Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence

How it Started 110 Years ago

50 Selected Letters between Rizal and

Blumentritt

© Courtesy of National Historical Institute, Manila

1. Rizal, Heidelberg, 31 July

1886

Rizal compliments Blumentritt with a copy of

Rufino Baltazar Hernández, Aritmética,

written in Tagalog and Spanish.

11 Obere Neckar Strasse

Heidelberg, 31 July 1886

Esteemed Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt

Esteemed Sir,

Having heard that Your Lordship is studying

our language and that you have already

published some works on the subject, I take

the liberty of sending you a valuable book(1)

written in that language by a countryman of

mine. The Spanish version is mediocre

because the author is only a modest writer, but

the Tagalog portion is good and this is

precisely the language spoken in our province.

I am

Very respectfully yours,

J. Rizal

2. Rizal, Leipzig, 16 August 1886

Gift of two books from Blumentritt - At his service in regard to Tagalog- His knowledge can be

of use to him as much as the grammars of the friars - He could send Blumen- tritt works of more

value than those published by Spanish travelers - "He who does not know his own language. . . ."

40, II, Albertstrasse

Leipzig, 16 August 1886

Very esteemed Sir,

I received your letter together with the two books that I value very much. I read them with great

pleasure and satis- faction. I appreciate your kindness and I shall not forget your courtesy in

accepting my insignificant gift.

V could not answer you at once because I made a trip on the Rhine and I arrived at Leipzig only

yesterday. I am at your service for everything concerning our language which I have studied

since my early youth. My knowledge of it is not great but at least it may be useful to you as

much as the grammars written by those ignorant friars. I could send you other works if I were at

home. The friars do not know either foreign writers or those of their own nationality. One page

alone of those books is worth more than all the Spanish travelers and the friars have written or

will still write. He who does not know well his mother tongue will know much less others that he

has not studied carefully. Their knowledge of Tagalog is like my knowledge of German. The

traveling chroniclers remain only a short time in the Philippines and they spend this brief time

among Spaniards. The majority of the friars never studied grammar and they talk only with

uneducated Filipinos. For this reason these writers know as much Tagalog as I did of German six

months after my arrival in Germany, and I don't dare write poetry or deliver sermons in German.

For that same reason I hope you will pardon the errors of my "kitchen German ".

Pardon the delay of my reply.

Yours very cordially,

Jose Rizal

3. Rizal, Leipzig, 22 August

l886

Tagalog vocabulary by Blumentritt - Rizal

wants to meet Kern - And to buy books in

Vienna - He will study Dutch "because the

Dutch have written much about us" - The

friars.- Worldly and heavenly riches - "For our

estates they would give us heavenly ones." - If

Blumentritt could study life in our vil- lages -

Christianity is more grand and sublime in

Europe. Catholicism is more beautiful than

Protestantism.

Leipzig, 22 August 1886

My dear Sir,

I have had the pleasure of receiving your

letter as well as your new work(1) and I regret

that I have nothing at hand to send you in

return. I hope that this new work would be like

all those that you have written with diligence,

attention, care, and ability. I have already read

your two vocabularies and I am astonished

that you have taken so much trouble in

studying a language like Tagalog which is so

difliicult. You cannot be blamed for the little

errors in them, for many times the people

themselves commit them, as well as my

learned and talented friend Dr. T. P. de

Tavera(2) who has excelled himself in his

exposition and has given me a pleasant

surprise. I will lend you his works for a week,

because I myself need them very greatly.

Perhaps my annotations may be of some use to

you.

I like to read your book at once so that I am in

a hurry to finish this letter. Pardon the many

errors due to the haste with which I am writing

it.

By telling me about universities and

professors you have awakened my eagerness. I

should like to follow all that you advise me to

do. I should like to meet Dr. Kerns in Leyden.

I should like to go to Vienna and buy me a

whole library; but I must have patience

because I have neither time nor opportunity

for it. I do not know Professor Gabelentz.

Now we are on vacation and I cannot stay a

long time at Leipzig. I will study Dutch also,

because the Dutch are our neighbors and they

have written much about us.

I agree with your method of learning

languages. Tomorrow I am going to look for

the works of Waitz-Gerland at the municipal

library. If I am able to translate them, I will do

so and I am going to send you a transcription

so that you may see it and correct it. I am also

engaged in other studies at this moment.

If I don't get sick during these months, I will

surely go to Dresden, though for nothing more

than shaking the and of a man as worthy and

gentlemanly as you are. I will leave about

September or October for that city. I am

planning to get to Berlin towards the end of

October and stay there for two or three

months. Naturally I will then visit Professors

Virchow and Jagor, if I can get from you

letters of recommendation to them.

I will not forget your admonition concerning

religion. I admit that the friars have done

much good, or at least they wanted to do so.

But allow me to remark that they are very well

recompensed for their services, firstly, because

they receive worldly riches and afterwards

heavenly ones also; and because in truth they

exchanged heavenly riches for the lands of our

forefathers, however much earthly life . . .

may not be exactly Christian life and

nevertheless we have to live like other men.

Dear Sir: You know our country through the

books written by the friars and Spaniards who

copied one another. If you had grown up in

our villages as I had and had seen the

sufferings of our country folk, you would have

a very different idea of Catholicism in the

Philippines. I have had an opportunity to study

the religions in Europe. There I found

Christianity beautiful, sublime, divine;

Catholicism attractive, poetic, the same

Christianity, poetized and beautified, more

beautiful than the insipid Protestantism. Our

country folk do not know these differences.

Pardon my frankness which may perhaps

seem to you strange for not having heard such

a thing before. Perhaps you remember

Lessing's fable about the boy and the serpent.

Each one writes his history according to his

convenience.

Very sincerely yours,

José Rizal

4. Rizal, Leipzig, 2 October

l886

Tagalog version of Schiller's drama - Works of

Meyer in Bibliotheca Philippina - "Everything

referring to my native country interests me

greatly." - On the Igorrotes of Dr. Hans Meyer

- In order to learn the secret of German verbs -

"To sit once at your table is enough honor for

me."

Leipzig, 2 October 1886

My dear Sir,

I beg you to pardon me for not having

answered on time your letter, which for me is

as kind as all the rest; but I was and am still

very busy with an urgent work which my

compatriots have entrusted to me. They have

asked me for Tagalog versions of the works of

Schiller. You can easily imagine how difficult

this kind of work is for me, especially

knowing as you do the peculiarities of our

language whose mode of speech is so different

from the German. I have to understand and

study first each phrase and then look for the

corresponding Tagalog expression, avoiding

carefully circumlocutions and Germanisms.

However, I am consoled by the thought that I

shall have the honor of interpreting the great

Schiller in Tagalog to the Filipinos.

I hope likewise to be able to go to Dresden

towards the end of the present month. Dr. A.

B. Meier(1), privy councilor, has excited my

curiosity very much with his works which you

mention in your Bibliotheca Philippina.

Everything referring to my native country

interests me greatly. Recently, the amiable Dr.

Hans Meier complimented me with a copy of

his book dealing with the Igorots. We also

spoke about you.

I should like to stay one more year in

Germany (also in Austria) because my

German is still defective and I have not yet

understood the secret of the difficult German

verbs. Those that end with the syllables ver,

er, an, be, etc. are used frequently and they

seem to me very strange. So I believe I shall

spend fourteen days of next spring in

Leitmeritz. According to the map, the p ace

seems to be near the mountains, which

gladdens me, for thus I can also study

Bohemian life there. I thank you in advance

for your invitation and I should like to return

your kind hospitality some day in the

Philippines. In case I spend there the coming

year, I cannot accept your kind offer of

lodging in your house. It is enough honor for

me to sit once at your table to have a

remembrance of your culinary art. For that

reason: claro y bzlena letra; no abusar.

I did not know that you were married. Had I

known it, long ago I would have sent my

respectful greetings to your distinguished wife.

But Mas vale tarde que nunca, a Spanish

proverb says, and now I wish to mend my fault

by requesting you to please transmit to her my

respects and very affectionate greetings.

My letter will resemble the table of the poor:

The entrée and the dessert are composed of

potatoes. I beg you also to excuse my terrible

German, for during this whole month I have

not opened a grammar.

May you fare well. I will write you as soon as

I have some important subject to treat. In the

meantime, I am

Very respectfully yours,

José Rizal

5. Rizal, Berlin, 4 November

l886

Visit to the Anthropological and

Ethnographic Museum of Dresden - Dr.

Meyer was affable towards Rizal.

Jaegerstrasse 71. III

Berlin, 4 November 1886

Very esteemed Professor,

On the 30th of last month I had the honor of

visiting Dr. A. B. Meyer at the

Anthropological and Ethnographic Museum

of Dresden. He is an amiable gentleman and

he had the thoughtfulness of requesting me to

return the next day to show me the museum in

view of the fact that on that day he was busy

with a colleague who was leaving for New

Guinea the following day and needed some

information for the trip. I thank you because

this courtesy is due to your letter of

recommendation. The museum seemed to me

very important and I am sorry I did not have

more time to study it.

I am now in Berlin where I plan to spend

winter. My room is on Jaegerstrasse 71, III.

Here I am always at your service, and though

I can render you only services without

importance, I will always do all I can to

please you.

I greet respectfully the worthy lady of

Blumentritt, and I am

Your very affectionate and faithful servant,

Rizal

6. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 14

November l886

Old books on the Philippines at the Royal

Library of Ber- lin - The works of Morga

and Combes - Isabelo de los Reyes.

Leitmeritz, Bohemia

14 November 1886

Very esteemed Sir,

I wished very much to answer at once your

letter of 4th instant, but I have had to give up

this pleasure on account of the pile of

official matters that have accumulated and

for having to take care of my eyes at night.

I'm glad to know that you are well and have

called on the Privy Cnuncilor Meyer in

Dresden. He must be very busy now because

he has not written me since the 25th of last

month.

You will like Berlin; it is a city that offers

an infinity of things to a man avid for

pleasure as well as to the scholar. The

ethnngraphic museum, so admirably

installed by Bastian, must have aroused your

respect. In the Royal Library (not in the

University Library) there is found a large

number of old books about the Philippines

that the German poet A. von Chamisso (born

French) bought in Manila and brought to

Germany 60 years ago. Among them is a

copy oE Morga[1], which is very rare, and

one Combes[2]. Have you already called on

Virchow and Jagor?

Your Ilocano countryman, my dear and

esteemed friend I. de los Reyes, is working

incessantly. I'm pleased with his very

valuable ethnographic works. It is a pity that

he has not studied ethnography which would

make his studies even more brilliant.

Vith my next letter I shall send you my

photograph. For the lack of punctuality of

my photographer, my intention to send it to

you today was frustrated.

I'm very sorry that I have to abstain from

visiting the Philippine Exposition in Madrid,

1887.

Nothing more for now; I greet you in the

name of my wife and in my own, with

greetings and a handclasp,

Yours very affectionately,

F. Blumentritt

7. Rizal, Berlin, 22

November l886

Waitz, Anthropology of Primitive Peoples -

Unity of the human race - Translation of

Schiller's and Andersen's stories sent to his

nephew. - I will make use of the Royal Library

for the study of the history of my native

country - Chamisso's work and his adventure

with a friar = "We are like two blind and deaf

men: We converse without seeing or hearing

each other." - An exhibition of Igorots at the

Zoological Garden in Madrid.

Jaegerstrasse 71, Berlin

22 November 1886

Very esteemed Professor,

I received your letter a week ago, but I could

not answer you at once while the Royal

Library has not informed me if it has the work

of Waitz-Gerland and Wallace. Finally it gave

me today Waitz' Anthropology of Primitive

Peoples and I hasten to ask you if this is the

book I need. It deals only with the unity of the

human race, if I am not mistaken. The names

of Gerland and Wallace are not mentioned in

it. I asked also for the work at the municipal

library of Leipzig, but I was told that it cdid

not have any, so that I could not translate the

famous chapter. Please give me the exact title

so that I can begin soon the translation.

I already sent home the tragedies of Schiller

and Andersen's stories for my nephew. I want

also to do something for science and the

history of my native country. I can do that very

well at the Royal Library. I knew already the

work that Chamisso brought from the

Philippines. I read his poems, his account of

his trip, and his adventure with a friar, the only

rude man he saw in the Philippines. I agree

with the poet and you, esteemed Professor,

will soon have the same opinion.

I will look for the books as soon as I have the

titles. Here there is no catalogue for the public,

but it is enormously cheap to be able to use a

library for 25 pfennigs.

I cannot visit Messrs. Jagor and Virchow

because neither do I know them nor do I have

anything to give or say to them. So I would not

wish to bother them.

I thank you in advance for your photograph. I

have no picture of myself now and I am so

timid that I don't dare have myself

photographed; but I will think about it. I'mm

waiting for your picture. Now we are like two

blind and deaf men. We converse without

seeing or hearing each other; this is the mutum,

caecumque sermo.[1]

Don't mind the Philippine Exposition in

Madrid. According to the newspapers and the

information I have, it will not be a Philippine

Exposition but an Exhibition of Igorots, who

will play their musical instruments, cook, sing,

and dance. But I pity this poor people. They

will be exhibited in the Zoological Garden of

Madrid and with their simple original apparel

they will catch a dreadful pneumonia. This

sickness is very frequent in Madrid and even

the Madrid people catch it in spite of their

covering.

Greetings to you and your lady. I need not

reiterate that I am always at your service.

Most affectionately,

Rizal

8. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 23 November 1886

Schiller and Andersen - Malays and Malayan languages - Jagor and Virchow.

Leitmeritz, 23 November 1886

My esteemed Sir,

As you see, I answer at once your esteemed letter of yesterday. I'm glad that you have made

known to your countrymen Andersen and our great Schiller. The former's tales will please

Filipino youth as they do our own.

It is true that I refer to the Anthropologie der Naturvölker, specially to volume V that deals with

the Malays. Equally interesting to those who study Malayan languages is the work of William

Humboldt on the Kawi language. On the map in Waitz-Gerland there are some errors with

respect to the Philippines that you can correct according to Peterman's Geog.

Mittheilungen, supplementray pamphlet No. 67 (1882) and volume 19 of the Berliner Zeitschrift

für Erdkunde (l884). The text on Mindanao is also very poor, because at that time little was

known of the said island in Europe.

I'm sorry that you don't intend to visit Jagor and Virchow. Those gentlemen would have received

you very well because they are very good friends of the Philippines and her inhabitants. In case

you change your plan, I would announce with pleasure your visit to those gentlemen. They can

help you in your studies in many respects.

Privy Councilor Meyer is sorry that he was very busy with other things at the time of your visit

in Dresden. He hopes to see you later.

