Museum Exhibit – Repatriating a Lost Library of the Spanish Pacific

“Si tu hidrópica sed viene buscando al Oriente rubíes y diamantes, bebe las aguas de esta Biblioteca y ya quedaste rico”

“If your thirst comes seeking rubies and diamonds in the East. drink from the waters of this Library, and you will already be rich.”

— Fr. Alberto Tavares (ca. 1770)

Reframing History from Recovered Texts

For over three years, scholars and archivists on three continents have been working to digitally reassemble the contents of the famed San Agustin Library. Combining digital technology with rigorous scholarly research, this exhibition — based on the1762 Archive Project — revives forgotten characters and lost histories.

We invite you to explore the exhibition and visit 1762archive.org to discover the wide range of materials that have been recovered. You can even try transcribing some of these fascinating historical documents yourself and take part in uncovering the past.

The Gathered Volumes

The Foyle Special Collections Library at King’s College London holds seven grammars and lexicons of Philippine languages, originally acquired in Manila by Alexander Dalrymple during the British occupation. Comprising four manuscripts (two unpublished) and annotated printed editions, these works were later lent and bequeathed to William Marsden, a pioneering orientalist and linguist. A printed label pasted over Dalrymple’s bookplate reads, “Afterwards bequeathed to me,” confirming the transfer. In 1835, Marsden donated his entire library—including these grammars and lexicons—to the newly founded King’s College London.

SOAS University of London was founded in 1916 to advance British scholarship and administrative knowledge of Asia and Africa. In the early 1920s, key parts of William Marsden’s King’s College manuscript collection were transferred to the newly established school. Among these are three early works on Philippine languages: a Vocabulario by Alonso Méntrida; Arte de la Lengua Tagala, a Tagalog grammar and vocabulary dated circa 1636; and Arte de la Lengua Pampanga, a grammar of the Kapampangan language.

The British Library holds materials linked to the British occupation of Manila, including East India Company papers and royal charts. Only one item can be definitively traced to the San Agustin Monastery: the Libros de Consultas (1751–1761), the chapter book of the Convent of San Pablo. A note by Captain Hyde Parker confirms that it was taken during the British capture of Manila and later acquired by Alexander Dalrymple.

The only unlocated manuscripts from the 1966 Sotheby’s auction of the Dalrymple-Phillipps collection are Lots 517 and 518, containing texts on Japanese Christian missions and martyrdoms, including those related to Fr. Hernando de San José.

These were purchased by Shigeo Sorimachi (1901–1991), a Tokyo-based rare book dealer who ran the mail-order bookstore Kobunso. While their current whereabouts are unknown, some evidence points to the Kirishitan Bunko Library at Sophia University.

Alexander Dalrymple’s “Manuscripts Taken from Manilla” lot, sold at auction in 1809. The collection remained largely intact through six subsequent auctions and estate transfers, including the libraries of Richard Heber, Thomas Thorpe, and Sir Thomas Phillipps.

In 1966, nearly all the remaining individual lots were sold at Sotheby’s to Bernardo Mendel of Lathrop C. Harper, and were acquired by the Lilly Library on May 28, 1968. Historian Charles Boxer played a role in the acquisition and was later responsible for cataloguing the manuscripts.

While Princeton University Library holds no physical copies of the 1762 materials, it serves as the primary digital repository for their IIIF-compliant digital facsimiles and manifests. Through the generosity of the institution, Princeton’s Digital PUL (DPUL) platform is hosting — in perpetuity—all digitised 1762 materials from Kings College, the British Library, SOAS, the Lopez Library, and San Agustin.

In June 2022, as part of the 1762 Archive Project, Christina Lee and Cristina Juan visited San Agustin Museum to search for materials that may have survived the British looting. Despite accounts claiming the library had been completely emptied, a search of the convent’s storage uncovered 61 volumes, many bearing pre-1762 markings such as Archbishop Rojo’s bookplates and signatures from Augustinian friars. Several titles matched entries in the Inventarium of 1762—the monastery’s catalogue, whose final entry is dated May 1762.

