Of cabbages and kings
Of cabbages and kings
Posted 10:43pm (Mla time) Feb 21, 2005
By Bambi Harper
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the February 22, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
ASIDE FROM FAKYMOLANO and Pharadine, Seid Mossat had a grandson called Subadan who carried the title of Watamama but was treated contemptuously by Chartow and Topang. He had married Fakymolano's daughter, his first cousin by whom he had a daughter Fatima, who in turn married Utu, Rajah Mura's son, and her own second cousin.
On July 7, Subadan Watamama fell sick. On a visit, Capt. Thomas Forrest found him lying in the great hall in a large bed that had a number of silk bolsters, embroidered with gold at the ends, on which the patient reclined. The hall was full of visitors in groups of three or four, seated around a brass salver covered with sweet cakes and cups of chocolate.
Before ascending the stairs, a person would first pour water on the feet of visitors while they rubbed one foot against the other. Forrest picked his way among the groups and "went stooping with my right hand almost to the ground as is their custom." He sat cross-legged near the foot of the bed on a mat and asked the patient how he was. The patient appeared feverish and he told Fakymolano, who sat beside him, that he thought he should be given a purgative.
Next morning, the captain again visited Watamama bringing with him some medicine. His wife and daughter Fatima would not allow him to take it even if Molano urged it. Fakymolano finally said, "Let you and me, Captain, drink this physic; I am certain it is good." So saying, he drank half of it and Forrest drank the rest.
On the 27th, Watamama died. Forrest heard the dismal cry set up by the women of the household. In the courtyard, carpenters exerted greater effort cutting the wood to make his coffin of thick planks strongly dovetailed. They had begun it two days before his death and although their strokes were not loud, Forrest was sure the sick man must have heard them.
In the morning, the coffin was carried to the burial place 200 yards from his house. About noon, the corpse, covered with a white cloth, was borne out on the bedstead where he had died, and part of the wooden wall of the house was taken down to allow it to pass. The bedstead was carried by young men, mostly his relatives, with 12 umbrellas held over the body. The corpse was laid into the grave about five inches deep and the coffin, without a bottom, was laid over it and earth thrown in. Over it was poured water from porcelain Chinese decanters, their spouts bound with white calico to strain the water.
Only men attended the funeral, but neither Tooppan nor his brother Uku was there. From the time of his death until the funeral, many guns were fired at intervals. Next day, a shed was built over the grave and a temporary floorboard where the widow lived for a week. In his house, relatives butchered cattle, sang dirges in his honor and for the repose of his soul.
On the 25th of August, a proa arrived from Zamboanga with an envoy on board who brought letters from the governor to Rajah Mura. The envoy's name was Huluan, a Filipino with the rank of ensign. He brought a sergeant with him who trained the rajah's guards daily in the use of the musket and bayonet. The guards numbering 30 were captive Visayans who on formal occasions dressed in uniforms of blue broad cloth, trimmed in red with white buttons of tin. They had grenadier caps with the motto, "Yo el Rey" (I the King). The envoy, the sergeant and six soldiers from Manila were lodged at the fort.
Finally, the Rajah signified that he wanted Forrest to accompany him to visit the sultan. The palace was about 120 feet long and 50 feet wide. The first floor rose 14 feet from the ground. Thirty-two pillars supported the house in four rows, eight to a row. Through some windows, cut low, pieces of iron pointed outward. Boats were kept in the lower part. The upper stories were matted.
The first row of pillars was about 10 feet covered with scarlet broad cloth to the top where at the height of about 20 feet from the first floor they sustained the beams and rafters on which rested a substantial though light roof made of sage tree leaves. From the top of the inside, pillars with broad white borders extending them comprised the ceiling.
A moveable slight partition divided the whole into two parts. The first part held six pieces of mounted cannons. The inner apartment was not floored in wood but covered with split anebong, a kind of palm tree, going the whole length and covered with matting and some carpets. It was preferred because it admitted air from below, making the palace remarkably cool.
Between the two farthest pillars of the farthest apartment stood the bed on a stage of plank, a foot high, covered with mats. The tester held three rows of curtains, the inmost of white calico, the next of blue and the outermost of silks in contrasting colors.
Opposite the bed was what looked like a Chinese porcelain shop with rows of 30 Chinese jars with a capacity of 20 gallons each. Above them on another shelf stood another row of jars, and the next shelf exhibited a row of black earthen water pots with brass covers. A fourth shelf held salvers and cuspidors. Toward the end was another row of shelves containing more jars and opposite were two rows of red-colored Chinese chests.