With affectionate regards.

Yours most affectionately,

F. Blumentritt

9. Rizal, Berlin, 28

November 1886

Rizal's translation of the Ethnography of

Mindanao - Rizal's map - Remembrances of

the Ateneo - "Those where happy days..." -

Rizal will publish a geography textbook - As

an explanatory work on the Malayans -

Foreigners pay more attention to the study of

the Philippines than the Filipinos themselves -

Blumentritt's writings in Spanish -

Tiruraylanguage - He will translate Waitz -

Humboldt's work is admirable - Rizal will visit

the scholars Virchow and Jagor - An

ethnographic picture.

Jaegerstrasse 71, Berlin

28 November 1886

My dear Sir,

Ms soon as I received your esteemed letter I

went to the Royal Library to borrow the books

you mentioned.[1] I received them the

following day, but they did not give to the

maid who went to get them the explanatory

pamphlets, but only volume No. 28. As I was

not feeling well then, I let it go. I started to

work and translated your important article on

the Ethnography of the Island of

Mindanao. Enclosed you will find this little

work which I finished in three days. It must

have errors, but I could not do better for I have

to return the book tomorrow. I have spent this

day correcting my map of Mindanao, basing it

on yours; mine is already too old; it is 1852.

Your conscientious work gave me much

pleasure; it awakened in me old memories of

good friends: The one who drew the map of

Heras was my childhood friend and fellow

boarder at the Jesuit college. His name was

Anson, and when he drew the map by order of

Fr. Heras, our friend and chief, he complained

that the work was very tiresome. Fr. Pastells

was my best friend; he was the most

distinguished and the best traveled among the

Jesuit missionaries. He was also very zealous.

I sketched his picture by memory but Fr.

Francisco Sánchez took it away from me. You

say nothing about Fr. Federico Vila. He was a

linguist; he also spoke German, French,

English, Greek, Latin, etc. Speaking of Latin, I

must confess to you having incurred in a

great lapsus linguae et calami[2] in my last

letter - I wrote a fabulous accusative instead of

the plural genitive. May God forgive me like

my professor Fr. Francisco Sánchez. I still

remember the hardships of Fr. Torra when he

entrusted to me the first page for the Cartas de

los PP. etc. Those were happy days. But for

the present enough of memories and let us

return to your esteemed work.[3]

I have translated it in order to use some of

your important data in a little school

geography that I am planning to publish

should I have an opportunity to do so.

Moreover, it seems to me important that the

Filipinos should know that foreigners take

more interest in the study of their country then

they themselves do. I also believe that it will

be a good explanatory work (Appendix) on the

Malayans. Several of your works have already

been translated into Spanish. It is to be desired

that they be published together in one volume

and that this volume be translated into

Spanish. The number of Filipinos who speak

German is very small and they are mostly

merchants. I compared your map with mine

(Coello) and I found still more differences

than those you mentioned in your interesting

article; e.g. I did not find in yours the great

lake of Mindanao.

About the Tiruray[4] language, yesterday I

made a little outline which you will find at the

end of the book. I believe that that language is

easy to learn. Possibly I may some day study it

at some length.

My translation in some parts is a little free,

but I have endeavored always to translate the

meaning when I cannot translate literally. You

will find it mediocre for the reason that I don't

yet have a good command of German. I

believe that you are very busy and so I beg you

to read my manuscript only when you have

extra time. My purpose os solely to publish it

in the Philippines and for that there is plenty of

time.

Tomorrow I will begin translating Waitz[5]. I

still have three weeks; I expect to finish it

within this time.

Humboldts' work[6] is worthy of admiration,

and though I cannot read the whole book, I'm

going to buy a copy. I believe that the little

errors that I found in it are only typographical,

as for example, n for m, and some rules that

Mr. Esguerra has not understood well.

If you believe that it will not be troublesome

for Messrs. Virchow and Jagor that I pay them

to call, I thank you very sincerely for your

good intention of introducing me to them. I

leave it to your discretion. You know the

gentlemen better than I do and you know their

mind. I do like to meet them; their fame has

reached even the Philippines, but I avoid

making calls at which I have nothing to say or

to talk about; that seems to me something like

wandering aimlessy. At any rate I leave the

matter to your good judgment. I am convinced

that you will resolve it best.

In the first page of the work of Waitz I find

the following note: "The right of translation

into foreign languages is reserved." How can

we go over this notice of the author?

I was already expecting to receive your

photograph with your letter last letter. Mine

will follow or I will ask the photographer to

take my ethnographic picture, or I will sketch

it myself before a mirror, but it will be faithful

and I will not flatter myself.

May you fare well, dear professor. From

tomorrow on I will devote myself earnestly to

the study of history. I greet you affectionately.

Yours,

Rizal

P.S.

Do you know that Miss Paz Pardo de

Tavera[7] will be married on 7 December? the

fiancé is my compatriot and friend J. Luna

whom you already know like you do Mr.

Hidalgo.

10. Rizal, Berlin, 9 December

1886

Rizal praised for his geography work -

Blumentritt's picture in his album - In order to

find it among his pleasant memories - The

hero's auto-portrait - Rizal with young Moret

will pay a call on Professors Jagor and

Virchow.

Jaegerstrasse 71, Berlin

9 December 1886

Msteemed Friend,

Pardon me for not having answered at once

your welcome letter which I receivcd together

with your photograph, because I was sick

then, but it did me much good to hear how you

talk about me and of my modest work.

I have placed your photograph, which I value

highly, among those of my relatives an friends

in my album of Filipinos. The inclusion of

your photograph in this album would have no

value for you, but for me it is of utmost

importance, because, if I want to refresh my

pleasant memories, I will always find you

among them. I hope that Spain will also honor

with honorary citizenship distinguished

foreigners who studied her history.

Enclosed is a sketch of myself that I am

sending you as an advance. It is said that it has

a certain resemblance to me but I am not sure

if it really has. As soon as I have a good

photograph, I will send it to you. Those that I

have are all retouched or badly taken.

Referring to my visit with Professors Jagor

and Virchow, I have changed my mind. The

son of Minister Moret, a semifriend of mine,

is here and has recommendations of T. H.

Pardo de Tavera to both professors. As Mr.

Moret does not yet know German, he wants

me to accompany him when he pays his calls.

A recommendation from you, or an

announcement of our visit by you, I believe

would be of great help to me.

I cannot work as much as I would like. I am

suffering from pains in the chest and by the

symptoms that I have, I fear that I am liable to

have a serious ailment. When I was still a

small boy, the physician of the Ateneo

Municipal said that I had incipient

tuberculosis.

I'm waiting for a countryman of mine[1] to

keep me company so that I will not be so

lonely.

Your very affectionate friend,

José Rizal

NOTE OF BLUMENTRITT'S SON

Attached to this letter is a drawing in pencil of

Dr. Rizal, a self-portrait with his signature and

below the following dedication:

"To my distinguished friend Mr. Fernando

Blumentritt as a token of affection."

José Rizal

With this letter is a photographic copy of it, as

I am keeping the original in the family in

memory of Rizal and of my father.

(Signed) FEDERICO BLUMENTRlTT

Budweis, October 1920

12. Rizal, Berlin, 30

December 1886

Sinapism and sudorific against torticollis -

Meaning of race, nation, tribe, clan, caste -

Viola wants to meet Blumentritt - A gift of a

cigar-box - Seeing still strong old men like

the emperor, Moltke, and Bismarck, Rizal

longed to see his father reach advanced age

also.

Berlin, 30 December 1886

Very esteemed Friend,

I answer today your welcome letter and I

thank you for your kind remarks. I hope you

are cured of your rheumatic pains. As a boy I

suffered from torticollis, a rheumatism of the

muscle, which I fought with sinapism and by

taking some sudorific.

I looked up the word raza in my Dominguez

dictionary and I believe its meaning is not

"tribe". The races are the Caucasian,

Mongolian, Malayan, and the black. We also

give this name to a people of more than half a

million souls that you call "nations", but we

don't call "nations" peoples that are not

independent; e.g. the Tagalog race, the

Visayan, etc. But we say "Spanish nation"

instead of "Spanish race". Tribe is less than

race; it is part of race. For example, the

Jewish race, but the tribes are Levi, Judah,

etc. The word "clan" is already accepted in

Spanish, but only in its primitive meaning,

that is to say, the union of several Scotch

families. "Caste" is more of a political than

ethnographic term and from this point of

view I give no importance to it. "Tribe" is the

name the Spaniards give to small populations

which have neither a government of their

own nor great importance and they give this

name as if alluding to the trunk of a tree from

which branches come out. Thus, the tribes of

Judah, Levi, Dan, have a certain reference to

father Jacob. I don't find any synonym for the

word "tribe".

I am a little excited for having taken too

much arsenic and I am saturated with it.

Perhaps another day I shall be better inspired,

but arsenic is very good for my ailment.

My countryman[1] wishes to accompany me

to Leitmeritz because he wants to meet you

personally. It is possible that we leave this

place the first of April, passing through

Dresden, Leitmeritz, Prague and Vienna in

order to go on to Switzerland.

I sent you by mail a little gift - a cigar-box.

Don't smile when you receive it. I give it to

you sincerely and with the best intention;

only it is very insignificant.

I m glad that your father has reached 74

years. I should like mine, who is now 68,

reach also that age. Whenever I see old men,

like the emperpr, Moltke, Bismarck, I believe

that my father will also reach that advanced

age because he is healthier and stronger than

I and he comes from a long-lived family.

My best wishes for the New Year for you

and your whole family.

Your most affectionate friend,

Rizal

14. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 24 January 1887

"Smoking is my passion" - A hnok by Pardo de Tavera.

POSTAL CARD

Leitmeritz, 24 January, 1887

Mr. José Rizal

71-III Jaegerstrasse

Berlin

My esteemed Friend,

I have not had any news from you for more than a week. I hope you have not been sick like me.

Only today did I get up from my sick-bed. I had a severe catarrh, and I suffered from hoarseness.

That ailment was terrible for me because it prevented me from smoking, which is my passion.

Dr. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera has published a charming little book which interests me greatly: El

Sánscrito en la lengua tagalog,Paris, Imprimerie A. Davy, 1887. Very interesting.

With affectionate regards.

Yours affectionately,

F. Blumentritt

18. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,

16 February 1887

Two works of Montano on the Philippines - A

military expedition to Mindanao.

Leitmeritz, 16 February 1887

Esteemed Friend,

I have recovered slightly from the strong

catarrh that has bothered me for two weeks,

but I'm still as pale as the dead and I feel very

weak. In short, Im a ruin, half-blind, and with

weak nerves. Moreover, I'm very susceptible

to colds. I wait most anxiously for summer,

which is the only season during which I really

feel well. Unfortunately our summer is very

short.

I'm glad that you find the issues

of Globus interesting. Montano has written

two great works on the Philippines, one of

which contains many linguistic data relating to

Tagalog, Bikol, etc.; the vocabularies above

all are interesting. There are many errors in his

descriptions and travels; many errors in his

illustrations have already been pointed out by

Mr. Isabelo de los Reyes[1] in La Oceania

Española.

From the grand military expedition

undertaken by the Most Excellent Terrero

against Datu Utó of Mindanao I expect not

only the success of Spanish arms and the

Christian religion but also the enrichment of

our geographical knowledge because the

interior of Mindanao can almost be

called terra incognita. I hope that Spanish

victory will liberate the Tirurays from the

danger of falling into slavery by the Moros.

They say there had been disorders in Sulu[2]

- perhaps by the juramentados - whose new

sultan will render homage to the Captain

General in Manila in October.

Yesterday I received from the author V. V.

Haardt his magnificent and large ethnographic

wall map of Asia, which is very well done.

With affectionate Greetings.

Very affectionately yours,

F. Blumentritt

18. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,

16 February 1887

Two works of Montano on the Philippines - A

military expedition to Mindanao.

Leitmeritz, 16 February 1887

Esteemed Friend,

I have recovered slightly from the strong

catarrh that has bothered me for two weeks,

but I'm still as pale as the dead and I feel very

weak. In short, Im a ruin, half-blind, and with

weak nerves. Moreover, I'm very susceptible

to colds. I wait most anxiously for summer,

which is the only season during which I really

feel well. Unfortunately our summer is very

short.

I'm glad that you find the issues

of Globus interesting. Montano has written

two great works on the Philippines, one of

which contains many linguistic data relating to

Tagalog, Bikol, etc.; the vocabularies above

all are interesting. There are many errors in his

descriptions and travels; many errors in his

illustrations have already been pointed out by

Mr. Isabelo de los Reyes[1] in La Oceania

Española.

From the grand military expedition

undertaken by the Most Excellent Terrero

against Datu Utó of Mindanao I expect not

only the success of Spanish arms and the

Christian religion but also the enrichment of

our geographical knowledge because the

interior of Mindanao can almost be

called terra incognita. I hope that Spanish

victory will liberate the Tirurays from the

danger of falling into slavery by the Moros.

They say there had been disorders in Sulu[2]

- perhaps by the juramentados - whose new

sultan will render homage to the Captain

General in Manila in October.

Yesterday I received from the author V. V.

Haardt his magnificent and large ethnographic

wall map of Asia, which is very well done.

With affectionate Greetings.

Very affectionately yours,

F. Blumentritt

20. Rizal, Berlin, 9 March

1887

Rizal in search of a climate favorable to his

health - He does not know where to go - In his

blood is the wanderungslust (strong desire for

wandering) of the Malayans.

Berlin, 9 March 1887

Esteemed Friend,

I have not received letters from you for a long

time. I hope you are not sick, for the cold season

is over and good weather is approaching.

I have read your articles in the Globus. They are

very interesting and I should like to translate

them. I'll soon leave Berlin because I don't feel

well here. Since my arrival I have been sick

several times, which never happened to me

before. I don't know yet where I'll go. I have in

my blood the wanderungslust of the Malayans. I

always have it. Humor and opportunity for this!

Last Saturday we heard a magnificient lecture on

Mecca[1] at the Geographic Society. It was

accompanied with interesting photographs in

which I could distinguish many Malalayan

pilgrims. The second lecture was somewhat

boring, perhaps because the first had been so

interesting, or because the members had already

seen the photographs, or because it was already

quite late.

I wish you the best of health in the world, in

Bohemia, in your native land!

Your most affectionate friend,

Rizal

24. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,

27 March 1887

He congratulates him on his novel - The

word filibustero - A prophecy of Blumentritt

about Rizal - About the word Bathalà.