In 1966, Eugenio López acquired Sotheby’s Lot No. 525 through H.P. Kraus of New York. This lot, originally part of Alexander Dalrymple’s library contain Spanish royal and local decrees addressed to the governors of the Philippines between 1663 and 1752. Uncatalogued since 1966, they were rediscovered in the Lopez Library in 2023 through the 1762 project and are now, through the generousity of the Lopez Library, fully digitized and accessible online.

In September 1762, joint forces of the British Royal Navy and the East India Company sailed into Manila Bay. By early October, they had breached the mighty stone walls of Intramuros and seized control of the Spanish colonial capital—marking the beginning of a dramatic and chaotic occupation of Manila and Cavite.

Below is an 18th-century painting (Alegoría de la defensa de Filipinas, 1762-1763; Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava) by an unknown artist. It offers a representation of the chronology of events from the perspective of Don Simón de Anda y Salazar, the Spanish Lieutenant General who led the resistance against British forces from his base in Pampanga.

The Looting Begins

Widespread looting followed the assault. Acting Governor-General Archbishop Manuel Rojo convened a council, offering ransom payments and other terms in hopes of halting the violence and restoring order under British occupation.

Simón de Anda y Salazar, a senior magistrate (oidor) of the Real Audiencia, refused to accept the surrender of Manila. Taking with him official seals and part of the treasury, he escaped to Pampanga to establish a rival government and lead resistance efforts.

From his base in Bacolor, Anda declared himself Governor-General and organized Filipino and Spanish troops to oppose British control through guerrilla warfare and local alliances.

Meanwhile, the British intercepted the Santísima Trinidad, thinking it was the treasure-laden galleon Filipino arriving from Mexico. Instead, they captured cargo bound for Acapulco. The Filipino arrived safely, and its silver was used by Anda to finance his campaign.

With the Royal Navy’s departure, General Draper appointed Dawsonne Drake of the East India Company as governor-general. Drake’s administration and the remaining forces under him, faced increasing pressure from Anda’s forces.

Anda tightened the siege on Manila by cutting off British supply lines and isolating the city. He also quelled internal threats, including uprisings among the Chinese and the pro-British movement led by Diego Silang in the north.

The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1763, ended the Seven Years’ War and required Britain to return Manila to Spain. In early 1764, the British withdrew, and Anda re-entered the capital, hailed by many as a defender of Spanish sovereignty.

For a transcription and translation of the original texts for each panel

bit.ly/1762-book

The Spoils of Empire

Objects Taken from Manila, 1762

When British forces seized Manila, they carried away more than gold—taking maps, sacred icons, and symbols of authority that reflected the colony’s identity and heritage. Only a fraction of the scale of this plunder is well documented. Here are some examples.

Topographía de la Ciudad de Manila, 1717

Drawn by Antonio Fernández de Roxas and engraved by Fray Hipólito Ximénez, this detailed map of Manila was taken by British forces during the 1762 invasion. It was later annotated—note the English handwriting—to mark the section of the Intramuros wall where British troops breached the city’s defenses.

Courtesy of The British Library, Maps K.Top.116.40.

Copper Plates of the Murillo Velarde Map

Eight engraved copper plates used to produce Pedro Murillo Velarde’s seminal 1734 map of the Philippines were seized by British forces during the 1762 invasion and brought to England. There, several impressions were printed and sold to institutions—including the copy now held at the Library of Congress. With illustrations by Filipino artist Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay and engravings by Francisco Suárez, these plates have since been lost. However, impressions of the map, printed around the time of the British occupation, continue to preserve their remarkable legacy.

