[21] A relative of the author, whose body was dragged from the tomb and thrown to the dogs, on the pretext that he had died without receiving final absolution.—­Tr.

[22] Under the Spanish regime the government paid no attention to education, the schools (!) being under the control of the religious orders and the friar-curates of the towns.—­Tr.

[23] The cockpits are farmed out annually by the local governments, the terms “contract,” and “contractor,” having now been softened into “license” and “licensee.”—­Tr.

[24] The “Municipal School for Girls” was founded by the municipality of Manila in 1864....  The institution was in charge of the Sisters of Charity.—­Census of the Philippine Islands, Vol.  III, p. 615.

[25] Now known as Plaza Espana.—­Tr.

[26] Patroness of the Dominican Order.  She was formally and sumptuously recrowned a queen of the skies in 1907.—­Tr.

[27] A burlesque on an association of students known as the Milicia Angelica, organized by the Dominicans to strengthen their hold on the people.  The name used is significant, “carbineers” being the local revenue officers, notorious in their later days for graft and abuse.—­Tr.

[28] “Tinamaan ng lintik!”—­a Tagalog exclamation of anger, disappointment, or dismay, regarded as a very strong expression, equivalent to profanity.  Literally, “May the lightning strike you!”—­Tr.

[29] “To lie about the stars is a safe kind of lying.”—­Tr.

[30] Throughout this chapter the professor uses the familiar tu in addressing the students, thus giving his remarks a contemptuous tone.—­Tr.

[31] The professor speaks these words in vulgar dialect.

[32] To confuse the letters p and f in speaking Spanish was a common error among uneducated Filipinos.—­Tr.

[33] No cristianos, not Christians, i.e., savages.—­Tr.

[34] The patron saint of Spain, St. James.—­Tr.

[35] Houses of bamboo and nipa, such as form the homes of the masses of the natives.—­Tr.

[36] “In this paragraph Rizal alludes to an incident that had very serious results.  There was annually celebrated in Binondo a certain religious festival, principally at the expense of the Chinese mestizos.  The latter finally petitioned that their gobernadorcillo be given the presidency of it, and this was granted, thanks to the fact that the parish priest (the Dominican, Fray Jose Hevia Campomanes) held to the opinion that the presidency belonged to those who paid the most.  The Tagalogs protested, alleging their better right to it, as the genuine sons of the country, not to mention the historical precedent, but the friar, who was looking after his own interests, did not yield.  General Terrero (Governor, 1885-1888), at the advice of his liberal councilors, finally had the parish priest removed and for the time being decided the affair in favor of the Tagalogs.  The matter reached the Colonial Office (Ministerio de Ultramar) and the Minister was not even content merely to settle it in the way the friars desired, but made amends to Padre Hevia by appointing him a bishop.”—­W.  E. Retana, who was a journalist in Manila at the time, in a note to this chapter.