Leitmeritz, 27 March 1887

Esteemed Friend,

Now that my wife and children are well or on

the road to convalescence, I can write you

more lengthily. In the first place, accept my

cordial felicitations on your beautiful social

novel which interests me extraordinarily. Your

work, as we Germans say, has been written

with the blood of the heart and for this reason

it speaks also to the heart. I continue reading it

with great interest and I shall ask you from

time to time for an explanation of words that

are unknown to me. Thus, for example, the

word filibustero. It must have a certain

meaning in the Philippines that I don't find in

the Spanish of the Spaniards or in that of the

Spaniards of America.

I knew already that you were a man of

extraordinary talent (Pardo de Tavera had a

ready told me about it and this could also be

seen by the marvellously short time that you

learned my difficult and coarse mother

tongue), but this notwithstanding, your work

has exceeded my expectations and I consider

myself lucky that you have honored me with

your friendship. But not only I but your people

also can be called lucky for having in you a

son and loval patriot. If you will continue thus,

you can become for your people one of those

great men who will exert a definite - influence

on their spiritual development. With greater

impatience than before, I await the moment

when I shall meet you personally.

What you related to me about the officer of

the civil guard has filled me with intimate

sympathy, but such great brutalities are neither

unknown in Berlin.

Tomorrow you will receive an article on your

country based on information taken from

folklore and Paterno's book,Ninay[1]. With

respect to bathala my friend Professor Wilken,

son of a German and an Alfuro[2] woman, in

his magnificent work, Het animisme bij de

Volken van den Indischen Archipel ("Animism

among the people of the Indian Archepelago"),

volume 11, page 162: "Also taken from the

Hindus is the name Batara-Guru, which

originally meant Siva, because, although the

word bataray, the bhattara, or rather Lord ...

from the Sanskrit, Siva is nevertheless, the

addition of guru (in Sanskrit = teacher) takes

away the double meaning, because to all the

Siva sects Siva is the true teacher. Even

today Batara Guru or Batara alone among

many Malayan peoples is the name of a

superior divinity. This is also true with the

Bataks, Macassars, and Buddhists. Among the

Olo-Ngadjus, a tribe of the Dayaks, the

supreme being is called Mahatara which is a

contraction of Mahabatara, that is, the Great

Lord. Among the Dayaks on the coast of

Sarawak, batara exists under the form

of betara orpetara.

With affectionate greetings,

Very affectionately yours,

F. Blumentritt

25. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 27

March 1887

Acknowledges receipt of Rizal's book.

POSTAL CARD

Leitmeritz, Bohemia

27 March 1887

Mr. José Rizal

71-III Jaegerstrasse

Berlin

Esteemed Friend,

A thousand thanks for your magnificent

book[1] about which I shall speak more

lengthily later, because now I'm dispirited,

my wife and my children Fritz and Dolores

being sick with catarrh and my youngest

child swallowed an apricot stone which has

not been removed yet.

En embrace.

Faithfully yours,

F. Blumentritt

27. Rizal, Berlin, 13 April

1887

In order to know more about our history one has

to go to German museums and read German

books - Rizal in favor of Philippine studies -

Nosce te ipsum - How many obstacles to the

Penal Code! - To clear the forest of its brambles

and briers - Youth should not be devoted to love

or to static sciences - To sacrifice something on

the altar of Politics - How Barrantes goes too far -

Freed prisoners - Blumentritt should write our

history.

71 Jaegerstrasse, Berlin

13 April 1887

Esteemed friend,

Many thanks for your precious and useful gift(1)

that I received yesterday. I studied at once the

map with my countryman and now we know a

little more than before. Is it not sad, I said to my

countryman,(2) that we have to learn from a

foreigner about ourselves? Thanks to the German

scholars we get accurate information about our

country, and when everything in our country has

been destroyed and we wish to verify the

historical accuracy of certain facts we shall have

to come to Germany to search for these facts in

German museums and books! It is sad to arrive at

this conclusion, but it is the truth. If I could only

be a professor in my country, I would stimulate

these Philippine studies which are like the nosce

te ipsum that gives the true concept of one's self

and drives nations to do great things. But never

would they permit me to open a school in my

country, despite the fact that I have obtained my

professor's diploma in Madrid!(4) You see how

many obstacles they place in one's path in order

not to give way to our Penal Code, despite two

ministers, despite the lawyers, judges, and the

President of the Audiencia! And the opponents

are not experts in the matter; they are the

archbishop (or better the friars, because the

archbishop is such a good man - that he does

everything the friars want) and the Intendant of

Finance! With this you can judge the political life

in the Philippines! This is only a mere sketch.

With more details it would appear incredible to a

free European. For this reason, we still have to

work a great deal. "And we have spent many

difficult days clearing the forest of its brambles

and deep roots", as Schiller said to the Swiss. For

us it is still necessary to join the poetry of struggle

to the dragon so that we can say to posterity:

Wir haben diesen Boden uns erschaffen Durch

unser Hande Fleiss, den alten Wald, Der sonst

der Bären wilde Wohnung war, Zu einem Sitz für

Menschen umgewandelt; Die Brut des Drachen

haben wir gebotet.(5) ...

And 24 stanzas more!

Our youth should not devote themselves to love

or to the static speculative sciences as do the

youth of fortunate nations. All of us have to

sacrifice something on the altar of politics though

we might not wish to do so. That is understood by

our friends who publish our newspaper in Madrid.

They are creole young men of Spanish descent,

Chinese half-breeds, and Malayans; but we call

ourselves only Filipinos. Almost all of us have

been educated by the Jesuits, who certainly did

not inculcate in us love of country, but they taught

us the beautiful and the best! For that reason, I am

not afraid of the differences in opinion that may

possibly exist in our country. They can be

combatted and repressed.

Mr. Barrantes is thc man (the one-handed

person) I talk about in the chapter Patria e

Intereses.(6) It was he who in October of 1883, at

midnight, ordered locked up in a humid political

prison 14 or 16 innocent but wealthy persons for

an undisclosed pretext. After three days, the

unfortunate prisoners were acquitted without any

explanation and without revealing the cause of

their detention and acquittal. Many of them

contracted rheumatism and several lost hundreds

of pesos. All of them were prominent residents of

Tondo. Mr. Barrantes was also the one who did

not want to protect that complaining nun of whom

I speak in the Epilogue.(7) Until this day this

gentleman has not received a merited punishment;

but if there is a God, he ought to be flogged and

tortured as he deserves, here or in the other world.

I know a countryman of mine who is waiting for a

propitious occasion to ask him for an accounting.

Alba(8) was cruel, but he was so to serve his king

and country. The Inquisition was also cruel,

because it believed it was thus doing the best to

serve religion and the faith; Both can be forgiven

for their error; who does not commit a mistake

when he thinks of doing good? But Mr. Barrantes,

in doing such acts, did not serve either his king or

his country, nor religion or the faith; he

transgressed for his avarice, to enrich himself, and

no one will forgive him for that.

Do not be surprised that you have not received

news from Mr. Isabelo de los Reyes. It is almost

three months already that I have not received

letters from my family.

The Philippines should be grateful to you if you

would write a complete history of our country

from an impartial point oF view. I believe that

you are the only one who could do it. I have the

courage for it but I don't know enough. I have not

read many books about my country and Spanish

libraries are closed to me. Moreover, I need my

time for other things and everything that I would

say would always be suspicious for being inspired

by a partisan spirit; but you will be regarded as an

impartial judge. You have no selfish interests. As

you have very well said, Austria has no colonies,

does not covet our country, and so you don't have

to alter historical truth either for the Filipinos or

the Spaniards, and you can look upon the past

calmly as any foreign observer. You profess the

Catholic religion, but you dont have an iota of

fanaticism. And you don't have to see the country

personally; the historian contemplates the past. I

believe that you are the best qualified for the task.

We also will do everything we can to help you,

furnishing you with data we may have at hand.

But don't expect thanks and laurels - crowns of

flowers and laurel are creations of free peoples -

but perhaps your children may gather the fruit of

what the father planted.

Iy compatriot and I greet you affectionately,

Very respectfully yours,

J. Rizal

31. Rizal, Vienna, 20 May 1887

Arrival at Vienna - Recommended calls.

POST CARD

Hotel Metropole, Vienna, 20 May 1887

Dear Friend,

We arrived here at 2:30 p.m. We are pleased with the city and its panorama. Tomorrow we will

call on the gentlemen to whom you recommended us. I'm very tired. I embrace you. We shall

stay here for four or five days.

Affectionately,

José Rizal

32. Rizal, Vienna, 24 May

1887

At the Vienna Museum - Nordmann resembles

Rizal's father - Poor sick Dora of the little blue

eyes! - Die Tinguianen - It is an honor to win

recognition - Interview, with the Extra

Blatt reporter.

Vienna, 24 May 1887

Dear Friend,

What could I do for you in return for your

kindness and everything you have done for

me? Your letters of introduction come one

after the other, so that we find ourselves here

as if we were at home. Now we consider some

of the gentlemen who where with you as if

they were old friends, like for example Mr.

Masner and the good old man Mr. Nordmann.

Mr. Masner took us to the museum and we

would have stayed in it longer if my friend

Viola did not get hungry. Mr. Masner is like

313 those from Leitmeritz and he sends

regards to you and Dr. Czepelack. I thank mv

old friend Czepelack!

Dr. Nordmann is a very likable old man. If I

had to choose my father (that is to say, if mine

had not come to this world) I would have

chosen Mr. Nordmann for my father for the

reason that he and my father resemble each

other very much spiritually, my father being

also courteous and kind and loves young

people. He introduced us to his daughter and

his wife and called on us today at the hotel.

Afterwards, he took a walk with us; introduced

me at his club and gave us three theater

tickets. He is an excellent man.

Unfortunately we did not meet the other

peraons to whom you introduced us and we

only left our cards at their homes. But we are

sure that they are as good as the first two,

because all your friends are good people who

receive us heartily, like Messrs. Willkomm,

Masner, Nordmann, Klutschack, Czepelack,

and others.

Viola and I are very sorry that our little friend

Dora is sick. We still remember her little blue

eyes; we hear her gay laughter; and we see her

diminutive teeth. Poor Dorita! I saw her run

behind us when the train was leaving! Very

sincerely I wish her to recover soon.

I received Die Tinguianen and I read the

dedication. I'm sure that your translation will

please very much I. de los Reyes. It is an

honor to win recognition that in our own

country is denied us!

Much ado about nothing! That is how I could

describe the story of my necktie-pin. Even you

were bothered by this insignificant thing. How

well and carefully packed it was!

Again many thanks!

While I was writing this letter, a gentleman by

the name of Mr. Adler came from the

newspaper Extra Blatt, requesting an

interview, with me. What will become of it? I

have such little experience in these things that

I am afraid to have been indiscreet in my

statements. But all that I told him was the truth

and that clears me. Oh my beautiful and

unfortunate Native Country!

Tomorrow we depart. Greetings.

Affectionately,

Rizal

33. Rizal, Salzburg, 26 May

1887

He didn't see Blumentritt's friend.

POST CARD

Salzburg, 26 May 1887

My very dear Friend,

Yesterday we left Vienna and he slept in

Linz. As we left that city early and we were

afraid to bother him, for it was school time,

we didn't visit your friend.Today we leave

Salzburg for Munich.

Many regards from my friend Viola and

command your servant,

José Rizal

34. Rizal, Munich, 29 May 1887

A little book for the Philippines - Rizal will have his picture taken in Geneva.

Munich, 29 May 1887

Dear Friend,

Yesterday and day before yesterday we toured the city, we drank much beer, and we enhoyed

ourselves. Today the weather is better, for yesterday and the day before it, it rained and

thundered a great deal.

I remember that you wanted to send a little book to the Philippines. I forgot about it, because

then I left your city of happy memory, I was somewhat distraced. Whatever you wish to send to

the Philippines, you can send it through me; only you will have to send it to Basel, general

delivery, or to Geneva by parcel post. (In the Philippines parcel post is not allowed). I will attend

to the matter with the greatest pleasure because I am glad to be able to servemy good friend.

I hope that little Dora has completely recovered.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Konstanz, Lindau, Schaffhausen, and Basel.

I believe that we shall be at this last city on the 5th or 8th of June.

Regards to your family and to the merry people of Leitmeritz.

An embrace from your most affectionate,

Rizal

P.S.

We did not have our picture taken in Vienna because we could not wait five days to see the

proofs.

We will do it in Geneva.

35. Rizal, Stuttgart, 31 May

1887

Looking for the professor who is preparing a

dictionary.

Hotel Marquardt, Stuttgart

13 June 1887

Dear Friend,

We arrived after a trip in rather bad weather.

I have lost the address of the professor who

is preparing the dictionary, but I don't mind

the loss because we are leaving tomorrow

afternoon. We are taking the shortest route to

Basel where we are expecting letters from

our homeland. We have not received news

from home for more than twenty days. Please

pardon me if this letter has neither order nor

ideas, for I am writing it while traveling.

From Geneva I will write you my travel

impressions.

Goodbye and greetings to your esteemed

family from me.

An embrace from

Rizal

36. Rizal, Basel, 3 June 1887

He will write Willkomm and Nordmann -

Through rose-colored glasses.

Basel,[1] 3 June 1887

My very dear Friend,

We arrive here today and tomorrow we leave

for Geneva. I received your affectionate post

card and as soon as I am in Geneva resting, I

shall write Messrs. Willkomm and

Nordmann.[2] If I have not done it yet, it is

because I would like to write them something

more serious than a letter written during the

trip. With you I can permit myself to write

careless letters, for you know how to excuse

any fault of mine and to see everything we do

through a cheerful optimistic crystal.

I wish you all good health, including Mr.

Willkomm.

Rizal

39. Rizal, Geneva, 13 June

1887

A picture for Blumentritt and another for

Eberhard Eysert who entertained him in

Vienna - As a remembrance.

Geneva, 13 June 1887

Dear Friend,

I am sending you enclosed two photographs

and a letter, and I wish to ask you for advice.

One of the photographs is for you and the

other one I should like to present to Mr.

Eberhard Eysert, if you believe it will please

him. If you do not believe so, please keep it

and do whatever you like with it.

I don't know Mr. Eberhard Eysert and I don't

know what he will think of me if I take the

liberty of sending him a photograph, but what -

he prepared for us in Vienna certainly deserves

more than mere words of acknowledgment.

I will write you many more letters and for that

reason I conclude the present one greeting and

embracing you fondly.

Rizal

Greetings to good Director Alois Langer.

My friend Viola leaves for Barcelona on the

20th instant.

47. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 25

July 1887

Blumentritt is very sad for not having received

news of Rizal's safe arrival home and for the

death of two friends, Nordmann and Labhart -

Painter Eysert is making a portrait of Blumentritt

for Rizal.