An Escudo de Armas from Intramuros

This low-relief sculpture shows the Spanish coat of arms and was placed above a door or gate to symbolize power and imperial authority. The British brought it to Madras as a war trophy along with Spanish cannons and artillery. It is now kept at the Government Museum in Chennai. Museum records indicate that the escudo was “taken from the gates of Manila during the expedition in 1762 when the town was captured by Madras troops.” Read more…

A Niño Dormido from Manila Hall

This reclining ivory image of the Christ Child was taken to England by General William Draper after the British occupation of Manila. Using prize money from the campaign, Draper built a home in Bristol called “Manilla Hall,” where the sculpture was displayed. The piece later reappeared at Christie’s auction in London in 1981 and was eventually acquired and returned to the Philippines by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The Santísima Trinidad Galleon and Its Cargo

In 1762, the Manila galleon Santísima Trinidad was captured by the British en route to Acapulco, carrying a cargo worth over £100 million today. Captain Hyde Parker, who led the seizure, used his share — a prize of 30,000 guineas (about £5 million today) of the spoils to buy Melford Hall in Suffolk — and brought back treasures like fine Chinese ceramics and religious items.

Ivory Madonna of Melford Hall, Suffolk

This ivory figure of the Madonna is believed to have been part of the cargo of the Santísima Trinidad, a Manila galleon seized by British forces during the occupation of Manila in 1762. The ship, diverted to Madras and later brought to England in 1765, carried a range of goods including religious images, textiles, and silver. The Madonna’s presence at Melford Hall is linked to the Hyde Parker family, whose archives document the arrival of items from the captured galleon. Read more…

“I doubt if there is anything in the Philippines similar to the Library that this convent had in the upper cloister. I was a librarian and its custodian in 1760, and so I will say clearly and plainly what I have seen. It was a big room, bright and beautiful; it had twenty shelves of fine and exquisite wood called narra, with many color blended moldings and an Augustinian Doctor painted as a finish in each shelf.

“Each shelf had eight boxes or rows; in each row were from twenty or thirty books with the labels towards the top; they were all very good books, old and modern, of all faculties and sciences. There was also a smaller wired shelf, under lock and key; here were kept the reserved books and many manuscripts worthy of publication which I cite in my Osario. There were also two fine tables, big and beautiful, chairs and ladders to climb to the higher rows, two globes, two spheres of Europe, various maps and other curiosities; the estimated value of all these was thirty thousand pesos strong.”

— Agustin Maria de Castro

The Librarian

Fray Agustín María de Castro, O.S.A. (1740–1801) was born in La Bañeza (León), Spain. He joined the Augustinian order in 1756 and arrived in the Philippines in 1759. Around 1760, he was serving as librarian of the San Agustin Library—just as British forces began their invasion of Manila. Forced to flee, he later authored the Historia del Insigne Convento de San Pablo (1770), a gripping and often dramatic eyewitness account of the siege and the looting of the library. His memoir remains a rare historical document, recounting not only the loss of irreplaceable manuscripts and relics, but also his own role in the defense of Manila, Bulacan, and Pampanga, including the production of gunpowder in San Miguel de Mayumo.

The Looting of the San Agustin Monastery and Library

“The convent and church was also plundered and embargoed. This was publicly announced on the 3rd day of November of 1762. In the prior’s cell they found around ninety bags of money each of a thousand pesos, which was partly of the Pious Works, partly of the Congregation and partly of particular residents.

“On the 8th of December they again inspected the convent; they went to the Library and took all the books to the house of Don Santiago Orendain, Lawyer and resident of Manila. They also took two organs and two hand organs that had been in the choir and whacked an image of Christ Crucified that was in the balustrade, because it was for them very black and ugly.

“They also took the two archives of the convent and Province and delivered them to the said lawyer for him to inspect, and after the processes we recovered and returned them to the convent, but many papers of the Province were missing.”

Alexander Dalrymple and the “Manuscripts taken from Manilla.”

