ALCINA’s Historia de las islas... (1668)
(Part
I, book II, Chapter 29)
We come
now to the tempests of the winds, when they are all unleashed with immeasurable
force, this happens quite often in these islands, it seems that they want to
swallow them up with such silence and fury that it seems the whole universe
will be dissolved in the wind. The seas, driven by it, do not stay in their
proper limits and they take large over areas of land, penetrating it with great
devastation and destroying everything.
The natives
here call this kind of hurricane, bagyo,
which in other regions and in India
Oriental are called ‘typhoons’ and all of it means a ‘violent tempest.’
They are accustomed to occur in these islands so often and so fierce that
neither Virgil in his Aenid, nor Ovid
in his Pontus of any if the poets I
have read, come within a thousand leagues of relating their intensity of
expending half of their impetus. We see then here very often and we suffer in
them so much that is it seems impossible that they will pass. To put it
briefly: when one of these bagyos is raging, and rare is the year when there is
not one or two, not even the trees are safe in the midst of the forests, or the
animals in their caves or [people in their houses or beasts in their burrows or
even the smallest water worm in their holes or the smallest plants in their bajera[1]
flattened to the ground by its lashing. No plant has a leaf
remaining on it because it tears everything down, breaks it up, shears it off
and scatters it over the ground. And so, whatever is visible and stands out
somewhat perishes; even the most lowly object is pulled down or destroyed.
For this reason, the ruin of
churches, which are the largest buildings existing here, is frequent. The
houses of ministers, which compete for the second place, almost every year are
seen tumbled to the ground. Such is the rigor, force and fury of the winds that
they shear off the roofs as if they were of paper. They break off posts or
columns of the hardest wood, as we have said, as if they were made of melcocha.[2]
Sometimes the winds chop them off
like one would do a radish and the more they resist, the easier they are
brought down or drawn out toward one side or the other; in the place where they
had been driven in to the ground, openings are left of one or two palmos all around the circumference of
their foundations, even those of lime and stone, which many of the churches
have.
Such is the impact with which it
moves back and forth from one palace to another, tearing out rocks and piling
up the earth so there remain these openings or holes. So, then, though the mountains
are brought down, as they are sometimes by the earthquakes, for not even these
are sufficient defense, blocking perhaps the beds of the rovers and closing the
path of their torrents, yet very often the shearing off of the tops of the
hills, the shattering of the rocks and the crumbling of the mountains or gorges
are greater from one these bagyos than
from four earthquakes of the most violent type. Sometimes, the towering lawaan, which we have already mentioned
and which we said were the most vigorous, large and lofty trees in these
islands, torn up by the violence of the winds. (They) drag along in their
widely extended, though not deep roots, great chunks of rocks and soil in which
they have been growing for many hundreds of years.
Finally, not even a person can stand
on his feet nor can such manage except by laying hold of another or hugging the
ground in order to flee the dangers or assist those who are in danger.
One time the following happened to a
Padre, companion of mine in these
missions. His house and the church, having tumbled through the violence of
these bagyos, he had to seek a place
of refuge and took shelter for some hours under the altar where he used to say
Mass. When he emerged, although he went out held by two natives, one at each
side, the winds struck them which such fury that only by throwing themselves on
the ground where they able to protect themselves. This wind forced that Padre against one the roots of a great
tree, of the variety which were said are called dalig,[3] with
considerable danger of crushing him against it. These bagyos bring such dangers as these, or even greater ones. We
ministers, suffer them, very often since we are exposed many times in the open,
which is usually the safest place from destruction even though it is the most
harassed by the waters and winds.
So that one may have some idea of
the violence of these winds and with what force the flood waters are carried by
them, for it rains without stopping when these bagyos are raging, two points may serve as proof. One is that
although rainfall can scarcely be seen, if at all, because the force of the
winds breaks it into tiny particles, so great us the quantity which falls from
the clouds, that all the rivers overflow their beds causing huge and
destructive floods. One of the greatest dangers that occur on these occasions
is to have the misfortune to be caught in a vessel on some river, because their
currents become so violent and such a great number of large trees and other
debris is carried in the streams that they batter the boats with incredible
violence upsetting them without fail of they do not manage to get out of then
in time. A considerable number have perished in such circumstances when they
thought that they might escape the fury of the seas by withdrawing into the
rivers.
