prostituted themselves freely throughout the camp, an evil which Legazpi, although he posted sentinels, was unable to stamp out. Finally he announced to the native chiefs that only men should do the trading in the camp; and if the women did any trading he would assign them a public place as a market, and the latter should enter none of the Spanish houses. The chiefs replied "that those who came to sell and trade were slaves and not married women, and that he should not concern himself about it nor take it ill, for such was their custom, and that married and honorable women did not go to the camp; although the contrary of this was seen and understood afterwards. For the Indians going outside the village, as they do continually, to trade beside the sea, many of the wives and daughters of the chiefs came to the camp along with the other women, and thus went through the camp, visiting with as much freedom and liberty as if all the men were their own brothers. Thus it was seen and discovered later that this is one of their customs, and is exercised with all strangers from the outside. The very first thing they do is to provide them with women, and these sell themselves for any gain, however slight." The natives are described as covetous and selfish, without neatness and not cleanly. "It has not been ascertained whether they have any idols. They revere their ancestors as gods,[1] and when they are ill or have any other necessity, they go to their graves with great lamentation and commendation, to beg their ancestors for health, protection, and aid. They make certain alms and invocations here. And in the same manner they invoke and
- ↑ Cf. the Chinese belief, and the reverence of the American Indian for his ancestors.
