20.  Among the slaves, the father and mother shared equally.  If both were slaves of one master, the children were so also.  If one slave belonged to one master and the other to another, the children were divided in this way.  The master of the father took the eldest, the master of the mother, the second; and so on in this order with the rest.  If there were an odd one, the two masters of the parents divided him; that is, the slave served both masters equally.  If either the father or mother were free, the children were divided in the same way, so that if the father was free, the eldest son or daughter was free.  On the contrary, if the father was a slave, the eldest son or daughter was a slave.  This arrangement was kept and observed among them, namely, to give an equal share to both the father and mother.  If one of them was free or half-free, they gave his part to him and to his children in proportion to the amount which fell to his lot.

21.  If any chiefs wrangled over their cultivated lands, they came before the other chiefs of the village; and these tried them, and received testimony orally from both sides, under oath, according to their usage—­which was sweating by the crocodile, the sun, the moon, and many other things by which they swore.  In conformity with the evidence of each one, the suit between the said chiefs was decided; and if either one of them refused to comply with the sentence, all the chiefs together compelled him to observe it.  This order was adhered to in this matter.

22.  All the aforesaid information I have endeavored to procure from the oldest inhabitants of this province, and from all the priors of the province.  If it be not set forth in a style as good as I ought to use, I beg your Lordship to pardon its defects, for the sake of my good will, etc.

NOTES

[1] Following in a translation of the title-page of the other edition of Morga’s work, which shows that a second edition of the Sucesos was published in the same year as was the first.  A reduced facsimile of this title-page—­from the facsimile reproduction in the Zaragoza edition (Madrid, 1887)—­forms the frontispiece to the present volume.  It reads thus:  “Events in the Philipinas Islands:  addressed to Don Christoval Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas, duke de Cea, by Doctor Antonio de Morga, alcalde of criminal causes in the royal Audiencia of Nueva Espana, and consultor for the Holy Office of the Inquisition.  At Mexico in the Indias, in the year 1609.”  In the lower left-hand corner of the engraved title appears the engraver’s name:  “Samuel Estradanus, of Antwerp, made this.”

[2] The month is omitted in the text.—­Stanley.

[3] Fray Diego Bermeo, a native of Toledo, became a Franciscan friar; and in 1580 went to Mexico, and three years later to the Philippines.  After spending many years as a missionary in Luzon and Mindoro, he was elected provincial of his order in the islands (in 1599, and again in 1608).  Going to Japan as commissary provincial—­in 1603, according to Morga, but 1604 as given by Huerta (Estado, p. 446)—­he was obliged by severe illness to return to Manila; he died there on December 12, 1609.