What
happened to me in one of these bagyos is
evidenced of how the waters can overflow and expand. It was this way: I was
caught in a house which was part stone with very strong, thick and low walls.
In the house there was a room with doors and windows closed and barred with
strong poles and even with door curtains for the purpose, of leaves or kayang,[4]
which we said are of nipa,[5]
with a ceiling of leaves. In these carefully protected rooms, and between
two buttresses, like posts fastened to the wall, there were two large chests of
drawers or shelves. In one of these was a writing desk or escritorio as they are called
in Castile, with some drawers and compartments, all of it under lock and key.
Inside
one of these little boxes, the storm or wind-drive floods passed through the
doors, walls, desk, drawers, etc., to wet substantially several items which
about two days after the bagyo, I
found by mere chance because I had not thought or fear of such catastrophe. If
I had not seen them they would have rooted (sic) because things like paper and
other such articles exposed to excessive moisture are liable to such
misfortunes. In such a manner as this does the wind disintegrate the water
forcing it through the smallest holes and cervices which even prevent the passage
of light.
But if this
happens on land, quid erit in pelago,[6]
as what other writer has said. So great is the turmoil. Caused in the seas
on the occasion of these bagyos that
only one who has seen it would believe it, one who knows the violence of the
winds, would not know how to describe or relate the dominance and control by
these bagyos over rocks, sandbars,
rugged coasts and very high mountains, which sometimes are seen here. One could
not describe anything of its violent attacks, we might call them disasters. One
these occasions, the sea enters the domain of the land and occupies it without
consideration or without any resistance, its limits and prescribed
boundaries. For tall mountains of water
which form devastating waves, enter, extend areas of the lands and they cast up
sometimes not only numerous fish, both larges and small, which are afterwards
found dead, but ships of large displacements so far inland that there is no
human force or effort that can get it out again. Hence, it is necessary to burn
them to take the iron fittings.
On one
occasion I found myself in a town which, because it was located in a large
cove, should have been free from the tyrannical course of the seas and winds. This
was no protection because a great wave, a large number of people saw it in
great fear, hurled an (it is understood that the tenth wave is the greatest)
average size ship so far into the forests and left it there, extended by many
branches without falling to the ground at the top of the trees from which it
could hardly taken down unless it were broken in pieces such things as these
happen often, and because they are so ordinary here, on takes no note of them.
Who could
count the multitude of great ships and galleons which by reason of bagyos, have either been swallowed up by
the seas, or more often dashed to pieces on the rocks or broken apart on the
beaches? Undoubtedly, the majority of the galleons which have been lost on them
and continue to be lost due to these bagyos.
Two blasts of wind case the structure of the galleons to disintegrate sp
easily as a child breaks a tumble of a very thin glass. By their size,
strength, precision and fitness, these ships have conquered great oceans such
as that going from here to Nueva España, perhaps the greatest in the world, and
they seem unconquerable. Sometimes the storm may hurl the largest hatches of
these ships which a thousand men could not move, far inland and high into the
trees, like a ballplayer hurls the inflated ball, which they play in Spain,
many paces beyond the line. Here, these things occur with no other force than
that of the wind either causing them to be lifted onto trees or shattered on
the rocks, as happened a few years ago in the loss of the ship, San Francisco Javier, near Borongan.
After the second bagyo which
completed its destruction, the hatches of the ship were found far inland as if
they were balls shot out a reinforced musket. When the bagyo had passed, there was a remarkable occurrence; a large box of
glassware was found a great distance from the shore enmeshed in the branches of
a tree. A number of glasses were unbroken after the destruction. Some of this which
were found in that box, whole and sound were brought to me since I was not far
away.
In the
same way there were found many other things, some hanging, other entangled,
other dashed to pieces in the branches, trunks and at the bases of very tall
trees, a thing which seems incredible to anyone who has not seen it…
Since we
are dealing with bagyos we shall
describe their beginnings, center and end; the variety of winds that blow in
them. All this is very remarkable and
worthy of being known. October is the most liable and most usual time for the bagyos, although they may occur in every
month of the year; at least they do expect them during the month of October in
whose conjunction they very commonly occur. For this reason the ignorant populace
throw the blame upon the cord of Saint Francis, the great saint being the one
who, although he does not stop them entirely, without doubt, tempers them
greatly either in the opposition of the last quarter. Although the twenty-second day is the most
feared, I have noted with special care that a storm rarely occurs on the
twenty-second, but rather two or three
days before or after, and almost the same thing occurs in the other quarters.
