(of pasteboard) and a magician shepherd who pressed his love upon her. After songs, endless dialogues and marvellous feats of arms, the finale was as follows:

The princess had resisted the magician shepherd in spite of his threats, and had subdued the monsters to her will. Now appeared on the scene the valiant Prince of Tuscany, who alone of all the searchers had been able to find the missing princess in the desert, with whom he is desperately in love. The prince, however, has one capital fault which would forever prevent his marriage with the princess. He is a Moro-that is to say, an infidel-while the princess is a fervent Catholic, and feels in duty bound to conceal from him the sentiments with which his splendid appearance and valor has inspired her. The prince presses his suit, and falls upon his knees before the princess, who is half won, but still restrains herself sufficiently to say that perhaps she might have listened to the seductive words of her wooer were it not for his wicked religion, which he must renounce if he expects to receive any kindness from her. At this point, says M. Montano, the audience, completely rapt by the play, held its breath in order not to lose a syllable of the dialogue, and manifested its enthusiasm by following the words of the actors with low-cadenced whistles. The Bicol author knew, that for his audience, non-Catholic and enemy are synonymous terms, and hence the intensity of feeling at the wooing of a Christian by an infidel. The play ended by the conversion of the Prince of Tuscany and his marriage to the princess.

While the characters in this play are European, the ideas of princes, embassies, magic, Christian, and infidel seemed to be familiar or congenial to the native customs and temperament.

With all their limitations, Filipinos are two centuries

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORICAL SUMMARY.

The Philippines were discovered by Magellan, the man who did what Columbus failed to accomplish. Columbus set out to find a passage-way to the East Indies by sailing westward. He discovered the Western Continent, and with its discovery earned a title to lasting fame. Nevertheless he failed to find the East by sailing West, which was what he set out to do.

His discovery stirred the world of navigation profoundly. A Portuguese nobleman by the name of Fernando Magalhaens, who had achieved distinction as a soldier and navigator, but had foresworn his native. country because of ill-treatment received in a military expedition in Africa and because his own king would not aid him in his ambitious plans for discovery, offered his services to King Charles the Fifth of Spain. The king entered into an agreement to furnish Magalhaens (Magellan) with five ships of from sixty to one hundred and thirty tons each, fit them out with supplies, arms, and a crew of two hundred and thirty-four men. Magellan was to spend ten years, if necessary, in finding spice islands in the south of that ocean seen first by Balboa at Panama. He was so sure of success that he vowed that if he failed King Charles might strike off his head. If he succeeded, his male heirs and their heirs after them were to govern such islands as he annexed to Spain, under the authority of the crown of Castile.

from that day, on the 28th of October, 1520, emerging into the vast Pacific, November 26th. After this, even the jealous captains recognized the greatness of their leader, and were enthusiastic in their support. The Philippine Islands were sighted in April, 1521, and named San Lazaro Islands by Magellan. Soon after this, Magellan was killed, in a petty war in which he had engaged to aid the king of Cebu. His death at that time was doubly unfortunate. It deprived the expedition of its one masterful mind, and thus prevented that full exploration and occupation of the various islands of the Archipelago which King Charles and Magellan had provided for. Only one of the ships returned to Spain. The little Victoria, commanded by one of the bravest and most intelligent of Magellan's captains, Sebastian del Cano, entered the harbor from which they sailed, on September 8, 1522-the first ship that ever sailed around the world!

No serious attempt was made to conquer and colonize the Islands until 1564. King Philip had come to the throne of Spain in 1555, and he immediately set about their conquest. His motives were chiefly religious.

He chose Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi as captaingeneral of the expedition, and a friar of the Order of St. Augustine, Andres de Urdaneta, as spiritual director. With the latter were six friars of the same order, the first to enter the Philippine Islands. Legaspi and Urdaneta had both lived in Mexico for some time and were close friends. Both were men of integrity and ability and the Philippines feel the impress of their work to this day.

It should be remembered that the first expedition for the occupation of the Philippines sailed from North America. It sailed away from Natividad, Mexico, No