* * *

POST CARD

Leitmeritz, Austria

25 July 1887

Doctor José Rizal

Kalamba, Laguna de Bay

Island of Luzon, Philippines

Via Brindisi

Dear Friend,

I am sunk in deep melancholy because of the

failure to arrive of the longed-for news of

your safe arrival at the side of your loved

ones. Then come to us the bad news of the

death of our friends Nordmann and Labhart,

which distress us. Even my eyes are aching

very much. Eysert is definitely painting in

earnest an oil portrait of me for you. It may

be finished by next week. Professor Robert

Klutschack is back from his summer home.

He sends you hearty greetings. So also do Dr.

Czepelack and Eysert. My loved ones greet

and kiss their faithful friend.

You are close to the heart of

With the cordial greetings of my whole

family.

Your loving brother,

F. Blumentritt.

49. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 24 August 1887

The death of John Nordmann.

* * *

POST CARD

Leitmeritz, Austria

24 August 1887

My dearest Friend,

Our mutual and noble friend John Nordmann is no longer among the living. He was operated on

at the Wiedner Hospital in Vienna and there he died suddenly and unexpectedly. His death

caused deep sorrow in all Austria and Germany, for he was not only a writer but also an

esteemed and beloved man.

With the cordial greetings of my whole family.

Yours Faithfully,

F. Blumentritt

66. Rizal, San Francisco, 30

April 1888

In California under quarantine - Folklorists

and anthropologists appear in Ilocos.

San Francisco, California

30 April 1888

Dear Friend:

We are anchored in this port under

quarantine. We don't know how long it will

last although there are no sick passengers

aboard and the ship did not come from a

filthy port. The reason for this is that we have

643 Chinese passengers and, as elections are

approaching, the government wants to be in

the good graces of the people. We protest, but

it is useless for, as the Spaniards say, it is like

exercising the right to kick.

The voyage from Yokohama has been fine; I

did not get seasick. On board are many

Englishmen, some Japanese and three

Filipinos.

I see that many folklorists and future

anthropologists are appearing in Ilocos. Here

is Mr. Deloserre(1) with whom you have had

some dealings. There is something that

attracts my attention: In view of the fact that

the majority of Filipino folklorists are

Ilocanos and they use the epithet Ilocano,

anthropologists will classify authentic

Filipino customs and usages as Ilocano; but

that is our fault. I have Isabelo's works and

from Europe I will bring to your attention his

observations. He has committed some errors

because he does not speak Tagalog well.

Greetings to you and kisses for the children.

Very respectfully Yours,

Rizal

68. Rizal, London, 23 June

1888

Paciano Rizal is Philosopher Tasio - The only

man, according to the lieutenant of the civil

guard - General Salamanca asks for the

punishment of Filipino reformists - The

Spanish Senate is indifferent - "We pay taxes,

we shed our blood for Spain, and when we

raise a petition, punishment is our reward!" -

The simile of the old cocotte - "Fight for truth :

Raise us or knock us down!" - Fame for the

defense of the weak - The Filipinos have lost

faith in Spain - The second edition of the Noli,

not very different from the first.

37 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, N.W.

London, 23 June 1888

My dear Friend,

Today I received your second letter. I address

you familiarly - tú - because you insist on it;

but God knows that I regret it because it seems

that I am addressing my father familiarly! Let

your will be done!

I was going to answer your first letter, but I

was awaiting a letter from Spain in order to

write you somoething about our problem. The

letter did not come and I don't await it any

more.

I am glad that you, your family, and good Dr.

Czepelack have accepted my gifts. Despite my

enemies, I am in good humor and I feel happy

when I can give joy to somebody.

My father will be very much pleased when he

shall read your letter. I am surprised that you

have not reeeivecd until now my letter from

the Philippines, either from my friends or my

family. I don't know why I forgot to introduce

you to my brother. You who wish to know

good men will find in him the most noble of

the Filipinos. My friend Taviel de Andrade

said that he was the only man in the

Philippines - the youngPhilosopher Tasio. (1).

When I think of him, though an Indio, more

generous and noble than all the present-day

Spaniards put together. Perhaps you already

know waht happend to the Senate. General

Salamanca gave proofs of military valor when

he asked for the punishment of those Filipinos

who, with due respect, submitted their

petitions to the Government. The whole Senate

did not find a word of excuse for the Filipinos,

no compassion. We pay our taxes, we shed our

blodd for the glory of Spain, tolerating her

ignorance, and when we dare to express our

desires, then they cry for an "exemplary

punishment for us". And we are not slaves and

it was the Government that encouraged this

petition of the Filipinos and certainly it had

provoked it! I did not know anything about

this. I learned about this inhuman action

through Hong Kong newspapers. With all our

ignorance and savagery, we are more nobel

than the Senate, the Government, and all the

Spaniards put together. We have defended the

Spaniards against all their adversaries and we

still defend them. We offer them hospitality.

And even though my brother knows the hatred

and sufferings of the people, nevertheless he

has defended the Spaniards against the

vengeance of some gravely wronged

compatriots. Your smile of the old cocotte is

magnificent - that she had been beautiful and

young once she still believes that she is and

she wishes to break the mirror that tells her the

truth. There are some Spaniards who have

good intentions, but they keep quiet and do not

dare express their noble and lofty sentiments.

You say that you are fighting for me and my

fellow countrymen. I thank you for it. But I

beg you not to fight for me and my

countrymen but for truth, because, after all, my

countrymen and I will soon perish, and you

ought to work for the imperishable. Morever,

we can do you later much harm because, being

human, we have many defects. But you will

gain the fame of having had the boldness to

defend the weak and the defenseless, which is

very infrequent. Keep yourself always

impartial as until now: Raise us or knock us

down, as we may deserve. Forget that you are

my friend, because I would be very sorry if

you would suffer anything for our cause. I

believe that it is already late; the majority of

the Filipinos have lsot already the hope they

have pinned on Spain! Now we await our fate

from God and from ourselves, but never any

more from any Government!

I share your sufferings and may your family

soon enjoy better health, because we ought not

to suffer at the same time, physically and

spiritually; for that reason, I do the best I can

so that at least you would not suffer bodily.

I will surely visit Dr. Theumer, whom I greet

cordially, if I go to Germany. In truth, before

leaving Europe forever, I will dedicate my last

farewell to Germany. I owe Germany my best

rememberances; I mean to say, Germany and

Austria.

I am plannning to make the second edition

of Noli not very different from the first. It

seems to me that literary creations suffer much

when alterations are made in them, for the

public will ask "In which is the author sincere,

in the first or in the second edition?" If I

should make changes, I am afraid they may be

very bitter and sour. I shall only correct

typographical errors and shall correct the

erroneous citation of Shakespeare in place of

that of Schiller. Let the first flower of my

youth walk about with all its errors and defects

and let it be a proof that formerly I believed in

the government and in its good will! Dr.

Jurado is now in Paris. When he came over, he

was glad to hear that you remember him; he

spoke of you with respect and admiration. He

told me that before his exile he was

Hispanophile and anti-Filipino. At Mariana he

realized that he had been ungrateful and

disloyal to his native country. God has cured

him of his error.

I send you the Correo de España so that you

may see if I am right or wrong. If you already

have this issue, please return it to me. I should

like to keep it as a rememberance. It will write

also to good Dr. Czepaleck.

I live here with an English family who esteem

me. I don't believe that its esteem is due to the

two pounds weekly. That would be humiliating

for your friend Rizal and would be ill-

considered. At times when I receive news from

Spain, it seems to me that I ought to hate all

Europeans, but then I believe I shall got to

Austria to live there if I cannot live in the

Philippines, because Austria has no colonies

and for being an Austrian he who has done so

much for my country and loves her greatly.

I am going to end my letter here in order not

to bore you and only now I have an idea. You

will forgive me.

Your Rizal embraces you, greets the old ones,

and kisses the children.

Faithfully yours,

Rizal

85. Rizal, London,14 November 1888

The books Bauernspiegel seem to portray the life of the Filipinos with regard to courtesy -

Desengaños says that Blumentritt sees in the Nolithe best mirror through which he can look at

the Philippines - Rizal declines the offer to manage a periodical - Vidal y Soler asks for Spanish

and European immigrants giving them landed property - But not for Orientals - What are

colonies for? - Rizal does not agree with the explanation of reason of state - No one ought to go

to the neighbor's house and subordinate the interests of the neighbor to his own interests - "We

came here," the Spaniards said to our forefathers, "to be your friends; recognize our king and pay

him a small tribute and we are going to defend you against your enemies."

37 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill

London, 14 November 1888

Dear Friend,

First of all permit me to thank you for the books Bauernspiegel. I have read them with great

interest and I believe I have found in their various passages a description of the life of the

Filipinos especially in reference to courtesy. With reference to coarse manners the following

expressions used in the Philippines could be added: "Jesús!" "You eat now!" "It will be thrown

away any way!" "We are going to give it to the pig afterwards!" And the like. It is lucky that Dr.

Nagl is not a Filipino nor has he written about the Philippines. The difference between an

Austrian peasant and a Filipino peasant is solely the fact that the Austrian is not as candid as and

is more egoistic than the Filipino.

Now I know what Desengaños has written about us in La Ocean ía:

"Such learned men like Blumentritt see in that novel the best mirror through which to look at

the Philippines!

"How it shows that Blumentritt has not corresponded with us for some months!"

After these statements I am afraid to hear soon that if Professor Blumentritt is worth something

and knows something about the Philippines, it is because he has been corresponding

with Desengaños. Now all Manila knows that Blumentritt has the great honor of corresponding

with him! I hope he will become better informed! Quod erat demonstrandum!

Now, I take up your esteemed letter. Your letter unfortunately arrived too late and I regret this a

thousand times because your advice and that of Dr. Czepelack would have changed my attitude.

After much thinking and reflection I gave up the idea of being director. I got 50 votes in fact, or

rather 60 against 5 who voted for Lete. But I saw that the sympathizers of Lete were very jealous

and as Lete, my former friend, has not behaved well towards me when my articles appeared

in España en Filipinas, I withdrew. No one, neither Lete nor his friends, could say that Rizal has

accepted the management of the periodical for vengeance in order to be able to hurt and eclipse

Lete. However, if I knew that I was the only capable Filipino, I would not mind what people

might say. But there are many there, thank God, who are more worthy than I. On account of my

withdrawal, they will probably elect Llorente, as they do not like Lete. In this case, as Llorente is

also my friend, I will see to it that you are appointed representative of the Philippines.

Now I have to excuse myself as I should like to speak about Vidal y Soler. In his book Memoria

del Ramo de Montes, which I have read, he not only asks for the immigration of Spaniards, but

also of Europeans to whom he wishes to give landed property. I say nothing against

it.Transeat! But, why does he not want the Chinese, Japanese, Cambodians, etc., who make the

land fertile and work well to be proprietors also? Will the Chinese, Japanese, and Cambodians be

more dangerous to Spanish sovereignty than the Spaniards themselves or their descendants who

separated South America from the mother country? Where are the countries that the Chinese,

Japanese, etc. have taken from the Europeans? Either Vidal y Soler is mistaken or he hates the

colored races. And take this into account: The rich proprietors are in the majority more peaceful

than the poor ones.

I cannot accept your kind explanation of reason of state. I suppose that the welfare of the country

ought to be suppressed in the interest of the state as you say. That reason can be alleged only

when the country forms an integral part of the state and if the happiness or the misfortune of the

whole is the happiness or misfortune of each part, when the country is within the nation. This is

not the case of the Philippines. The Philippines is not Spain; she only belongs to Spain. The

happiness of Spain is not the happiness of the Philippines but indeed her misfortune. Here it is

not a question of interests of state but only of Spanish rule. Spain already existed and was more

powerful before acquiring the Philippines. This our sovereignty is only a name. They want to

sacrifice our welfare to Spanish pride, and pardon me for not being in accord with this.

Moreover, a country should have colonies only when she has too many people and too much

culture at home, and then she should pledge herself to promote the happiness and welfare of her

colonies. No one ought to go to the neighbor's house and subordinate the welfare of the neighbor

to his own interests. This would be an outrage; it would be the reign of force. If a colonizing

nation cannot make her colonies happy, she ought to abandon them or give them their liberty. No

one has a right to make others unfurtunate! We have not called the Spaniards. They came and

said to our forefathers: "We came here to be your friends; we shall help one another; recognize

our king and pay him a small tribute, and we are going to defend you against your enemies." In

those times there was no talk of taking away our lands. The friars talked about heaven and

promised us all kinds of wealth. To certain natives they did not mention the tribute but only

friendship and trade, and now you want us to give up the welfare of the Philippines for a high-

sounding name! No, my friend, you cannot think in this way! You give that explanation because

you are a loyal friend, because Vidal y Soler is your friend. I cannot understand why a colored

peasant ought not to be a landowner like a European; their work makes them equal. I shall

understand reasons of state only when the Philippines can enjoy the same rights of sovereignty as

Spain. Then her interests can be trampled upon in the interest of the State but not under the mere

name of Spanish rule.

This letter is becoming long but I cannot let pass this question without a reply. If is a question of

life and death for my native country. I would be exceedingly glad if you were of the same

opinion; and if not, let us leave the question without touching it and talk about another thing, for

almost always we are in accord.

I am now reading Gaspar de San Agust ín. He is very detailed. Only he is very pessimistic about

the Indio. Otherwise he is one of the best references on Philippine literature. He interprets fact

and event against the Indio. I find him too patriotic. Col ín pleases me much more.

They write me from Manila that the Jesuits are on my side. It is said that they reprimanded a

student who read Rodr íguez' booklet and that his professor said to him: "That is the book that is

written with the feet and not Rizal's Noli me tángere." They say that for this reason they are at

war with the four religious corporations. But I believe that this enmity was caused not by my

case but by Mindanao, as the Jesuits are too clever to commit such stupidities. At any rate, they

were not invited by the four monastic orders to preach during the novenae.

Greetings to your family and to Dr. Czepelack.

Yours,

Rizal

89. Rizal, London, 25

December 1888

Data on Ituy in the Annotations to Morga -

Two busts modeled by Rizal: Caesar

Augustus for Blumentritt and Julius

Caesar for Dr. Czepelack - Ponce, Canon, and

López Jaena, and Rizal chat about Blumentritt

- Personification of kindliness - Christmas eve

- Evokes the Grand Genius who preached

Truth and Love - He suffered for his mission -

But for his sufferings "the world has become

better, if not saved."

37 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, N.W.

London, 25 December 1888

Dear Friend,

Only last night at eight o'clock, I returned

here from a trip to Spain for a period of twelve

days. I left so suddenly that I had no time to

write you. Last night I received many letters,

but I will answer yours first.

