themselves. On that account
they have applied themselves so easily and willingly to our letters,
in order to write in their own language.

419. Their own method of writing was peculiar, by writing the lines
from top to bottom, beginning at the left hand and proceeding to
the right. This bespeaks a very great antiquity; for the ancient
custom of the Hebrews is to write lines, from the right to the left,
as the Chinese do at the present time. But the latter write them
from top to bottom, as was done in these islands. Diodorus Siculus,
who wrote in the time of the emperor Caesar Augustus, says that in
an island of the torrid zone the people wrote from top to bottom,
and employed only a few letters.

420. Before the people knew anything of paper in these islands
they wrote on the smooth bark of bamboo, or on leaves of the many
palms which are found in these islands (and even yet this is done, in
districts where there is no paper, or even that the schoolboys may not
waste paper), the point of a knife or an iron, or some other material,
serving as a pen (and now with birds' quills and ink). If it were a
missive letter, they wrote it on palm-leaves, and folded it as we fold
our letters. Some of them are much given to writing on the ground in
a squatting posture, which is the usual way both men and women sit.

421. The cultured languages, as already stated, are six in number--for
one cannot reckon the languages of the Negritos and mountain people
as such, since each settlement has its own distinct language,
which results from the lack of human intercourse. Among the cultured
languages, the chief and mother languages are considered the Tagalog,
the Pampanga, and the Visayan; and even among these the Tagalog is
considered the most polished and powerful. That is not [for instance]
because it lacks the tu [i.e., "thou"]--which is well employed with
their primitive pronoun ycao or ca, even with persons to whom the
greatest respect is due--but on account of the po and Po co, which
explains it, and signifies "Sir" [senor mio]. The first is used for
men, and the second for women. Interwoven with the words, it shows
reverence and courtesy; as, for example, in order to answer "Yes"
to a woman one says Oo, Po co, an expression which without the Po co
would be too familiar. In many other phrases in the Tagalog language
is shown its seriousness and polish; those who write grammars of the
language will be able to set them forth.

422.