The contents of the library were later acquired by Alexander Dalrymple, who arrived in Manila in 1762 as part of the British East India Company’s presence. He briefly served as acting governor general and acquired looted manuscripts and books originally taken from the San Agustin Library. He used these materials to inform his studies of the Philippines and surrounding regions, incorporating them into his vast home library which before his death stood at an annex on Marylebone Street in London. After his death in 1808, Dalrymple’s library was auctioned over several days, including a lot on the second day titled “Manuscripts taken from Manilla.”

The Dispersal

Except for some maps and navigational charts that went to the Royal Collection, most of the Dalrymple lot was purchased by noted bibliophile Richard Heber (1773–1833). It changed hands over the 19th century, eventually becoming part of Sir Thomas Phillipps’s vast library. Passed down through his family, the collection remained in private care until acquired by London booksellers William H. Robinson, Ltd. in 1946. At a Sotheby’s auction in 1966, the lot was further dispersed: the majority was bought by Bernardo Mendel—later acquired by the Lilly Library—while other items were purchased by Eugenio López and Shigeo Sorimachi (1901–1991), a Tokyo-based rare book dealer who ran the mail-order bookstore Kobunso.

Another portion of Dalrymple’s personal library—particularly his books on languages and linguistics—was loaned, and later bequeathed, to his friend William Marsden, an early scholar of Southeast Asia. These books later went to King’s College London and then to SOAS.

The Volumes of the San Agustin Library

This selection of books and manuscripts represents what remained—or was later returned—to San Agustin after the 1762 British occupation of Manila. Some survived the initial ransack; others found their way back following the controversial auction of the convent’s holdings overseen by lawyer Don Santiago Orendain. These volumes stand as fragile witnesses to a library once considered among the richest in the archipelago, revealing both the losses and the acts of recovery that followed war and dispersal.

Library Bookplate, After-1762

This printed bookplate appears in many surviving volumes from San Agustin Convent after the British occupation. Likely produced post-looting, the bookplate helped identify and reintegrate recovered books. Provinces like Cebu and Ilocos contributed replacements, many stamped with their own distinctive mark on specific pages to aid in tracking. The design, showing the Augustinian emblem within an open book, includes Cajón and Estante markings—evidence of efforts to rebuild the disrupted cataloguing system.

Manuel Antonio Rojo del Río y Vieyra (1708–1764)

Miguel Cabrera. Portrait of Manuel Antonio Rojo del Rio Lubin y Vieyra. Andrés Siegel Collection. México. 18th century.

Appointed Archbishop of Manila in 1759, Rojo unexpectedly became acting Governor-General just before the British invaded in 1762. His cautious leadership during the siege and surrender of Manila drew sharp criticism from Spanish authorities and religious peers, casting a long shadow over his legacy.

This volume bears Rojo’s personal bookplate—one of four Latin books in the 1762 San Agustín collection linked to him. Though often mocked for his Latin correspondence with British officers like Draper and Cornish, the presence of these volumes is a reminder of how central the language was to his intellectual and administrative life.

Miguel Cabrera. Portrait of Manuel Antonio Rojo del Rio Lubin y Vieyra. Andrés Siegel Collection. México. 18th century.

Fr. Agustin Maria de Castro

Librarian of the San Agustin Convent during the British occupation of Manila (1762–64), Fr. de Castro played a vital role in maintaining and cataloguing one of the most significant religious libraries in the Philippines. Known for his intellectual discipline and deep familiarity with the holdings of the Augustinian province, he was among the few friars whose name appears in surviving volumes from the period.

This book bears his rare handwritten signature, offering material evidence that some friars, including those charged with stewardship of the library, kept personal copies of theological works.

Fr. Juan de Albarran’s Copy of Bellarmine’s Disputationes

Robert Bellarmine, S.J., Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei, Volume IV. Final edition revised by the author.