Under your name I shall make use of your

data on Ituy in order to enrich my annotations

to Morga. Certainly I could write to the

Philippines to ask some gentlemen there about

the matter but I am sure they will not reply ....

I shall answer Dr. Meyer's questions day after

tomorrow because today the Museum is

closed. I made the trip to Spain so suddenly

that I had no time to answer him. When I

asked for The Travels of Ibn Batuta, (1) they

answered me that the book had been lost.

On account of this trip I was not able to send

a letter with the package. I am afraid the

transport agency charged you for the freight,

for it has not sent me any invoice during iny

absence. In case they have collected from you,

pardon me and tell me for the love of God

how much they charged you and in what

condition the box arrived. The package

contains two busts, copies of those in the

British Museum. The Augustus (2) is for you

and the Julius(3) is for Dr. Czepelack.

The Augustus gave me more work than

the Julius. I modeled the Augustusduring ten

days from 9 to 4, but it is for you. I wanted to

have it baked here but I had no time and

Doulton did not want to be responsible for it.

Maybe you have there an adequate oven for

baking bricks and clay objects. Accept it as a

remembrance from me. When they have been

baked, they will then be like stones, maybe as

hard as marble. Write me if they have arrived

in good condition. I insured the statues for ten

pounds.

In Barcelona I visited the Filipino colony -

Ponce, Cánon, Graciano, and others were very

amiable towards me. We certainly talked a

great deal about you. You are the

personification of kindliness to my

countrymen. It is wonderful for us to know a

European like you. Also we have a banquet in

honor of Quiroga Ballesteros.

The Multatuli is unobtainable. May God keep

it! It was so beautiful!

I am going to order it in Dutch, for you also

understand this language and in case it cannot

be obtained, I shall write to Paris as there

might be a translation of this book there. Be

patient!

Today is Christmas Eve. This is the feast that

I like to celebrate best. It reminds me of the

many happy days not only of my childhood

but also of history. Whether Christ was born

or not excactly on this day, I don't know; but

chronological accuracy has nothing to do with

tonight's event. A grand genius had been born

who preached truth and love; who suffered

because of his mission, but on account of his

sufferings, the world has become better, if not

saved. Only it gives me nausea to see how

some persons abuse his name to commit

numerous crimes. If he is in heaven, he will

certainly protest! Consequently, Merry

Christmas! Let us celebrate the anniversary of

the birth of a Divine Man!

Let Augustus be my Christmas gift to you!

Christ was born in his time and under his

empire.

I shall write you again.

Greet your beloved and good lady - the best

wife - in my behalf. As I have just arrived, I

have nothing for my little friends - the little

Blumentritt.

I embrace you.

Yours,

Rizal

90. Rizal, London, 14

January 1889

Association Internationale des Philippinistes -

To hold a congress during the Exposition at Paris

- Rizal asks Blumentritt for advice and

suggestions to improve it - Awaiting

the Exequatur - Mac Havelaar's book.

37 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, N.W.

London, 14 January 1889

My dear Friend,

How long a time that I have not written you! I

was very busy and I did not want to write you

until after I had finished my work in order to

surprise you with a grand news. Now everything

is ready.

We have formed an Associatio Internationale

des Philippinistes of which you should be the

president. Don't say no before having read the

whole thing. I enclose with this a copy of the

project so that you can analyze it and express

your important points of view.

We are planning to hold a congress at Paris

during the Exposition. You will receive money

for the trip and stay in Paris.

The Association'scommittee is composed of

Prof. Blumentritt (Austrian), President Edm.

Plauchut (French), Vice President Counselor :

Dr. Rost (Anglo-German) Counselor: Dr.

Regidor (Mestizo Filipino) Secretary: Dr. Rizal

(Malayan-Tagalog)

As you see, the board of directors is truly

international. Write me your observations and

advice so that we may be able to improve the

Association. We should like to invite all scholars

who are interested in Philippine affairs.

If you have any suggestion, please send it to me

so that I can pass it on to the others. As soon as

we receive your exequatur, we are going to print

the bylaws.

I am very sorry that the busts were broken. For

whole days I worked steadily in the hope of

furnishing some joy to my dear friends

Blumentritt and Czepelack, but God did not want

me to settle my account. I must always be in

debt! However, the man to whom I delivered

them at the post office had packed them very

carefully. I had insured them against breakage,

and all was in vain! Have you paid the freight

and insurance? Through a misunderstanding they

collecte from you on delivery. I learned about it

when I went there to inquire about the boxes.

They told me that it was twelve shillings for the

freight and the insurance for which I am sending

you thirteen by mail.

Last week I sent you Max Havelaar. As you

understand Dutch, I am sure the book will be of

interest to you.

Here it is very cold and foggy. I am seated at my

writing desk facing the beautiful water-color

picture by Dr. Czepelack. I have ordered for it an

elegant frame. On the wall is hung your

ethnographic map of the Malayan Archipelago,

which is very useful. Unfortunately your legend

has been lost but with the aid of the dictionaries

of Crawford and Wallace I shall make a new one.

Archbishop Payo has died. May God forgive

him! He did a great deal of harm to the

Philippines and to the Filipinos, but I believe he

did not do it deliberately.

I have just received two postal correspondence

which ought to have been received last year. One

is a programme and the other a letter. Both

traveled from Europe to Manila and from there

again to Europe. The letter was dated in 1887.

I close this letter greeting my good friends of

Leitmeritz.

Your friend embraces you,

José Rizal

91. Rizal, London, 31 January

1889

Condolence on the misfortunes of Austria -

Blumentritt accepts the Presidency of the

International Association of Philippinists -

We wish to obtain the happiness of the

Philippines through noble and just means - "If

I had to comment a villainy to make her

happy, I would decline to do it." - Casal's

book is not veracious.

37 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, N.W.

London, 31 January 1889

Dear Friend,

I am arriving you to tell you first of all that I

join you and Austria in your sorrow. Even the

people here sympathize with the Austrian

people for the misfortunes they have recently

sufferd. But there are peoples much more

unfortunate for whom this kind of mishap

would be luck.

I have received your - letter and I am most

grateful to you on behalf of my country for

having acecpted the presidency. Do not be

afraid that we would embarrass you, even if it

were a matter of asking for the welfare of my

country. We want the happiness of the

Philippines, but we want to obtain it through

noble and just means, for right is on our side

and therefore we ought not to do any thing

wrong. If I have to act villainously in order to

make my country happy, I would refuse to do

it because I am sure that what is built on sand

sooner or later would tumble down.

Fear nothing then. If we always confine

ourselves within our rights, reason shall be on

our side, despite the friars and the others: and

if it is impossible for us to defeat our enemies

now, one morning will come and another day

will appear, for there must be a God of

justice, otherwise we shall become atheists.

Ihave already read Casal's book and I am

very sorry that he had signed it. They have

written me from Madrid that the author was a

friar. Casal knows neither the Philippines nor

her inhabitants. He left the Philippines as a

child. He was educated in Europe, and when

he returned to the Philippines, he stayed so

short a time - shorter than I did - that he could

not have obtained a sufficient knowledge of

the condition of her inhabitants. Moreover,

Casal is a happy man and he has only

mingled with the happy and powerful. For

that reason he is satisfied with the conditions

obtaining there. He has a large income and he

does not live there. Therefore, why should he

undertake a quixotism to set aright wrongs

and defend the helpless? His descendants will

certainly be Spaniards and it would be folly

to fight for the Philippines when one has his

hopes pinned on Spain.

I have already sent to Mr. Schadenberg a

copy of Noli me tángere. Although I have

sent it by registered mail, I doubt, however, if

he will receive it.(1)

José Rizal

101. Rizal, Paris, 4 June 1889

You fight for our country and you imbue us with valor - Ready to unsheathe our swórd in your

defense- "There is a God for honorable persons."

10 Rue de Louvois, Paris

4 June 1889 Dear Friend,

I have received your letters as well as your manuscripts. They are for the Philippine youth like

the admonition of an old and wise friend, for we are here fighting for our native country entirely

without protection. You alone lend us strength and courage and you also admonish us when we

depart from the path. Now they want to attack you, but all of us will be with you because our

motto is Solidarity and Union. You fight for our country. We should also do the same for you.

Only be careful!

The enemies who are attacking you now are of such little value and unworthy against whom we

unsheathe our swords. Wait for them to begin a more serious attack. In the meantime send me

some issues of Spanish newspapers in which you are praised. I shall write your defense. I myself

will fight for you. Until now I have written only for my country. Now it concerns the honor of a

friend!

But, do not pay attention to those people and their slander. You take everything seriously. With

the Spaniards do not take everything seriously.

I have translated more than 30 pages of your Memoir. Now I have rested a little. Dr. A. B.

Meyer arrived here. He is a very amiable gentleman. He is sending you greetings. Tomorro he

leaves.

If you can keep your position as professor (I don't know how things are in Austria), then fear

nothing. When we shall have more liberties in the Philippines in a way that you and I may be

able to live there, then we shall go. There is a God for honorable persons!

I have read your article in La Solidaridad. It is very good. Plaridel and Ponce write me that your

name is the greatest honor for the periodical. But I say that your teachings are even better than

your name, for you teach us much.

I greet Dr. Czepelack and wish him prompt recovery.

All the Filipinos greet you.

Yours,

José Rizal

Now that you have unsheathed the sword, courage! Satisfied we shall defend you as one of our

own, as the best champion of the fight!!!

143. Rizal, Brussels,17 April 1890

Rizal, historiographer and ethnographer - Various works on oriental countries - In search of light

on the Philippines and the Malayans - Studies Dutch - Orders Kern's new book - Investigating

the origin of the Malayan race.

38 Rue Philippe de Champagne, Brussels

17 April 1890

My Brother,

I have just received your most useful book, The Races of the Philippine Archipelago, and I

leafed through it at once. It seems to me that it is of the greatest value to Philippinologists, and

for me especially, as I am now devoting myself with earnestness to the study o everything related

to the Far East. I have bought here various books on travel, history, etc. If you want them, write

me and I shall send them to you. I have Marsden, History of Sumatra, Pagés, Voyage around the

World, Dumont d' Urville, Picturesque Voyage around the World, Bougainville, Picturesque

Voyage around the World, Thimberg Voyage in Africa and Asia (Java an Japan),

Thompson, Malacca, Indochina, China, Malabar Coast; and in addition 16 volums in 4° of

the History of Voyages until 1760. There is a great deal about the Philippines in this work. I have

also Rienzi, Malaysia, (The Universe), Panthier, China and Gesantschappen an de Kaisaren van

Japan. I am studying Dutch and I am searching the bookstores to complete my collection. I

already wrote to Holland ordering Kern's new book.

I hope the money that will give impetus to our society will soon come; oh, money!

If you still want some copies of Morga, write me: you need not buy them.

Pages who has lived a long time among the natives, that is to say, among the Tagalogs, writes

good things about their customs that the Spaniards could not understand.

Kern's statement that the Malalayan people may have originated in Indochina aroused greatly

my interests, because in reading Marsden's Sumatra, I found many similarities between the

customs of the Sumatrans and the Filipinos. However. I cannot draw the conclusion that the

Filipinos had come from Sumatra. The similarity between two individuals does not necessarily

mean that one is the father of the other. Both can be the children of a deceased person, and for

this reason I believe it is difficult to decide whether we originated here or there before having

studied thoroughly our respective histories, languages, and religions. I believe that nearly the

whole life of a competent man will not he sufficiently long to throw light on the origin of the

Malayan race. It seems to me that the Malayans should not be considered either the original or

typical race. The Malayans have heen exposed to many foreign and powerful factors that have

influenced their customs as well as their nature.

When shall I be allowed to make use of Dr. Hirth's translation of Chinese Commerce? I have

been waiting for it a long time.

I am thinking of writing an article on the word Bathalà. The mre I study it the more convinced I

am that this word is an error - an error of Chirino or some missionary older and ahead of him

who has been recopied by subsequent historians, because the majority of the historians oE the

Philippines are mere copyists. Despite the derivation of Deva, avatara, etc. it seems to me

incredible that the Tagalogs had at all times in their mouth the name of their foremost God when

they hardly pronounced the name of their parents - a custom that has been preserved throughout

a period of three centuries, despite the efforts of the missionaries to make such reverence

disappear, as Chirino observed. I believe that the Tagalogs never pronounced the name of their

God, especially before strangers whom they considered their greatest enemies. They only called

him Maykapal, a designation still used and understood by any Tagalog. Why is there no trace at

all of the name Bathalà among the Tagalogs in the towns? And nevertheless, the Tagalogs in the

towns use such words as Tikbalang, Asuang, Anito, Nuno, Tiyanak, etc., and they retain many

pagan usages, many traditions, legends, stories of pagan origin. I believe that the old

missionaries did not take much interest in knowing exactly the religion of the Filipinos, for, on

account of their religious zeal, they considered it unworthy, diabolical, and for this reason they

did not undertake a thorough investigation of it. I believe that the phrase Bathalà MayKapalthat

was adopted by the other historians after Chirino is nothing more than the phrase Bahala ang

MayKapal, wrongly written, that is equivalent to Alla or Alah of the Muslims or to the

Malayan Tuan AIla punia Kraja; because Bahalà ang MayKapal means "God will take care", a

meaning given also in a dictionary to the phrase Bathalà May Kapal. However, the fact that the

phrase Bathalà May Kapal is often encountered, makes me presume that it may be only a copy.

There cannot be found another source where the word Bathalà is used but without the

denomination May Kapal. The bird which, according to Morga, has been called Bathalà is not

the omnipotent one; it may be the symbol of another divinity. As to the word Diwata as well as

the word Diwa (Tag. Mens, intellectus, spiritus, Beurisstein), it is possible that they may be

derived from Dewa, Diu, Diw, Deos, Ti, etc.

Iwant to know exactly your opinion before publishing my article, because it may have fatal

consequences. If you now a better derivation, I beg you to let me know. The derivations of this

word by Kern and Pardo de Tavera do not seem sufficient to me because they did not examine if

the word was correctly written. You know already how it is possible to construct with

etymology.

Consequently, I wish you good luck for your new book. I shall study it carefully and if I find

something in it, allow me to give you my opinion.

Greetings to your family

Yours,

Rizal

155. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,

29 September 1890

Desengaños does not deserve a reply with the

pen but with the rattan - The Spaniard is

impressed only by valor and might - It is good

for the Philippine cause that the friars have

only intriguers at their services and not men of

talent - God helps he who helps himself - The

artistic sense of the Tagalogs - The

statuette Triumph of Death over Life admired

by two German artists.