(From Capt. Thomas Forrest, "A Voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balambangan," 1780)
Posted 10:43pm (Mla time) Feb 21, 2005
By Bambi Harper
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the February 22, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
ASIDE FROM FAKYMOLANO and Pharadine, Seid Mossat had a grandson called Subadan who carried the title of Watamama but was treated contemptuously by Chartow and Topang. He had married Fakymolano's daughter, his first cousin by whom he had a daughter Fatima, who in turn married Utu, Rajah Mura's son, and her own second cousin.
On July 7, Subadan Watamama fell sick. On a visit, Capt. Thomas Forrest found him lying in the great hall in a large bed that had a number of silk bolsters, embroidered with gold at the ends, on which the patient reclined. The hall was full of visitors in groups of three or four, seated around a brass salver covered with sweet cakes and cups of chocolate.
Before ascending the stairs, a person would first pour water on the feet of visitors while they rubbed one foot against the other. Forrest picked his way among the groups and "went stooping with my right hand almost to the ground as is their custom." He sat cross-legged near the foot of the bed on a mat and asked the patient how he was. The patient appeared feverish and he told Fakymolano, who sat beside him, that he thought he should be given a purgative.
Next morning, the captain again visited Watamama bringing with him some medicine. His wife and daughter Fatima would not allow him to take it even if Molano urged it. Fakymolano finally said, "Let you and me, Captain, drink this physic; I am certain it is good." So saying, he drank half of it and Forrest drank the rest.
On the 27th, Watamama died. Forrest heard the dismal cry set up by the women of the household. In the courtyard, carpenters exerted greater effort cutting the wood to make his coffin of thick planks strongly dovetailed. They had begun it two days before his death and although their strokes were not loud, Forrest was sure the sick man must have heard them.
In the morning, the coffin was carried to the burial place 200 yards from his house. About noon, the corpse, covered with a white cloth, was borne out on the bedstead where he had died, and part of the wooden wall of the house was taken down to allow it to pass. The bedstead was carried by young men, mostly his relatives, with 12 umbrellas held over the body. The corpse was laid into the grave about five inches deep and the coffin, without a bottom, was laid over it and earth thrown in. Over it was poured water from porcelain Chinese decanters, their spouts bound with white calico to strain the water.
Only men attended the funeral, but neither Tooppan nor his brother Uku was there. From the time of his death until the funeral, many guns were fired at intervals. Next day, a shed was built over the grave and a temporary floorboard where the widow lived for a week. In his house, relatives butchered cattle, sang dirges in his honor and for the repose of his soul.
On the 25th of August, a proa arrived from Zamboanga with an envoy on board who brought letters from the governor to Rajah Mura. The envoy's name was Huluan, a Filipino with the rank of ensign. He brought a sergeant with him who trained the rajah's guards daily in the use of the musket and bayonet. The guards numbering 30 were captive Visayans who on formal occasions dressed in uniforms of blue broad cloth, trimmed in red with white buttons of tin. They had grenadier caps with the motto, "Yo el Rey" (I the King). The envoy, the sergeant and six soldiers from Manila were lodged at the fort.
Finally, the Rajah signified that he wanted Forrest to accompany him to visit the sultan. The palace was about 120 feet long and 50 feet wide. The first floor rose 14 feet from the ground. Thirty-two pillars supported the house in four rows, eight to a row. Through some windows, cut low, pieces of iron pointed outward. Boats were kept in the lower part. The upper stories were matted.
The first row of pillars was about 10 feet covered with scarlet broad cloth to the top where at the height of about 20 feet from the first floor they sustained the beams and rafters on which rested a substantial though light roof made of sage tree leaves. From the top of the inside, pillars with broad white borders extending them comprised the ceiling.
A moveable slight partition divided the whole into two parts. The first part held six pieces of mounted cannons. The inner apartment was not floored in wood but covered with split anebong, a kind of palm tree, going the whole length and covered with matting and some carpets. It was preferred because it admitted air from below, making the palace remarkably cool.
Between the two farthest pillars of the farthest apartment stood the bed on a stage of plank, a foot high, covered with mats. The tester held three rows of curtains, the inmost of white calico, the next of blue and the outermost of silks in contrasting colors.
Opposite the bed was what looked like a Chinese porcelain shop with rows of 30 Chinese jars with a capacity of 20 gallons each. Above them on another shelf stood another row of jars, and the next shelf exhibited a row of black earthen water pots with brass covers. A fourth shelf held salvers and cuspidors. Toward the end was another row of shelves containing more jars and opposite were two rows of red-colored Chinese chests.
(From Capt. Thomas Forrest, "A Voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balambangan," 1780)
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