Raja Laut, The General and His Family

The sultan has a brother called Raja Laut, a brave man.

He is the second man in the kingdom. All foreigners that come to Mindanao City to trade must make their address to him, for all sea-affairs belong to him.

He licenses foreigners to import or export any commodity. The natives can only trade with his permission. The very fishermen must take a permit from him – no man can come into the river or go out but by his leave.

He is 2-3 years younger than the sultan, and small like him.

He has eight women, by some of whom he has issue. He has only one son, about 12-14 years old, who was circumcised while we were there. His eldest son died a little before we came hither, for whom he was still in great heaviness.

If he had lived a little longer he should have married the young princess; but whether this second son must have her I know not, for I did never hear any discourse about it. Raja Laut is a very sharp man; he speaks and writes Spanish, which he learned in his youth. He has by often conversing with strangers got a great sight into the customs of other nations, and by Spanish books has some knowledge of Europe. He is general of the Mindanayans, and is accounted an expert soldier, and a very stout man; and the women in their dances sing many songs in his praise.

THEIR WAY OF FIGHTING.

The sultan of Mindanao sometimes makes war with his neighbours the Mountaineers or Alfoores. Their weapons are swords, lances, and some hand-cressets.

The cresset is a small thing like a baggonet, which they always wear in war or peace, at work or play, from the greatest of them to the poorest, or the meanest persons.

They do never meet each other so as to have a pitched battle but they build small works or forts of timber wherein they plant little guns and lie in sight of each other two or three months, skirmishing every day in small parties and sometimes surprising a breast-work; and whatever side is like to be worsted, if they have no probability to escape by flight, they sell their lives as dear as they can; for there is seldom any quarter given, but the conqueror cuts and hacks his enemies to pieces.

ISLAM

Their religion is Islam. Friday is their sabbath; but I did never see any difference that they make between this day and any other day; only the sultan himself goes then to the mosque twice.

RAJA LAUT’S DEVOTION

Raja Laut never goes to the mosque but prays at certain hours, eight or ten times in a day, wherever he is, he is very punctual to his canonical hours, and if he be aboard will go ashore on purpose to pray. For no business nor company hinders him from this duty. Whether he is at home or abroad, in a house or in the field, he leaves all his company and goes about 100 yards off, and there kneels down to his devotion.

He first kisses the ground then prays aloud, and divers time in his prayers he kisses the ground and does the same when he leaves off. His servants and his wives and children talk and sing, or play how they please all the time, but himself is very serious. The meaner sort of people have little devotion: I did never see any of them at their prayers or go into a mosque.

A CLOCK OR DRUM IN THEIR MOSQUES

In the sultan’s mosque there is a great drum with but one head called a gong; which is instead of o’clock. This gong is beaten at 12 o’clock, at 3, 6, and 9; a man being appointed for that service. He has a stick as big as a man’s arm, with a great knob at the end, bigger than a man’s fist, made with cotton bound fast with small cords: with this he strikes the gong as hard as he can, about twenty strokes; beginning to strike leisurely the first five or six strokes; then he strikes faster, and at last strikes as fast as he can; and then he strikes again slower and slower so many more strokes: thus he rises and falls three times, and then leaves off till three hours after. This is done night and day.

CIRCUMCISION, AND THE SOLEMNITY THEN USED.

They circumcise the males at 11 or 12 years of age, or older; and many are circumcised at once. This ceremony is performed with a great deal of solemnity.

There had been no circumcision for some years before our being here; and then there was one for Raja Laut’s son. They choose to have a general circumcision when the sultan or general or some other great person has a son fit to be circumcised; for with him a great many more are circumcised. There is notice given about eight or ten days before for all men to appear in arms. And great preparation is made against the solemn day.

In the morning before the boys are circumcised presents are sent to the father of the child that keeps the feast; which, as I said before, is either the sultan or some great person: and about 10 or 11 o’clock the Mohammedan priest does his office. He takes hold of the foreskin with two sticks and with a pair of scissors snips it off.

THEIR OTHER RELIGIOUS OBSERVATIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS

After this most of the men, both in city and country being in arms before the house, begin to act as if they were engaged with an enemy, having such arms as I described.

Only one acts at a time, the rest make a great ring of 2 or 300 yards round about him. He that is to exercise comes into the ring with a great shriek or two and a horrid look; then he fetches two or three large stately strides and falls to work. He holds his broadsword in one hand, and his lance in the other, and traverses his ground, leaping from one side of the ring to the other; and, in a menacing posture and look, bids defiance to the enemy whom his fancy frames to him; for there is nothing but air to oppose him. Then he stamps and shakes his head and, grinning with his teeth, makes many rueful faces.

Then he throws his lance and nimbly snatches out his cresset, with which he hacks and hews the air like a madman, often shrieking.

At last, being almost tired with motion, he flies to the middle of the ring, where he seems to have his enemy at his mercy, and with two or three blows cuts on the ground as if he was cutting off his enemy’s head. By this time he is all of a sweat, and withdraws triumphantly out of the ring, and presently another enters with the like shrieks and gestures. Thus they continue combating their imaginary enemy all the rest of the day; towards the conclusion of which the richest men act, and at last the general, and then the sultan concludes this ceremony: he and the general, with some other great men, are in armour, but the rest have none. After this the sultan returns home, accompanied with abundance of people, who wait on him there till they are dismissed. But at the time when we were there there was an after-game to be played; for, the general’s son being then circumcised, the sultan intended to give him a second visit in the night, so they all waited to attend him thither.