29 September 1890

PROF. F. BLUMENTRITT

IN

LEITMERITZ, BOHEMIA

AUSTRIA

My Brother:

Today I have a little time to write you. I have

had much to do this month, so that I had very

few wasted moments. To begin with, I have not

failed to devote every free moment to the

Philippines. In the first place I

answered Desengaños. It is true he does not

deserve to be answered with the pen but with

the rattan for being such an admirer of the

Englishman's stick. But in Spain one cannot

remain silent if he is attacked by a bandit

writer; a Spaniard is impressed only by valor

and might. Quiet enemies are oppressed and

maltreated. It is lucky for the Philippine cause

that the friars have only intriguers at their

service and not men of talent. All that the friars

have written until now are worthless. Their

voluminous publications, instead of being

useful to them, only hurt them. We should not

lose courage; God helps only he who helps

himself.

The last sentence in your article

on Indolencia(1) is magnificent and no man

with sane brains can deny the sureness of your

logic.

I eagerly hope that next year you will be here,

as you have written, and not only you, but also

Serrano and other Filipino friends.

I'm at present gathering the prospectuses of the

different colleges and schools in Austria and

Germany so that the Filipinos can find out

from them which institutions are suitable to

their aims and plans. In the meanwhile, they

should study German assiduously, so that they

can understand the lectures. I will also gather

complete information about admission

requirements and expenses.

The cost of living is always higher for students

who live in private rooms and eat at the

restaurant than for those who eat at the

boardinghouse. If they live as a republic, as

they say in Manila, the cost is less. Like the

Italians here who are not fond of the taverns,

the Filipinos who do not drink will find the

cost of living low. I'm going to prepare comlete

tables about it.

Tell Serrano that I do not cease admiring the

things sent by him and Viola. A few days ago,

a young Viennese painter, one of my former

students who came to see me, expressed

admiration for the highly, developed artistic

sense of the Tagalogs and said that, after all,

we should be ashamed of being Europeans.

He as well as Mr. Moll of Berlin.- two artists

of opposite viewpoints, the Berliner being a

cold realist and the Viennese who is really

from Leitmeritz and a Slav, an idealist of

sensitive feelings - admire your statuettes.

They are both agreed in the sublimity of the

conception and execution of the statuette

representing the triumph of death over life.

I'll write Serrano tomorrow or after tomorrow.

Tell me what books are necessary for the

teaching of German to the Filipinos; I'm going

to send them to you.

With affectionate greetings from all of us to

you and yours

Your brother

Blumentritt

160. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,

15 February 1891

After all the misfortunes suffered by Rizal now

his beloved abandons him - How it hurts his

heart - But Rizal is like those heroes who

conquer the pain of love's wounds - "You have

a brave heart and a more noble woman looks at

you lovingly : Your Native Land" - The

Philippines is like one of the enchanted

princesses of German folklore - An album of

ethnographic objects from Northern Luzon -

Igorot pipes which prove the existence oF

ancient relations with Japan - Another review

of theQuioquiaps.

15 February 1891

PROF. F. BLUMENTRITT

IN

LEITMERITZ, BOHEMIA

AUSTRIA

My Brother,

Only today I'm able to write you. Your last

letter filled us with sadness. - After all the

misfortunes that have befallen you now your

beloved abandons you. My wife can't

understand how a woman whom a Rizal has

honored with his love could abandon him; she

is indignant at that girl. I myself am very sorry,

but only for your sake, because I know how

your heart aches. But you're one of the heroes

who overcome the pain of the wounds inflicted

by a woman, because they pursue more lofty

ends. You have a brave heart and a more noble

woman looks at you lovingly: Your Native

Land. The Philippines is like one of the

enchanted princesses of German folklore who

is the prisoner of an ugly dragon waiting for a

valiant knight to liberate her.

I already imagine something like it upon

reading your New Year's letter. I said to my

wife then that something has happened to Rizal

and it was done by a woman. Cherchez la

femme!(1)

Your photograph has filled us with joy; it's an

excellent likeness. I have not been able yet to

show it to Dr. Czepelack; I haven't visited him

since 1st February because I'very much work

to do, and today when I've planned to do so, I

have to stay home on account of a catarrh. I

write with much difficulty because my head is

aching very much, but as I can't keep silent, I

send you these few lines. Dr. Czepelack lives

as usual. He writes and paints and so he

overcomes his physical pains. Every time I see

him, he asks about you. Klutschack has been

sick but has recovered. For four years he has

been working on his book, Guide to Leitmeritz

and its Environs, but he can't finish. it, because

he's so thorough that he's always changing

something. That's a real work o Penelope.

What novel are you writing? Is it a new

edition of Noli me tángere or a new novel?

I've seen the manuscript of A. B. Meyer and

A. Schadenberg. It's an album of ethnographic

objects, with text, of Northern Luzon. Most

wonderful and interesting things! Some Igorot

pipes arouse much interest for their

decorations which are identical with those of

the objects found in very ancient tombs in

Japan. This proves that the Igorots must have

had relations with Japan long before the

coming of the Spaniards.

You'll like much Schiffer Worse; Kielland is

another author who writes with his heart.

The Quioquiaps have founded a review in

Manila. I've read between the lines that that

gang of political bandits will give up their old

insults against the Indios. That's already some

progress! But I attack Quioquiap again;

perhaps the issue of La Solidaridad for today

carries my article against Quioquiap.

My family greets its Rizal. Your brother

embraces you.

Blumentritt

165. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,

26 April 1891

On his unhappy love - "If she can give up

Rizal, she is not of the stature of Rizal's

heart" - Affectionate letter of Paciano -

Interesting book which furnishes weapons to

the opponents of Frailocracia(1) - Against

Rizal's return to the Philippines - "The native

land needs your intelligence and your

freedom - Better times are approaching for

the Philippines - The struggles of La

Solidaridad are not useless - Study of the

scientific basis of the Malayan language -

The gold pen has not arrived.

26 April 1891

PROF. F. BLUMENTRITT

IN

LEITMERITZ, BOHEMIA

AUSTRIA

Dr. José Rizal

Brussels, 38 Rue Phil. de Champagne

My Brother,

For a long time I waited for your letter which

at last arrived today. I'm sincerely sorry that

you have lost your fiancée but if she could

renounce Rizal, she is not of the stature of his

spirit. She is like a child who throws away a

diamond to pick up a pebble. In other words,

she is not the wife for Rizal. La donna e

mobile,(2) as the Italians sing. I leave this

subject because I don't want to touch further

an open wound.

I'm very glad that your dear family is well. I

received from Don Paciano such an

affectionate letter that I have put it on the

night table beside my bed so that I can read it

every night. I'm going to answer it; should I

send you the letter? How long will you stay

in Brussels? I'll wait until you write me and

then I'll send you the letter for Paciano and a

very interesting book for you, which, though

it does not deal with the Philippines, contains

a great deal that furnishes weapons to the

opponents of Frailocracia.

I'm by no means in favor of your going to the

Philippines now. You expose yourself to

great perils and your native country needs

your intelligence and your freedom. I believe

that better times for the Philippines are

approaching. The struggles of La

Solidaridad are not useless. I would not dare

draw such optimistic opinions only from my

head, but some Spaniards who, at the

beginning of the campaign fled from me as

from a heretic, have written me again, telling

me that they have found out that I was right.

Don't go to the Philippines yet; it is better

for you to go to Leyden and see Professor

Kern and you study the scientific basis of the

Malayan language. Then prepare for your

people a dictionary like the one Littré has

given the French, and even had you done

nothing more than this (even if you had not

written Noli me tángere), your name would

be immortal, not only in your native country

and among your people, but in the whole

world. In reading the bilingual Tagalog-

Spanish newspapers, I find many Spanish

words in the Tagalog text for which

neologisms or newly formed Tagalog words

can be easily substituted.

Thirty years ago the Austrian Wends or

Slovenes had no homogenous language,

because theirs was full of German and Italian

terms. So the Slavic scholar Professor M

íklosich worked for two years and created for

this people a rich and perfect written

Ianguage, varying, adaptinq, and borrowing

from other Slavic languages. especially from

the Czech (Bohemian), Polish, Russian, and

Serbian. So, an honorable work awaits you.

The gold pen has not yet arrived. They wrote

me that it was coming on the same boat that

brought Isabelo,s letter with the draft. This

came on the 21st or 22nd of December, but

the pen has not yet come.

Enough for now. Affectionate regards from

all of us.

Your brother embraces you,

Blumentritt

166. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 20 June 1891

We go through the Philippines with hands joined - Colonel von Koller read the Noli twice - El

Filibusterismo, a thunderbolt that will knock down the enemies - Lippert's work as a souvenir of

their mountains - Blumentritt is distressed that Rizal has not abandoned his plan to return to the

Philippines - Loleng finds Rizal's photo - The gold pen is now in Europe.

20 June 1891

PROF. F. BLUMENTRITT

IN

LEITMERITZ, BOHEMIA

AUSTRIA

Dr. José Rizal

Brussels

My Brother,

Yesterday I received your letter and I sent you at once all the issues of La Solidaridad for 1891,

because I could not find what you have cited, though I remember having said something similar.

I'll read La Solidaridad for 1890; maybe it is there. I'm glad that you join my name again to

yours; thus we go through the Philippines with hands joined.

I'm curious about your new work. I have told Colonel A. von Koller, an amiable old man, that

you have written a new novel; he has read your Noli twice. I know your second novel will be a

thunderbolt that will knock down the enemies.

I have sent you the beautiful book of my countryman and friend Lippert. It's a philosophical

work whose second instalment you will receive later. Please accept it as a souvenir of our

mountains.

It distresses me that you have not given up your plan to return to the Philippines. I'll write you

again on this subject; now I must hurry up.

My uncle has rheumatism and I have a throat ailment; this makes the rest of the family suffer,

because we cannot go on excursions.

My wife reads all your letters and sends you cordial regards.

We found your photo later; it remained in the envelope and we might have burned it with the

envelope had Loleng not seen it. A thousand thanks; it's a good photo.

The gold pen is now in Europe. Ponce brought it from Barcelona to Madrid from where it will

be sent to me opportunely.

I'll write your brother soon.

With affectionate regards from us to you and yours. An embrace from

Blumentritt

171. Rizal, Gand, 23 August

1891

Pleasant recollections of Father Leoncio López.

- Anecdotes - He is the Father Florentino of

the Noli - His moral physiognomy traced by

Rizal.

9 Rue de Hainaut, Gand

23 August 1891

My Brother,

Thanks for your letter. I answer it: at once,

briefly and clearly, for it is for me a satisfaction

to speak of the late curate of my home town.

Father Leoncio López was a native Filipino,

but he was no exception. You took him for a

Franciscan friar when you spoke about the

curate of my home town in the Solidaridad. He

was more cultured than one can imagine. He

was tall, straight, and distinguished; cultured

but timid and tender. His best friend was my

father and I his young friend. Formerly we

were not in friendly terms, for, when I wrote a

poem at the age of fourteen, he said that the

poem could not be mine, that I ought to have

copied it from some book. This irritated me and

I answered him furiously. My mother, who was

present, got angry with me. Half a year later,

Father Leoncio came to known from the Jesuits

that I have again composed poems and the old

man - he was then 70 - made a trip to Manila,

visited me at the Ateneo Municipal, and

apologized to me. This gesture of his made me

his best friend and since then we have been the

best friends in the town. Despite his timidity,

he always took my side against the civil guard.

We loaned each other our books, and when I

left the Philippines secretly,(1) I asked him to

console my parents. The letter he wrote me is

to me a valuable treasure. He said that his only

wish before leaving this world was to see me

again and clasp my hand. He said that this was

his intimate wish. But he died before I had

written my Noli. He was related to my family.

He was a just, liberal, and tolerant man. You

will see his portrait in my new book; I call him

Father Florentino. He was a musician, poet, and

naturalist. He never meddled in politics. He

never had anything to do with the election of

the gobernadorcillo. We were at peace.

His successor, Father Gabino, also a native,

was as good as he was. He resembled him

physically, even in the face, but he was not as

cultured. However, he was much more devout

in the Catholic sense of the word. Father

Leoncio will always be for me a beautiful

memory.

Yours,

Rizal

Greet Isabelo for me; I want to forget

everything and I beg him to reconcile with me.

181. The Blumentritts, Leitmeritz, 19 March 1892

Greetings of the Filipino Colony of Leitmeritz formed by the Blumentritt family on Rizal's

saint's day, St. Joseph, l9 March.

POST CARD

Leitmeritz, 19 March 1892

Dr. José Rizal

2 Rednaxela Terrace

Hong Kong

Affectionate greetings to Rizal from the Filipino Colony of Leitmeritz.

Fernando Blumentritt

Fernando Blumentritt, Jr.

Loleng Blumentritt

Conrado Blumentritt

Rosa Blumentritt

Federico Blumentritt

185. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,16 July 1892

The news of the deportation of Rizal saddens the home of the Blumentritts - He hopes he will

regain his freedom - Rizal's devoted friends will work to restore to him his freedom.

Leitmeritz, Austria

16 July 1892 Doctor José Rizal

Dapitan

Dearest Rizal:

My entire household is full of gloom. Yesterday we received the news oE your banishment or

deportation to the south of the Archipelago. This news has shocked us very much; my wife,

Loleng, Fritz and Conradito turn pale because they imagine that the bailiffs maltreat you. I hope

that the barbarities with which Barrantes and other gentlemen, who often render lipservice to

national nobility, stained the pages of the history of the Philippines, would not be repeated.

Under the administration of Despujol, acts of barbarism are not committed; and so I ask you to

live in the conviction that informed justice will give you the freedom which mistaken autocracy

has robbed you. And do not forget that it you have bitter enemies, you also have devoted friends

who will do everything that law and honor to restore to your freedom.

We pray the Most Blessed Virgin to give you her protection. I send you the affectionate regards

of my family and receive, with loving and fraternal greetings, a close embrace of your faithful

friend,

Fernando Blumentritt

192. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz,

15 October 1893

Nothing about politics that might embarrass

him - He writes him to let him now that he is

still alive and to show him their esteem of

him - Dr. Rost, weakened by influenza, takes

interest in Rizal - Dr. Jagor asked him for

information about Rizal - Memory of his visit

- Tempi pássati! - His notes on the Ilongots.

15 October 1893

PROF. F. BLUMENTRITT

IN

LEITMERITZ, BOHEMIA

AUSTRIA

Dr. José Rizal

Dapitan

My very dear Friend,

They write me that your family have

transferred their residence from Hong Kong

to Dapitan. I approve of it because thus you

will have the joy to embrace your good

mother (whose feet I kiss). I have nothing to

write you. for fear of having this letter

confiscated, for if they have confiscated my

last one, I do not know what I could tell you.