This volume of Cardinal Robert Bellarmine’s Disputationes bears the signature of Fr. Juan de Albarran, O.S.A., a prominent Augustinian friar known for overseeing the 1735 reconstruction of the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu, where he served as prior. Bellarmine’s Disputationes—a foundational work of Catholic theology during the Counter-Reformation—was widely used in the training and formation of clergy, particularly for defending Church doctrine on papal supremacy and ecclesiastical authority, the focus of this volume.

Although Fr. Albarran was based in Cebu, this book was found in the convent of San Agustin in Intramuros, Manila, the central house of the Augustinian order in the Philippines. This suggests the volume may have been transferred to Manila after his death, in keeping with the common practice of consolidating books from provincial houses into the mother convent’s library. Its presence in San Agustin attests to the circulation of knowledge—and books—within the Augustinian network across the archipelago.

Drawing of the Basilica del Sto. Niño as it appeared before the reconstuction(above)

Signature of Fr. Juan de Albarran, O.S.A., who oversaw the 1735 reconstruction of the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu (right)

Despachos de Su Majestad al Presidente de la Audiencia de Filipinas, 1707–1713

Dispatches from His Majesty to the President of the Audiencia of the Philippines, 1707–1713

This manuscript volume is made up of royal dispatches sent by the Spanish Crown to the “Presidente de la Audiencia de Filipinas” between 1707-1713. An index at the beginning summarizes its contents. It covers administrative directives, legal issues, and policy instructions. Spanning 797 folios, the volume contains copies of the royal orders, followed—significantly—by signed responses from both Spanish officials in the Philippines and local recipients, including indios and mestizos, who were directly impacted by the dispatches.

Documents pertaining to Bandalas issued in the Bikol region (1704-1713)

Included in this volume is a compilation of documents related to the Real Compra de Bandala (or Vandala) issued in the Bikol region between 1704- 1713.

This testimony by Don Pedro Bulalacao provides a vivid example of a bandala, a colonial practice in the Spanish Philippines in which local communities were compelled to deliver agricultural products—often forcibly and at unfair prices—for use by the colonial state. The bandala system functioned as a form of tribute or requisition imposed by the Spanish colonial government, particularly on regions rich in natural resources.

Both Capalongan and Siminandig (also known as Lagonoy) were not mentioned in the order by the alcalde mayor or juez of the province but the manuscripts attest that the decree was executed in these towns.

Most of these towns can be found in the Murillo Velarde map of 1734.

At present, all the mentioned towns are municipalities in the provinces of Albay (Polangui, Oas, Ligao, Cagsawa, Camalig, Guinobatan).

Camarines Sur (Buhi, Iriga, Nueva Caceres, Canaman, Bao, Libmanan, Lagonoy) and Camarines Norte (Capalonga).

Transcription

{Al margen izquierdo: Bao}
Digdi sa banuaan sa Bao duañg polo mey tolo sa bulan na
noviembre sa sañg rivo pitoñg gatos mey apat na taon; aco an escribano
actual Melchor Demaroñgba hinuad co yniñg mandamiento nin superior
gobierno na siring man sana can original na dai nadugagñan assin dai
man nin nalihissan can gabos na napapalaman na magña catanossan assin binasa
sa sa patio sa pagcatapus nin missa sa domingo can gabos na magña tauo
assin ypinagbando pa sa hayag pa nin an hinuad ypinadocot sa laog nin tribunal
tagnaniñg maysihan nin gabos na magña tauo sa banuaan tara sapagcatotoo
cayniñg guinibo coñg testimonio, nagfirma aco can sacuiañg gñaran, y noviembre
veinte y tres de mil setecientos y quatro años
Melchor Dimaroñgba
escribano

Translation

{Al margen izquierdo: Bao}
Here in the town of Baao, on the 23rd of November 1704,
I, Melchor Demaroñgba, the current scribe, proclaimed this order of
the superior government. The order is the same as the original, without any
additions and missing provisions.
It was read by everyone in the patio after the Sunday mass,
proclaimed to the public, and affixed at the tribunal
so that it would be known by everyone in the town.
In attesting the truth of the testimony I wrote,
I signed with my name,
November 23, 1704
Melchor Dimaroñgba
escribano