The general also provided to meet him in the best manner, and therefore desired Captain Swan with his men to attend him. Accordingly Captain Swan ordered us to get our guns and wait at the general’s house till further orders.

So about 40 of us waited till eight o’clock in the evening when the general with Captain Swan and about 1000 men went to meet the sultan, with abundance of torches that made it as light as day. The manner of the march was thus: first of all there was a pageant, and upon it two dancing women gorgeously apparelled, with coronets on their heads, full of glittering spangles, and pendants of the same hanging down over their breast and shoulders.

These are women bred up purposely for dancing: their feet and legs are but little employed except sometimes to turn round very gently; but their hands, arms, head, and body are in continual motion, especially their arms, which they turn and twist so strangely that you would think them to be made without bones. Besides the two dancing women there were two old women in the pageant holding each a lighted torch in their hands, close by the two dancing women, by which light the glittering spangles appeared very gloriously. This pageant was carried by six lusty men: then came six or seven torches lighting the general and Captain Swan who marched side by side next, and we that attended Captain Swan followed close after, marching in order six and six abreast, with each man his gun on his shoulder, and torches on each side. After us came twelve of the general’s men with old Spanish matchlocks, marching four in a row.

After them about forty lances, and behind them as many with great swords, marching all in order. After them came abundance only with cressets by their sides, who marched up close without any order. When we came near the sultan’s house the sultan and his men met us, and we wheeled off to let them pass.

The sultan had 3 pageants went before him: in the first pageant were four of his sons, who were about ten or eleven years old. They had gotten abundance of small stones which they roguishly threw about on the people’s heads. In the next were four young maidens, nieces to the sultan, being his sister’s daughters; and in the third, there was three of the sultan’s children, not above six years old. The sultan himself followed next, being carried in his couch, which was not like your Indians’ palanquins but open and very little and ordinary. A multitude of people came after without any order: but as soon as he was passed by the general and Captain Swan and all our men closed in just behind the sultan, and so all marched together to the general’s house.

We came thither between 10 and 11 o’clock, where the biggest part of the company were immediately dismissed; but the sultan and his children and his nieces and some other persons of quality entered the general’s house. They were met at the head of the stairs by the general’s women, who with a great deal of respect conducted them into the house. Captain Swan and we that were with him followed after. It was not long before the general caused his dancing women to enter the room and divert the company with that pastime. I had forgot to tell you that they have none but vocal music here, by what I could learn, except only a row of a kind of bells without clappers, 16 in number, and their weight increasing gradually from about three to ten pound weight.

These are set in a row on a table in the general’s house, where for seven or eight days together before the circumcision day they were struck each with a little stick, for the biggest part of the day making a great noise, and they ceased that morning. So these dancing women sung themselves and danced to their own music. After this the general’s women and the sultan’s sons and his nieces danced. Two of the sultan’s nieces were about 18 or 19 years old, the other two were three or four years younger.

These young ladies were very richly dressed with loose garments of silk, and small coronets on their heads. They were much fairer than any women I did ever see there, and very well featured; and their noses though but small yet higher than the other women’s, and very well proportioned. When the ladies had very well diverted themselves and the company with dancing the general caused us to fire some sky-rockets that were made by his and Captain Swan’s order, purposely for this night’s solemnity; and after that the sultan and his retinue went away with a few attendants and we all broke up, and thus ended this day’s solemnity: but the boys being sore with their amputation went straddling for a fortnight after.

They are not, as I said before, very curious, or strict in observing any days or times of particular devotions except it be Ramdam time, as we call it. The Ramdam time was then in August, as I take it, for it was shortly after our arrival here. In this time they fast all day, and about seven o’clock in the evening they spend near an hour in prayer. Towards the latter end of their prayer they loudly invoke their prophet for about a quarter of an hour, both old and young bawling out very strangely, as if they intended to fright him out of his sleepiness or neglect of them. After their prayer is ended, they spend some time in feasting before they take their repose. Thus they do every day for a whole month at least; for sometimes it is two or three days longer before the Ramdam ends: for it begins at the New Moon and lasts till they see the next New Moon, which sometimes in thick hazy weather is not till three or four days after the change, as it happened while I was at Achin, where they continued the Ramdam till the New Moon’s appearance. The next day after they have seen the New Moon the guns are all discharged about noon, and then the time ends.

THEIR ABHORRENCE OF SWINES’ FLESH, ETC.

A main part of their religion consists in washing often to keep themselves from being defiled; or after they are defiled to cleanse themselves again. They also take great care to keep themselves from being polluted by tasting or touching anything that is accounted unclean; therefore swine’s flesh is very abominable to them; nay, anyone that has either tasted of swine’s flesh or touched those creatures is not permitted to come into their houses in many days after, and there is nothing will scare them more than a swine. Yet there are wild hogs in the islands, and those so plentiful that they will come in troops out of the woods in the night into the very city, and come under their houses to rummage up and down the filth that they find there. The natives therefore would even desire us to lie in wait for the hogs to destroy them, which we did frequently, by shooting them and carrying them presently on board, but were prohibited their houses afterwards.

And now I am on this subject I cannot omit a story concerning the general. He once desired to have a pair of shoes made after the English fashion, though he did very seldom wear any: so one of our men made him a pair, which the general liked very well. Afterwards somebody told him that the thread wherewith the shoes were sowed were pointed with hogs’ bristles. This put him into a great passion; so he sent the shoes to the man that made them, and sent him withal more leather to make another pair with threads pointed with some other hair, which was immediately done, and then he was well pleased.