they relish better when it has begun to spoil and when it stinks. [62]
They also eat boiled camotes (which are sweet potatoes), beans,
_quilites_ [63] and other vegetables; all kinds of bananas, guavas,
pineapples, custard apples, many varieties of oranges, and other
varieties of fruits and herbs, with which the country teems. Their
drink is a wine made from the tops of cocoa and nipa palm, of which
there is a great abundance. They are grown and tended like vineyards,
although without so much toil and labor. Drawing off the tuba, [64]
they distil it, using for alembics their own little furnaces and
utensils, to a greater or less strength, and it becomes brandy. This is
drunk throughout the islands. It is a wine of the clarity of water,
but strong and dry. If it be used with moderation, it acts as a
medicine for the stomach, and is a protection against humors and all
sorts of rheums. Mixed with Spanish wine, it makes a mild liquor,
and one very palatable and healthful.

In the assemblies, marriages, and feasts of the natives of these
islands, the chief thing consists in drinking this wine, day and night,
without ceasing, when the turn of each comes, some singing and others
drinking. As a consequence, they generally become intoxicated without
this vice being regarded as a dishonor or disgrace. [65]

The weapons of this people are, in some provinces, bow and arrows. But
those generally used throughout the islands are moderate-sized spears
with well-made points; and certain shields of light wood, with their
armholes fastened on the inside. These cover them from top to toe,
and are called _carasas_ [_kalasag_]. At the waist they carry a
dagger four fingers in breadth, the blade pointed, and a third of
a vara in length; the hilt is of gold or ivory. The pommel is open
and has two cross bars or projections, without any other guard. They