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What This Document Tells Us About the Bandala

This testimony gives us a rare, on-the-ground glimpse of how the bandala worked in practice. A colonial order was sent from Manila to the town of Buhi, instructing local residents to hand over thousands of bundles of abaca and containers of coconut oil. These were valuable local products that the Spanish colonial government wanted for trade or military use. The order even included fixed prices for the goods—likely much lower than what locals might have received in a fair market.

Once the order arrived, it was translated into the local Bikol language and read aloud in the church, ensuring that as many people as possible would hear it. It was then posted on the door of the town hall for everyone to see.

While it may have looked like a formal and legal process, the reality for many communities was closer to forced collection. People had little choice but to give up their goods, often with no real compensation. This was the bandala in action: a system that used official orders and local networks to extract resources from Filipino communities for the benefit of the colonial state.

The Real Compra de Bandala was enforced for about 180 years. It was first ended in the provinces of Tondo, Bulacan, Laguna, Tayabas, Batangas, and Cavite on 13 November 1783, and finally abolished across the rest of the country on 2 June 1792.

The Central Role of Abaca

The requisition of abaca by the colonial government was driven by the demand for ropes and rigging for the Manila galleons. This led to a decree issued on 12 April 1626, which obligated all natives to plant and cultivate the abaca plant. However, even before the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi, Philippine natives had already been growing abaca for weaving textiles and ropes.

By early 1636, the colonial government regarded abaca fiber as a crucial material in the navy yards, where it was used for tacos de artillería (gun stoppers), ayustes (cable splicers), betas (cordage for various types of tackle), calabrotes (stream cables), as well as for the rigging of galleons plying the Manila–Acapulco route.

According to official certifications, four thousand chinantas of abaca were requisitioned from Polangui, Ligao, Buhi, Camalig, Guinobatan, Libmanan, and Cagsaua. One chinanta was equivalent to 13 libras and 12 onzas in Castilian weight as used in Manila. Since there are 16 onzas in one libra, a chinanta amounts to 220 onzas, or approximately 6.3 kilograms.

Coconuts as Food and Oil

Coconut meat (copra) was widely consumed, either raw or dried. The process of drying coconut meat to produce copra—later pressed to extract coconut oil—was well established.

Twenty years after the abaca decree, the colonial government issued another decree on 7 December 1646, ordering the planting and cultivation of coconut (Cocos nucifera) trees. Coconut had many uses: its oil was used for lighting colonial buildings, churches, and convents; it also provided wine and sustenance for royal storehouses, military garrisons, and naval forces in the Philippines and beyond.

Official certifications of the Bandala record the requisition of two thousand gantas of coconut oil from Polangui, Ligao, Buhi, Camalig, Guinobatan, Libmanan, and Cagsaua. One ganta—a unit used for both dry and liquid measures—is equivalent to approximately 3 liters.

Languages and Missionary Work

The Philippines’ linguistic diversity posed major challenges for missionaries, who had to learn local languages to communicate and convert. The Augustinians developed three essential tools for each: a grammar (Arte), a dictionary (Vocabulario), and a catechism (Doctrina).

A royal decree in 1594 divided the islands among missionary orders, allowing each to focus on a few main languages. The Augustinians concentrated on Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, and Cebuano. By the late 1500s, a “chair of languages” was established in Manila to train missionaries, who had to pass strict language exams before being assigned to parishes. As a result, the printing of these linguistic texts became widespread.

What is significant about the grammars and lexicons collected here is that many exist only in manuscript form, and a number of them appear never to have been published.

