they learn both these trades with little effort; and there are among
them excellent embroiderers, painters, and silversmiths; and engravers
whose work has no equal in all the Indias--and I was even going
to place it far ahead of all the rest, if shame had not restrained
me--as is very obvious in the many and excellent engravings which
they are all the time producing. They are good carvers, gilders, and
carpenters. They build vessels for these islands--galleys, galliots,
pataches, and ships for the Acapulco trade-route. They are good seamen,
artillerists, and divers--for there is hardly an Indian who does not
know how to swim very well. They are the pilots of these seas. They
excel in making bejuquillos, which are golden chains of delicate
and exquisite workmanship. From palm-leaves, rattan, and nito they
make hats, and petates or rugs, and mats, that are very handsome,
and wrought with various kinds of flowers and other figures. They
are noted as mechanics and puppet-players, and make complicated
mechanisms which, by means of figures, go through various motions with
propriety and accuracy. Some are watchmakers. They make gunpowder,
and cast mortars, cannon, and bells. I have seen them make guns,
as handsomely constructed as those made in Europe, although I do not
think that they would be as substantial and reliable as those. There
are in Manila three printing-houses, and all keep Indian workmen;
and the errors that they make are not numerous. They have remarkable
skill in music; and there is no village, however small, that has
not a very respectable musician to officiate in the church. Among
them are excellent voices--trebles, contraltos, tenors, and basses;
almost all can play on the harp, and there are many violinists, and
players on the oboe and flute. It is especially noticeable that not
only those whose trade it is to make these instruments do so, but
various Indians, through love [for such work], make guitars, harps,
flutes, and violins, with their bolos or machetes; and they learn to
play these instruments by only seeing them played, and without any
special instruction. Almost the same thing occurs in other matters; and
on this account it is said that the Indians have their understanding in
their eyes, since they so closely imitate what they see. Such are the
Indians, when observed on the outside surface of their aspect; but when
one penetrates into the interior of their dispositions, peculiarities,
and customs, t