However, I write you these lines only to let

you know, that I am still alive and that we

always esteem you cordially.

Dr. Rost has written you a letter; the

venerable old man is very much interested in

you. A student of mine, who is searching for

Spanish manuscripts of the middle ages in the

museums, libraries, and archives of London

and Oxford, writes me that Rost is very weak

as a result of the wicked influenza.

Dr. Jagor has returned from a trip to the Far

East. He spent three years in the Dutch

Indies, particularly on the Island of Celebes.

He asked me if I had your address; I gave it

to him, but I do not know if his letter will

reach you.

My family are in good health. Many times

we recall the beautiful days of your visit with

us. Tempi passati!(1)

I have read in Comercio(2) that the present

commander of Dapitan is called Lillo Gracia.

If this gentleman is the same one who is the

author of the most interesting pamphlet on

Lepanto, I beg you to greet him on my behalf

and to tell him that I have propagated the

glory of his name in the geographical reviews

of Austria and Germany. I have translated

into German his notes on the Ilongots,

published in the essay of Mr. Jordana.

And without anything more at present, I am

going to finish. I beg you to transmit the

affectionate regards of my whole family (who

greet you fondly) to your mother and greet

respectfully on my behalf the Very Reverend

Father Sánchez.

Your friend embraces you,

Fernando Blumentritt.

193. Rizal, Dapitan, 19

December 1898

A poet's dream among the mists of the Rhine -

Poor wing less butterfly dreaming of flowers

and the pure atmosphere of other regions -

From the present evil much future good will

be gathered - A flower grows in the mire -

From my present misfortune, I will get

something good some day - I believe I have

the seed - Specimen of natural history lost in

the sinking of the Normandy - The Tagalog

grammar is finished - His life in Dapitan - The

impostor Pablo Mercado.

Dapitan, 19 December 1893

Mr. Fernando Blumentritt

My dearest friend,

Tu solus fidelis reminisceris mei!(1) Your

postcard with the affectionate New Year

greetings of your family came to me like the

fragrant breeze from the forests of pines. I saw

again the Ringplatz where we had that little

supper, the Ober Gymnasium, etc. And when

so many remembrances again surge in my

memory, I cannot help but exclaim with the

poet Espronceda:

Dónde volaron, jay! aquellas horas,

De juventud, de amor, de ventura,

Regaladas de músicas sonoras

Adornadus de luz y de hermosura?

Imágenes de oro bullidoras,

Sus alas de carm ín y nieve pura

Al sol de mi esperanza desplegando

Volaban jay! en derredor cantando.(2)

But, everything has vanished, as you

Germans say. The wings of the butterfly have

been burnt in the beautiful radiance of light ...

and the butterfly now lies on the ground

thinking of the rays of the sun, of the flowers,

and of the pure and tranquil atmosphere of

other regions.

I become melancholy when I think of it a long

time. Let time run! Non ragioniam di lor ma

lascia passare e guarda, I add, quoting

Dante.(3) I am very fatalistic, like an oriental

that I am, and I believe that from the present

evil can be gathered much future good -

flowers grow in putrid manure. From my

present misfortune, I shall get something good

some day. I believe I have the seed. What will

be, will be!

Another thing. Dr. Schadenberg writes me

now that the Natural History I sent to A. B.

Meyer has been lost in the sinking of

the Normandy. It is a pity, because I was

counting on getting some Russian books in

exchange for that remittance.

My Tagalog grammar or rather, my studies

on the Tagalog language, is now finished.

When I finished it, I was the master of what I

began. How true is what Cantú says: He who

begins a book is not even the pupil of the one

who finishes it. How I miss now the Kawi

Sprache(2) of Humboldt that I have in my

library at Hong Kong!

I am sending you enclosed some ferns

and sampaguitas(4) gathered from my

garden. Nimm den duftigen Hauch meines

gartens an; es sind die Lieblingen, eines

mussigen Verbanntes. Ich bin melancholisch

gestimmt jetzt, Ich weiss nicht was soll es

bedeuten,(5) as Heine said.

I am going to tell you how we live here. I

have a square house, another hexagonal, and

another octagonal - all made of bamboo, wood

and nipa. In the square one my mother, my

sister Trinidad, a nephew, and I live. In the

octagonal my boys live - some boys whom I

teach arithmetic, Spanish, and English - and

now and then a patient who has been operated

on. In the hexagonal are my chickens. From

my house I hear the murmur of a crystalline

rivulet that comes from the high rocks. I see

the beach, the sea where I have two small

crafts - two canoes or barotos, as they call

them here. I have many fruit trees - mangoes,

lanzone, guayabanos, baluno, nanka, etc. I

have rabbits, dogs, cats, etc. I get up early - at

5:00. I visit my fields, I feed the chickens, I

wake up my folks, and start them moving. At

7:30 we take breakfast - tea pastry, cheese,

sweets, etc. Afterwards I treat my poor

patients who come to my land. I dress and go

to the town in my baroto, I treat the people

there and I return at 12:00 and take lunch.

Afterwards I teach the boys until 4:00 and I

spend the afternoon farming. I spend the

evening reading and studying.

My mother is very glad that you remember us

and that the friendship you profess us has not

diminished at all. She, like myself, and all

those in the house wish you also a Happy New

Year.

We are planning to celebrate Christmas at

home. We shall remember you. I have made

little paper lanterns to illuminate my garden.

A man(6) has come to me here sent by

persons who are considered respectable by

many with the object of wresting from me

some papers and books. I did not wish to do

anything against him, but I found out later,

that he was posing as my relative, etc., etc.,

and so I reported him to the commander who

immediately seized him and sent him to

Manila.Et ille ipse declaravit, missum esse a

monachis ven fratribus ex quibus receperat

septuagita quinque dollars. (And he himself

declared that he was sent by the friars from

whom he received seventy-five pesos.)

I close this letter saying to you: Prosit

Neujahr! (Happy New Year!) My family

sends to yours the most affectionate wishes

and regards.

Your brother,

Rizal

The commander here is not called Lillo de

Gracia but Mr. Juan Sitges y Pichardo; he is a

physician.

195. Rizal, Dapitan, 31 July

1894

Condolence to the Blumentritt family - Rizal,

abaca merchant - Teaching the people of

Dapitan to revive their industries - Copy of

Chau Ju-Kua's account of the Philippines? - He

will publish his Tagalog Grammar as soon as

he is free - He is learning Bisayan and teaching

Dapitan boys - And Miss Loleng? - I can still

see her running after us with her schoolbag,

greeting us with her little hand and smiling

with her eyes." - Rizal writes in different

languages in order not to forget them - A

mathematics book. - The path in the middle of

a dark forest.

Dapitan, 31 July 1894

My Brother,

When I received your note today, I felt very

sad. Though I did not come to know your

father, I share your sorrow. My parents are also

old and some day they will also go! Yes, how

lonely we shall be in this world! Blessed are

those who rest at last! When shall I be

permitted to finish the work? May our father

rest in peace!

My life passes peacefully and monotonously!

To kill time and to be able to help a little the

inhabitants of this place, I have become a

merchant. I buy abaca and I send it to Manila.

Luck has favored me this month; I made P200

in one stroke.

How is my German? I believe it is a little

oxidized.(l)

You would certainly oblige me, my dear, if

you send me a copy of that interesting account

of the Chinese about my country.(2) Do you

remember that Mr. Hirth's translation?

My Tagalog grammar about the Tagal is long

ago finished: I intend to publish it as soon as I

shall be set at liberty. It will bring to light so

many things that I believe nobody thought of. I

make references to the Bisaya, Malay, and

Madecassis(3) according to Dr.

Brandstetter.(4) Greet him, if you ever write to

him. My life now is quiet, peaceful, retired and

without glory, but I think it is useful too. I

teach here the poor but intelligent boys

reading, Spanish, English, mathematics, and

geometry; moreover I teach them to behave

like men. I taught the men here how to get a

better way of earning their living and they

think I am right. We have begun and success

crowned our trials.

This Gewalttätigkeit exerced upon me gave

me a new language, the Bisaya; taught me how

to steer a vessel and to manage a canoe; made

me better acquainted with my country and

presented me with some thousands of dollars!

God can send you your fortune amidst the

persecutions of your fiends! How do you find

my English?

You do not tell me about your dear family.

How are Madame and little Mlle. Loleng?

When I think of her (Loleng) I see her always

following the coach with her schoolbag,

running after us like a butterfly around a

flower! The little one was greeting us with her

charming little hand and smiling at us with her

eyes. Ah, now she is no longer a child and one

cannot play and frolic with her! The golden

days of Leitmeritz, as you would say, are over,

they are over. It is a delightful little vision that

shall never be erased from my memory. Tell

them for me that I kiss their hands!(5)

I try to write you in various languages because

here I speak with no one in these tongues and I

am forgetting them. Thanks to our friend A. B.

Meyer I have German books. By the way,

today I am sending him birds and animals. If

he wishes to send me books in exchange, I

would prefer that you suggest to him a good

complete treatise on mathematics in French.

You ought to know better than I the best

authors of mathematics. I ask for French for its

clarity and method. Is there something better

than Cirode? If it should cost too much never

mind. From Cebu certain Messrs. Koch send

me Das Echo and Fliegende Blätter; from

Manila the Ethnographic Review. I have a

magazine, Scientific American, and from

London thev send me the Saturday Review! I

am well provided with reading matter. I

operate on three or five patients a week. Many

are poor but some pay.

I should like to close this letter in the language

of Dante but it seems to me that what I knew

before I have now forgotten. Lucky are you

who are in Europe, in correspondence with

literary men and scholars and you can

exchange ideas whenever you please. As for

me I am here

Nel nezzo del cammin' della mia vitta

ini una selva oscura ...(6)

Enough for now. Another time I shall be a

little more discreet in my language.

Your friend who never forgets you,

Rizal

I got operated my dear Mother of cataract.

Thank God she is perfectly well now and can

write and read with easy. She and my young

sister send you their best friendship and to your

dear family too.

199. Rizal, Dapitan, 15 January 1895

Mrs. Teodora Alonso returns to Manila - Rizal losing hope of

getting out of his exile - Ma-yi is more interesting to Rizal because

he lives in Ka-ma-yen - He does not approve the geographical

names - If Mr. Hirth had given the Chinese characters in which the

names of the towns were written, Rizal could deciplier them with

the aid of the local Chinese - Enlarging his Studies on the Tagalog

Language - Laudatory opinion on the Blumentritt children -

Recollections of happy days in Leitmeritz.

Dapitan, 15 January 1895

My Brother,

Yesterday was a holiday for us, poor inhabitants of Talisay.

Talisay is the proper name of the piece of land I have bought. Your

letter and post card were read and reread, shown around, and

admired. My pupils cannot understand how a German who has

never been in Spain can write so well in Spanish. My dear and

good mother, who is separating from me now, was deeply moved.

She is going to Manila on the mail boat, for my father who feels

weaker and weaker every day, wishes to see her. Your letter, like a

distant voice of friendship, gave us courage for sometime; we

forget our preoccupations, thinking only of you, the good and

unforgettable friends.

My aged father believes he is nearing death. He has become much

weaker than before. Whether he is going to die without our seeing

each other, I don't know. My exile lasts so long that I am beginning

to lose hope of ever seeing myself free again some day. Everybody

agrees with me that I do not deserve this fate, but here they keep

me! Habent sua fata ... (1) Where are conscience and political

conviction.

I have read the copy of the Ma-yi that I asked from you, the

translation and some notes, and I thank you most sincerely. Each

time I find it more interesting, especially now that I live in Ka-ma-

yen. The notes are very interesting and instructive, but pardon me

for not being entirely in accord with the georaphical names. Now

that I know enough of Bisayanismo, I can add some explanations.

If you permit me then, I shall correct some. It is a pity that Mr.

Hirth has not given the Chinese characters in which the names of

the towns and islands were written, for I could decipher them here

with the aid of some Chinese.

I am overwhelmed with patients and I cannot finish many works I

have begun. I am enlarging my Studies on the Tagalog

Language and I cannot finish it. I lack reference books, for here I

have no library. My patients are so numerous that I have to turn

away some for not being able to attend to them.

I heartily felicitate Fritz. It seems to me that he will have the same

talent and the same love for study as his father, though in another

line. But my most ardent desire is that he may have the same warm,

faithful, and sane heart as his father has. In the natural science

field, my country can offer him treasures yet undiscovered. There

are here many species still unknown in zoology and botany,

judging by the discoveries that are being made. If he will ever

come here as a naturalist, his name will be his passport in this

country withnut hotels and my family would consider itself very

happy to have him and to be able to repay the hospitality I have

received from his father. Kurt perhaps has inherited from his father

his literary ability; hence his liveliness, that fire, that ardor so

characteristic of the polemical works of Pisaflores. Loleng is a

German through and through; when she signs, she signs in German.

She remains faithful to her German nationality, the better! The

German woman does not need to copy from anyone.

When in this hut of mine I think of Leitmeritz and of its very

ancient houses, I remember that dinner we had in an old hall with

Mr. Klutschack. I see the sun, the old cabinets, the old porcelain

and dishes, and I ask now: Was that not a dream? I think of

Professor Langer who had so many troubles in 1870 receiving us

very kindly at his college. I see again the garden-island on the Elbe

with the distant view of a bank similar to a bank of the Pasig. I

think of my stroll in the park holding Loleng by the hand, and it

appears to me that everything is just a dream. It was so beautiful,

so divinely beautiful!

Friend Viola is already married and I saw him in Manila days

before my imprisonment. He is always the same to me always kind,

affectionate, lively gay. He has not aged.

We are now going to build a water-tank on my land. I have 14

boys whom I teach languages, mathematics, and how to work, and

as we have no work I have decided to construct a dike of stone,

brick, and mortar so that they may learn.

My mother and sisters send you the most affectionate greetings

for this year.

I wish you the same soul and the same heart always.

Ever yours,

José Rizal

204. Rizal, Dapitan, 20

November 1895

Blumentritt masters the Spanish language -

What elegance in his expression! - Rizal is

forgetting little by little the German he has

learned - Oh, those rustic excursions in

Germany! - Wander through the forests, gather

strawberries, drink Rhine wine, eat heartily,

and sleep under the pine trees .... - Rizal studies

Malay and writes on the bewitched - Tagalog

Versication at the Ethnographic Society of

Berlin - A wooden machine for making bricks -

Will apply, for post of military physician in

Cuba - Busy with philological works.

