iece [of cloth] eight
brazas long, which is reserved for his burial. They have abandoned
other demonstrations, or rather, exchanged them for Christian ones,
of which we shall speak at the proper place. In that regard they give
oldtime Christians much to emulate. For formerly they buried with
their dead most of their treasures--gold, bells, and other things,
which are highly esteemed among them. Those things were so sacred to
reverence that no one, however abandoned and audacious he might be,
had the courage to stretch forth his hand to take them--although
he could have done so with great safety to himself, as their dead
are buried in caves, islets, or solitary mountains, without other
guard than their imaginary religion. On the day on which they buried
the deceased, about his sepulcher they planted palms, jasmines, and
other flowers peculiar to this region. If the deceased was a king,
or a prince of equal nobility, they placed a tent above the grave with
four white banners at its sides, while inside it they burned perfumes
as long as the time of lamentation or memorial lasted, perhaps setting
aside some slaves for that employ, in order to make it more lasting.

This heathen display has given way to Christian demonstrations of
sumptuous honors and abundant alms which they give for their deceased,
as we shall relate in the proper place. But I shall not defer the
telling of one which may prove a matter of reprehension to our neglect
and forgetfulness, in what is more important to us, namely, that they
are wont to have the coffin prepared during the lifetime for their
burial. They make those coffins out of one single piece, and from
incorruptible woods. They keep them under their houses where they
can see them whenever they descend from or ascend to their houses;
and they are open to the gaze of all who pass along the street. That
is a care that it would be right for them to have learned from the
oldtime Christians, whom the faith of what they hope for, ought to
arouse with greater demonstrations....

The Subanos follow the Lutaos in some things, their poverty and misery
exerting efforts in the worship of their dead, and their barbarism
showing itself at the side of their piety, when they throw into the
sea, out of grief, the gold of their ornaments, decorations, and
their most precious jewels--a custom wellnigh universal in all these
islands. [74] But in one island their cruelty is shown especially
in their alleviation o