of the Malays were not held with any great tenacity
and easily yielded to the efforts of the missionaries. The native taste
for the spectacular was impressed and gratified by the picturesque
and imposing ceremonials of the church.

Their political and social organization was deficient in
cohesion. There were no well established native states but rather a
congeries of small groups something like clans. The headship of these
groups or _barangays_ was hereditary and the authority of the chief of
the _barangay_ was despotic. [32] This social disintegration immensely
facilitated the conquest; and by tact and conciliation, effectively
supported by arms, but with very little actual bloodshed, Spanish
sovereignty was superimposed upon these relatively detached groups,
whose essential features were preserved as a part of the colonial
administrative machinery. This in turn was a natural adaptation of that
developed in New Spain. Building upon the available institutions of the
_barangay_ as a unit the Spaniards aimed to familiarize and accustom
the Indians to settled village life and to moderate labor. Only under
these conditions could religious training and systematic religious
oversight be provided. These villages were commonly called _pueblos_
or _reducciones_, and Indians who ran away to escape the restraints
of civilized life were said to "take to the hills" (_remontar_).

As a sign of their allegiance and to meet the expenses of government
every Indian family was assessed a tribute of eight reals, about one
dollar, and for the purpose of assessment the people were set off in
special groups something like feudal holdings (_encomiendas_). The
tribute from some of the _encomiendas_ went to the king. Others had
been granted to the Spanish army officers or to the officials. [33]
The "Report of the _Encomiendas_ in the Islands in 1591" just twenty
years after the conquest of Luzon reveals a wonderful progress in
the work of civilization. In the city of Manila there was a cathedral
and the bishop's palace, monasteries for the Austin, Dominican, and
Franciscan Friars, and a house for the Jesuits. The king maintained a
hospital for Spaniards; there was also a hospital for Indians in the
charge of two Franciscan lay brothers. The garrison was composed of
two hundred soldiers. The Chinese quarter or _Parian_ contained some
two hundred shops and a population of about two thousand. In the suburb
of Tondo there was a convent of Francisc