Bocabulario Iloco

After printing his foundational grammar, The Art of the Ilocano Language in 1627, Father Francisco López, an Augustinian missionary assigned to the Ilocos region from 1599 onwards, began to put together the Bocabulario Yloco, a Spanish–Ilocano dictionary. However, his untimely death prevented him from completing the dictionary. This Bocabulario Yloco, in manuscript form, may well be this unfinished project. No printed copy of this appears to exist. Its relationship with the Vocabulario de la Lengua Ilocana and the Arte de la Lengua Ilocana is unclear.

López’s pioneering linguistic work laid the foundation for one of the most sustained missionary engagements with a Philippine language. His dictionary was eventually completed by Father Andrés Carro in 1794 and printed in 1849 as Vocabulario de la lengua ilocano, followed by a second edition in 1888.

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Manuscript of Arte de la Lengua Pampanga

This manuscript appears to be the basis for the first printed edition of Arte de la lengua Pampanga, published by the Jesuit press in Manila in 1729. The earliest complete grammar of the Kapampangan language, the Arte was written by Fr. Diego Bergaño (1690–1747), who arrived in the Philippines in 1718. He began his study of Kapampangan while stationed in Intramuros and deepened his knowledge during his posting in the town of Mexico, Pampanga, in 1725. Bergaño completed a grammar so well crafted that it was reprinted in 1736 by the Franciscan press in Sampaloc. This rare 1736 edition is also part of the King’s College London collection and is now made available through the 1762 Archive Project.

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Vocabulario de la Lengua Bisaya Hiligueyna y Haraia de la Isla de Panai y Sugbu y para las demas Islas...

Fray Alonso de Méntrida, an Augustinian missionary based in Panay from 1607, dedicated over 23 years to studying Hiligaynon and Haraya (also known as Kinaray-a)—languages spoken across the Visayan Islands. His deep engagement with local languages led to the publication of the Arte de la lengua hiliguayna in 1628, one of the earliest grammars of a Philippine language. He later completed this Vocabulario, a bilingual Spanish–Hiligaynon and Haraya dictionary, which was printed posthumously in 1637 at the University of Santo Tomás in Manila. Father Martín Claver, himself fluent in the language and then parish priest of Panay (Capiz), supervised its publication and contributed corrections and additions. The manuscript may be a copy of the 1628 Manila edition, or it may be the very press-copy used for that edition.

Mentrida records several words that relate to weaving fibres into either blankets HABUL or SAYAS (skirts). The Spanish word for weaver (tejedora) is used in relation to the act of weaving as in “having someone weave for you” in NAGPAHABUL. Various actions connected to the act of weaving are recorded using their native terms : SICAR – a foot movement while weaving to help keep the fabric tight, or even DAMO, which is to soak the fingers while weaving. LOSO is a specific term for “leaving the loom with the weaver.” Implements include a PURAN which is a “tabilla en que estriva la tejedora” and a BOSALI is a “lanzadera de telar.” (loom shuttle).

Mentrida records the Visayan term for “fierro” or iron as PUTHAO or its variant spelling POTHAO. He specifies that this is “fierro por labran” or iron for working. Some scholars have pointed out the Chinese origin of this native term. Mentrida also includes the use of the term for “soil with iron content” as in “puthaonon na duta.” Other uses of the word in Mentrida’s lexicon seem more metaphorical – for example that of a person with iron content (puthaonon nga tao). Aside from Puthao, there are various terms recorded for bladed weapons that would have had some iron content. CAMPILAN for example is recorded as a term already in use in the Visayas from the time Mentrida assembled the lexicon. ( ca 1628)

Spelt CAHOY in Mentridas’s 1628 lexicon, the word was meant to signify “madera” or wood in general, or log of wood used for sculpting ( “esculpe”). The lexicon also identifies wood for making houses, and wood used for burning. In explaining the native word LILOC, Mentrida includes several ways this included working with wood: when the “Indios” or natives would write or engrave their letters on wood, especially on bamboo; or when someone “esculpe como madero o tabla o en que se pinta como lienzo o tabla.”

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