Asia Books

CHAPTER 1. SITUATION.NAME.GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS.AIR AND METEORS.MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.MINERALS AND FOSSILS.VOLCANOES.EARTHQUAKES.SURFS AND TIDES. If antiquity holds up to us some models, in different arts and sciences, which have been found inimitable, the moderns, on the other hand, have carried their inventions and improvements, in a variety... more...

Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Philippines Royal Instructions to Gomez Perez Dasmariñas Regarding Ecclesiastical Affairs The King. To Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, my governor and captain-general of the Philipinas Islands, or the person or persons in charge of their government: I ordered a decree of various articles to be given to my viceroy of Nueva España, in regard to what was to be done and observed in... more...

CHAPTER I FIRST STEPS IN WAR It is given to some regiments to spread their achievements over the quiet centuries, while to the lot of others it falls to live, for a generation or two, in an atmosphere of warlike strife and ever present danger. The Guides have been, from a soldier's point of view, somewhat fortunate in seeing much service during the past sixty years; and thus their history lends... more...

PREFACE The general documents contained in this volume cover the years 1601-03; they are followed by Chirino's Relacion, which was published in 1604, but the events related therein end in 1602. The two notable occurrences in this period are the great fire, and the Chinese revolt in Manila in the year 1603—the latter ending in the slaughter or expulsion of almost all the Chinese in the islands.... more...

INTRODUCTION Very little is known about the authoress of this interesting book. She is reticent about the affairs of her husband and of herself, and inquiries recently made at Lucknow, at the India Office, and in other likely quarters in England, have added little to the scanty information we possess about her. The family of her husband claimed to be of Sayyid origin, that is to say, to be descended... more...

Preface The present volume covers the period of 1583 to 1588 inclusive. At the close of two decades of Spanish occupation in the Philippines, the native population is decimated, and the Spanish colonists are poor, heavily burdened with taxation, and largely non-producing. The islands are but nominally defended by a small, irregular, demoralized force of unpaid soldiers, whose lawlessness and arrogance... more...

RELATION OF THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS And of What Has There Been Accomplished by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus How Father Francisco de Vera returned to España for more fathers. Chapter XXXVII. The men of the Society remained in the rest of those Pintados Islands, occupied as we have already seen. In various places, during those two years, there had been newly erected to the glory of Jesus Christ... more...

KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM "Mr. F.A. McKenzie has been abused in the columns of the Japanese press_ with a violence which, in the absence of any reasoned controversy, indicated a last resource. In answer to his specific charges, only one word has been uttered—'lies!' "Yet these charges embrace crimes of the first magnitude—murder, plunder, outrage, incendiarism, and in short... more...

I POOR OLD CHINA When I came away last August, you said you wanted me to tell you about our travels, particularly about China. Like most Americans, you have a lurking sentimental feeling about China, a latent sympathy and interest based on colossal ignorance. Very well, I will write you as fully as I can. Two months ago my ignorance was fully as overwhelming as yours, but it is being rapidly dispelled.... more...

Historical Introduction by Edward Gaylord Bourne The American people are confronted with two race problems, one within their own confines and long familiar but still baffling solution; the other, new, remote, unknown, and even more imperatively demanding intelligent and unremitting effort for its mastery. In the first case there are some eight millions of people ultimately derived from various savage... more...