If the bagyo avoids October, it is to be feared
in November, December and even January when it rarely misses. However, it is
not the same in all places because it has its ‘head’, as the natives here call
its greatest force, where it acts with most violence and fury.
The
first wind with which it ordinarily begins is from the North; begins with
another, it does not become strong until it comes from North. Following as they
say the compass needle, the wind changes through all directions in twenty-four
hours. This is the time it usually lasts, although sometimes it last
forty-eight and more; at times only twelve or fourteen in its greatest
intensity. In the interval that it goes
from one wind to another, it seems to rest somewhere or breathe in order to
return with greater force. The first sudden gusts of each wind are the fiercest
and make the greatest blast.
The bagyos or hurricanes lasts a greater or
lesser time depending on how long it halts in each position, for it seems to go
through them all. The immense amount of water which the clouds release when the
wind is slack is the best indicator. One of the characteristics or aspects of
the heavens by which the natives recognize that there is about to be a storm is
seeing the sky all of one ashy color so that there is no variation in any part,
nor are there darker or more opaque cloud. If there are present, it is not a bagyo which runs the course of the
compass but a tempest which lasts for the time it takes for these black clouds
to disappear. These tempests ordinarily do not change course; on doing so they
enter the status of bagyos.
The
final wind and the one which brings the bagyo
to an end, is the timog, as they say,
or south wind. This wind even though it does not last long, yet does more
damage for two reasons or causes; the first is the rain which it commonly
increases, the other because it is the fiercest of all, giving several furious
blows, even though a few in number, by which it scatters the clouds. The heavy
gloom of the moment disperses and gives place to a sun scattering its rays
without opposition, even though it is not contrary. This is of such importance
that if some bagyos end or die down
without the south wind having blown, the natives of these islands say that soon
another bagyo will follow, because if
this wind does not blow ‘the gauntlet is raised for another blow’.
Experience
shows that this is infallible for there immediately follows another bagyo or several, until the force of the
south wind finally breaks up the clouds. This is a characteristic of this wind
which we see in the Sacred Scriptures. And with what was said, will make it
possible to have some idea of what the bagyos
are like over here.
Source:
ALCINA’s Historia de
las islas... (1668), Philippiniana Sacra,Vol. XXXIX Number
117, September – December 2004 Issue Pages 589-601. Translators: Cantius Kobak,
OFM – Lucio Gutiérrez, OP
Publishing
House: Ecclesisatical Publications Office University of Santo Tomas España
St. Manila
[1] Bajera . A Spanish
adjective meaning ‘under’; i.e. something hidden or lying under another
thing. Cfr. Diccionario de la lengua Española, a-guzpatarra, p. 166.
[2] Melcocha. A paste of concentrated honey; sweetmeat made
with it. Cfr. Diccionario de la lengua
Española, h-zuzón, p. 894.
[3] Dalig. Perhaps a better
reading is dalid: flat roots of large trees jutting out from the ground;
buttress. Tramp, op cit., p. 125.
Sánchez’s
entry reads: dalid: the wide roots of
tree trunks. Op cit.
[4] Caijanes. Kayang. An
awning made of nipa leaves made into shingles. Mangayang, an pagpandang sin ano man sin
kayang, or mangayang kita dinhi, kay
nipaun or kanipaan ining suba, let
us make a cover. Sánchez (1711), Op cit.
[5] Nipa. A nipa palm – Nypa fruticans: a swampy palm that provides most common
thatching material, raincoats, sun hats, baskets, mats bags, brooms and rice
confection wrappings. The fiber is used for cords; the young seeds are edible.
Formerly important for 85% of Philippine alcohol is still used in tube and can be used for sugar. Nipa wine is called lambanog in Tagalog. Tramp, op cit., p. 302.
[6] Quid erit in pelage? What
about in the sea? The word pelago is
the ablative of pelagus, a Latin word which means sea/ocean. Hence in English
and Latin languages Archipelago, a
part of the sea with many islands scattered around.
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