines 1
(The out-of-print 1875 English translation corrected from the original
German text)
State of the Philippines in 1810. By Tomas de Comyn 357
(William Walton's 1821 translation modernized)
Manila and Sulu in 1842. By Com. Chas. Wilkes, U.S.N. 459
(Narrative of U. S. Exploring Expedition 1838-42, Vol. 5)
Manila in 1819. By Lieut. John White, U.S.N. 530
(From the "History of a Voyage to the China Sea")
The Peopling of the Philippines. By Doctor Rudolf Virchow 536
(O. T. Mason's translation; Smithsonian Institution 1899 Report)
People and Prospects of the Philippines. By An English Merchant,
1778, and A Consul, 1878 550
(From Blackwood's and the Cornhill Magazine)
Filipino Merchants of the Early 1890s. By F. Karuth, F.R.G.S. 552

The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes

PART I
Jagor's Travels in the Philippines

CHAPTER I
[Difference from European time.] When the clock strikes twelve in
Madrid, [1] it is 8 hours, 18 minutes, and 41 seconds past eight in the
evening at Manila; that is to say, the latter city lies 124° 40' 15'' to the
east of the former (7 hours, 54 minutes, 35 seconds from Paris). Some
time ago, however, while the new year was being celebrated in Madrid,
it was only New Year's eve at Manila.
[Magellan's mistake in reckoning.] As Magellan, who discovered the
Philippines in his memorable first circumnavigation of the globe, was

following the sun in its apparent daily path around the world, every
successive degree he compassed on his eastern course added four
minutes to the length of his day; and, when he reached the Philippines,
the difference amounted to sixteen hours. This, however, apparently
escaped his notice, for Elcano, the captain of the only remaining vessel,
was quite unaware, on his return to the longitude of his departure, why
according to his ship's log-book, he was a day behind the time of the
port which he had reached again by continuously sailing westward. [2]
[3]
[Change to the Asian day.] The error remained also unheeded in the
Philippines. It was still, over there the last day of the old year, while the
rest of the world was commencing the new one; and this state of things
continued till the close of 1844, when it was resolved, with the
approval of the archbishop, to pass over New Year's eve for once
altogether. [4] Since that time the Philippines are considered to lie no
longer in the distant west, but in the far east, and are about eight hours
in advance of their mother country. The proper field for their commerce,
however, is what is to Europeans the far west; they were colonized
thence, and for centuries, till 1811, they had almost no other
communication with Europe but the indirect one by the annual voyage
of the galleon between Manila and Acapulco. Now, however, when the
eastern shores of the Pacific are at last beginning to teem with life, and,
with unexampled speed, are pressing forward to grasp their stupendous
future, the Philippines will no longer be able to remain in their past
seclusion. No tropical Asiatic colony is so favorably situated for
communication with the west coast of America, and it is only in a few
matters that the Dutch Indies can compete with them for the favors of
the Australian market. But, [Future in American and Australian trade.]
on the other hand, they will have to abandon their traffic with China,
whose principal emporium Manila originally was, as well as that with
those westward-looking countries of Asia, Europe's far east, which lie
nearest to the Atlantic ports. [5] [6]
[Commercially in the New World.] When the circumstances mentioned
come to be realized, the Philippines, or, at any rate, the principal
market for their commerce, will finally fall within the limits of the

western hemisphere, to which indeed they were relegated by the
illustrious Spanish geographers at Badajoz.
[The Pope's world-partitive.] The Bull issued by Alexander VI, [7] on
May 4, 1493, which divided the earth into two hemispheres, decreed
that all heathen lands discovered in the eastern half should belong to
the Portuguese; in the western half to the Spaniards. According to this
arrangement, the latter could