d guide and serve me; for I understood neither
Chinese nor Malayan. At the same time, I have heard that the Filipinos
are cowards in a storm. The infantry captain Molla told me that the
captain of a pontin which encountered a heavy tempest began to weep,
and the sailors hid in order not to work; and he had to drive them
out of the corners with a stick, for which they began to mutiny and
to try to pitch him overboard. Ashore they have given some proofs of
boldness by attacking Spaniards to their faces.... Sergeant Mateo was
boldly confronted in the insurrection of 1823. The soldiers have the
excellent quality of being obedient, and if they have Spanish officers
and sergeants, will not turn their backs on the fire; but alone they
have never given proof of gallantry. In the war with the English, they
always fled ... and the few Europeans whom Anda had were his hope, and
the soul of all his operations. I have asked many officers who have
fought with Filipinos, either against the savages in the mountains,
or against ladrones; and they all have told me that when it comes to
fighting, they preferred to have twenty-five Europeans to one hundred
Filipinos. Many allege, in proof of their bravery, the indifference
with which they die; but this is rather a sign of stupidity than of
good courage. From all of the above data, we might deduce that the
individual whom we are analyzing is more often found to be cowardly
than impassive and fearless; but that he is apt to become desperate,
as is very frequently observed. They express that by the idea that
he is hot-headed, and at such times they commit the most atrocious
crimes and suicide. He is cruel, and sheds blood with but little
symptoms of horror, and awaits death calmly. This is because he does
not feel so strongly as we do the instinct of life. He has no great
spirit for hazardous enterprises, as for instance that of boarding a
warship, breaking a square, gaining a bridge, or assaulting a breach,
unless he be inflamed by the most violent passions, that render him
frantic." (Mas, pp. 119-121.)

[239] In M., "to a great degree;" and in D., "in a certain manner."

[240] D. reads "on this occasion."

[241] Delgado says (p. 318) that the sin of intoxication is
overstated. Among the Visayans, intoxicating beverages are indulged
in in differing degrees, while many are abstemious. "I would like
to hear what the Tagalog Indians who live among Spaniards in Manila
would say to this stain,