First came the wars, the internal disorders which the new change
of affairs naturally brought with it. It was necessary to subject
the people either by cajolery or force; there were fights, there was
slaughter; those who had submitted peacefully seemed to repent of it;
insurrections were suspected, and some occurred; naturally there
were executions, and many capable laborers perished. Add to this
condition of disorder the invasion of Limahong, add the continual
wars into which the inhabitants of the Philippines were plunged
to maintain the honor of Spain, to extend the sway of her flag in
Borneo, in the Moluccas and in Indo-China; to repel the Dutch foe:
costly wars, fruitless expeditions, in which each time thousands and
thousands of native archers and rowers were recorded to have embarked,
but whether they returned to their homes was never stated. Like the
tribute that once upon a time Greece sent to the Minotaur of Crete,
the Philippine youth embarked for the expedition, saying good-by to
their country forever: on their horizon were the stormy sea, the
interminable wars, the rash expeditions. Wherefore, Gaspar de San
Agustin says: "Although anciently there were in this town of Dumangas
many people, in the course of time they have very greatly diminished
because the natives are the best sailors and most skillful rowers
on the whole coast, and so the governors in the port of Iloilo take
most of the people from this town for the ships that they send abroad
............. When the Spaniards reached this island (Panay) it is
said that there were on it more than fifty thousand families; but
these diminished greatly; ........... and at present they may amount
to some fourteen thousand tributaries." From fifty thousand families
to fourteen thousand tributaries in little over half a century!

We would never get through, had we to quote all the evidence of the