Dapitan, 20 November 1895

My faithful Brother,

I will see if I can still write in German; but it is

marvelous to hear how you express your ideas

in Spanish. What refinement, what elegance!

You alrearly have a complete mastery of the

language. As for me, I am now forgetting little

by little what I have learned with so much pain

for lack of practice and association.

I have received your letter of 7 September as

well as a post card. I am very glad that you are

enjoying your excursions to the country. Oh,

excursions to the country in Germany! One

walks through the forests, gathers strawberries,

and at the nearest tavern one orders Rhine

wine, and makes strawberry drink with sugar

and Waldmeister if there is some! (I think

Waldmeister in Spanish is aspérula).

Afterwards one reaches a little town, orders a

meal at the restaurant, one eats heartily, and

later one goes to sleep under the pine trees, on

the soft carpet of pine needles. How I would

like to feel now the cold of the Northern

climate!

I have had to suspend my study of Tagalog

grammar on account of my study of Malay, and

because recently they asked me from Manila to

write something about Filipino quacks. I have

written an article on witchcraft in the

Philippines. I am planning to enlarge it and

write an extensive book on superstitions, the

mysterious, and the like which in the

Philippines are still believed in.

While I was in Berlin, I published in the

bulletin of the Ethnographic Society a study on

the Metrical Art of the Tagalogs. The study is

in German; I have nothing to add to it.

Concerning your advice on going to Cuba as

physician, it seems to me most excellent and

right now I am going to write to the Governor

General. The climate here is, with slight

difference, like-that over there and one dies

here as everywhere else, when God so decrees.

I am a little fatalistic. I believe, as you say, in

serving the cause of humankind.

Here we have a new governor, a charming

person, and desirous of promoting the welfare

of the district, as he shows in his acts.

I have made a wooden machine for making

bricks and I believe that with it I can make at

least 6,000 a day; well now, I lack an oven.

When I was in Belgium, I saw bricks being

made outdoors, without ovens; and at Baden I

saw also a pile of bricks in a field. I suppose

that in Bohemia they also bake bricks outdoors

sometimes. If that is so, please tell me how they

arrange the bricks so that the heat may not

escape too much.

I am on the way to deciphering the meaning

of babailan. As we already suspected, there is

here an error in transcription, as in babailana to

which they have added the affix a to render it

feminine. Among the Subanos the religious

ceremony is called Balean. I believe that

this e is a contraction of ai, Balaian; Balai is

house. I do not go further for I am not sure. I

will have more data. I think too that I shall be

able to prove the origin of certain rituals; for

the religious songs of the Subanos will come to

me in a language unknown to them. What a

pity that my work would not let me stay with

them two or three months! These Subanos are

the ideal people that ought to inhahit these

mountains. They work, they do not steal, they

are very peaceful. On the other hand, they ace

rather filthy, but the rich are already clean and

neat.

I think I have already announced to you my

discovery of the change of the Tagalog i into

the Bisayan o; how this process was effected

that all the words with i in Tagalog have to be

with o in Bisayo. I think that my discovery will

have to attract a little the attention of the

Philippinists.

I wish you would remain healthy, happy, and

with the spirit to undertake great things. My

respects to Frau Rosa and Fräulein Loleng and

my friendship to Fritz and Kurt.

I end here; I embrace you, kiss the children,

and greet on my behalf your good wife.

Ever yours,

José Rizal

I am sending you sampaguita flowers for your

daughter.

205. Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 1895

New Year's Greetings

POST CARD

Leitmeritz, December? 1895 To Dr. José Rizal

Doctor of Medicine

Dapitan, Capital of the Conmandancia Politico-Mlilitar cif the same name

Island of Mindanao, Philippines

Grüsse und Prosit Neujahr 1896.

(Greetings and Happy New Year!)

Yours,

Rizal

207. Rizal, Dapitan,

5 April 1896

Philological conversation with Blumentritt - Rizal treating

patients from various parts of the Archipelago -

The Mangianenschrift - Blumentritt comprehends the spirit

of the Tagalogs - Before publishing his grammar (Rizal

wants to be well steeped in Malay - And to make sure if it is

the origin of Tagalog - He now speaks Bisayan - And

studying Malayo-Polynesian languages - His ambition is to

raise a monument to his native tongue - Correction of

Tagalog translations by Rizal - On the g of Rizal which,

according to Foy, is irreführend - On the w - Rizalian

orthography adopted and its use is becoming general - On

the etymology of Babailan and Lanaw - Meaning of Dapitan

- Rizal sends three roses from his garden to the Blumentritt

family.

Talisay, 5 April 1896 Dapitan, Mindanaw

Mr. Fernando Blumentritt

My very dear Friend,

It is almost three weeks ago that I received your affectionate

letter. I did not answer it by the return mail because I had no

time to think. Day after tomorrow the boat will be here, so I

avail myself of Easter Sunday to have a colloquy with you.

At the same time as your letter, I received a copy

ofMangianenschrift.(1) I do not know who has sent it to me.

Thanks at any rate to the sender. Despite mynumerous

occupations - for I have patients from different islands of the

Archipelago, Bohol, Panay, Cebú Luzón, Sikihod,

Mindanaw, Negros - I read it with the greatest interest. I see

that you as well as Dr. Foy have worked hard on it and I give

both of you my wholehearted congratulation. You have

translated very faithfully into German the Tagalog phrases,

better than I could do it. I note that you have comprehended

the spirit of the Tagalog, a thing very necessary for the

translation of a language. I do not see then your need for a

Tagalog grammar as you say in your letter; I think that you

can get along without it. If I am postponing the publication

of mine, it is because I wish first to steep myself in Malay in

order to put an end to the inquiry into what is true and what

is false in the common belief that Malay is the origin of

Tagalog. (!!) I am getting to know Bisayan and I speak it

fairly well, they say. However, I need to know more other

dialects of tbe Philippines, read more about Malayo-

Polynesian languages, to have my library here for reference

books that I do not have now, and consult other grammars

that others have written. This is not possible for me while I

am here where I lack everything and yet I have the conceit

and the pretension to write a Tagalog grammar which, if it

cannot be better than the published ones, at least should offer

something more than they. This is the reason why I am not

yet publishing my grammar. My ambition is to raise a

monument to my native tongue. Ihave the project, but I lack

the materials and the instruments.

Concerning your query about the Tagalog of Sinibaldo de

Mas, what I have seen and translated when I was in London,

I will give you first a literal translation of yours and then I

will give you the free translation:

Aming (amig)-We (possessive kami) itapat - place in front,

agreed, settled sa katuirang (katuirag) - to the right utos -

orderipinatotohanan - was certified ang (ag) pinagkayarian

natin - what was agreed upon by us (possessive tayo) ang

(ag) pagkatotoo nito ... - the certainty of this ...

Free Translation: In accordance with the just order we made

of record the truth of what was agreed upon between us and

the truth of this ...

Ipinatotohanan (o must sound like u) that

is, ipinatutuhanan as you know very well has for its

root tutoló, meaning certain, true, sure, Latin tutus. From

where did this word come? Is it the contraction of the

Bisayan tutoló, three times? The reduplication of two dental

consonants is found in various languages as an expression of

certainty: That (German) testis (witness) tatlo (Tagalog 3 =

number 3) is the expression of the truth in many languages

= Ipinatutuhanan is the passive form of the past tense

of ipatutoo: ipa is prefix which means to make, to order.

Concerning this prefix, I wrote three years ago in my essay

on the Tagalog verb the following:

Passive suffixes:

ika - ipa - ipag

These three prefixes follow the same rules for the formation

of the tenses. For the past tense they take the suffix in after

the ik, ip; for the future tense they reduplicate the first

syllable of the radical and for the present tense the past is

combined with the future.

Past Future Present

ikapatay ikinapatay

ikabili ikinabilí ikabibilí ikinabibilí

ipapatay ipinapatay ipapápatay ipinapápatay

ipagbukas ipagbukas ipagbubukas ipinagbubukás

(Rizal, Estudios sobre la lengua tagala. Dedicated to Father Francisco

Sánchez, 2 April 1893.)

If I have time and opportunity, I am thinking of making a

careful study of the writings of the Mangyan and seek its

translation. Perhaps I may be able to tell you something

about them. I protest against what Dr. Foy says to my g that

it is irreführend (misleading). Please communicate with this

worthy gentleman - to whom on the other hand I am grateful

for mentioning my name - that I have reflected for some

time on the substitution that he makes of n for the g. I do not

know Sanskrit or the reason of the scholars of Sanskrit for

adopting the n as the transcription of the nasal guttural. If I

have proposed the g, it is to follow the spirit of the Tagalogs

and the history of their writing in the forms

of mga and ngwhich are pronounced mag and nag. In the

first form the n does not exist and in the second the n is

undoubtedly what remains of the first consonant of the

syllable. Confirming my suspicion at the time, now comes

my knowledge of the Bisayan in which many times the

form agwith nasal sound is converted into ag wich soft

guttural sound. Thus they say ag ako and ag ako, (what is

mine). It seems to me then that one must not lose sight of the

guttural in the transcription of this genuinely guttural sound.

The n, with the permission of Dr. Foy, seems to me

more irreführend, because it is a nasal dental, which already

makes vary the kind of consonants, besides making very

difficult the explanation of the grammatical transformations

as I have pointed out above in the Bisayan. We have the

historical brief forms of mga and ng, genuine transcriptions

of the ancient Tagalog characters that might perhaps be - and

- (2). If we should follow Dr. Foy's suggestion, we would

have to transcribe these characters into mna and nn which

will not be accepted by my countrymen for it does not

simplify but makes more difficult writing and reading.

Morever, the Roman writting of the Japanese uses the g in

similar cases - g that at times sounds soft, at times

nasal. Arigató(thanks) is

pronounced arigató and arigato or arinató as Foy likes. My

proposal of the g seems to me then natural, more in

conformity with the language, the history, and the spirit of

my people, and topography. Dr. Foy does not say why it

is irreführend; on the contrary, Pardo de Tavera has

accepted it and numerous Tagalogs and Bisayans write now

according to my orthography and find nothing confusing

about it. On the contrary, they find that writing has

been rationlized. I protest then against the irreführend with

all respect. Concerning the transcription of vas w, I find no

advantage except that it saves ink and time. If I have

proposed the w, it is to be consistent. If the v consonant

represents two i's, the w consonant ought to represent also

two u's, that is, w. Besides, the v already has the Spanish

sound for the Tagalogs, while the w is a relatively new

consonant and cnnsequently it is easier for it to provide a

sound whose transcription needs to be fixed. For these

reasons, I favor the w, a consonant used also by the Japanese

in similar cirumstances due to English. To give to the v the

sound of w may be correct in Sanskrit but it is confusing to

us who know Spanish, French, English, German, Italian,

Japanese, Portuguese, and many Chinese languages in which

the v has a different sound from the consonant u. I repeat

then that respecting Sanskrit, the v for w has no more

advantage than the saving of time and ink - a stroke of the

pen and a twentieth of a second less. I still support my

proposed orthography, whose use is extending every time

and in which my Tagalog grammar will appear.

As to the name of the priestess, we have much to talk about;

that is, to rectify. My opinion on this point is not yet

crystallized. Everything is still dIsintegrated, but give me

time and rest and my opinion will be formed and

crystallized. It is enough for you to know that among the

Subanos the religious rites for the dead are called balian,

balean, balayan (ai is contracted into e, balayan = balean;

e is converted into i; balean = balian. I will look up balay. If

they would let me live among the Subanos for a few months,

I could say something about these rituals. It can be that they

may have given to the officiating person the name of the

office. They assure me that the cerernony is called balian.

Right here, in the midst of Bisayanismo, what Bisayan the

missionaries speak! Beware! What forms do they preserve!

Later the result will be a curious thing - written Bisayan will

be different from the spoken Bisayan, as Ciceronian Latin is

different from vulgar Latin. I have a Bisayan dictionary by

Father Encarnación; how many errors it has! You are right in

doubting the meaning of mag anito; it is putting the cart

before the horse, as they say familiarly. They have given the

name of the sacrifice to the sacrificers. The same thing

happens to me as to you with respect to igueines. Cite to me

the text and let us see if we get something from it.

Thanks for your valuable information on the baking of

bricks.

Concerning lanao or lanaw. You say that it also means "to

make superstitions in order to see under the water the one

who stole something." I suppose it may be mag lanaw and in

this case it seems to me possible, but does not alter its

meaning of lake. What they call superstition - for the priests,

everything that is not Catholic is superstitious - must be the

ancient custom of subjecting the suspected thieves to the

water test, as fotmerly in Europe, to the fire test. Here it is

warm and there it is cold. The accused were made to dive

grasping at a cane or a pole, and the first who drew out his

head from the water was considered the culprit.

Physiological explanation: The heart of one who is afraid

beats more rapidly and violently and to the greater number

of heart beats corresponds the greater number of respirations

and hence the impossibility of staying under water for a long

time. This case of maglanaw means to make that of the

water, to try that of the lake, a figurative verb. In

Tagalog maglanaw means to spill, to cover with water, to

make a lake.

You ask me for the meaning of Dapitan and I take this

opportunity to give you a careful answer. I have the

presumption to tell you I am your right man for that. Yes,

dear friend, Dapitan has its meaning and certainly a historic

one. I have historical documents that two months ago I

deposited in the Museo Biblioteca de Manila so that they

might not be lost in my poor hut. One of them, dated 7 July

1818 and signed by Mr. Fernando Man. de Bustillo

Bustamante y Rueda - the governor general who was

assassinated - speaks of Dapitan and its founders. It was

founded by "Lagubayan, who was a principal citizen, first of

the towns of Bohol, Baclayon, Mansasan, and Dawis and

later, in the serro(3) of Mindanao - today it is

called Ilihan where a poor barn stands - to which he repaired

with eight hundred families on account of the treachery

committed against his sister Doña Ilison by the natives. He

became the lord of the Subanos and the terror of the whole

Moroland ... When the first Spaniards arrived at Dapitan, he

received them with love and charity and he dismissed the

ambassadors of Ternate saying that he did not want any

other friendship than that of the new men who had arrived at

his land. And assuming as marvelous wonders

the Indios were to the Spaniards and the Spaniards to

the Indios, he gave them pilots and guides who took them to

the chief named Catunas he had left in Bohol and from there

took them to Cebú where they had established their first

base, and to this fourth grandfather of the petitioner and to

all the rest of his descendants the King our Lord owed the

pacification of these islands ..."

This document is authentic with the seal of Mr. Bustamante

and I bought it from the descendants of Lagubayan, now

sunk in abject poverty. These documents, as I said, were

deposited by me in the Museo Biblioteca de Manila. As it

can be seen, Dapitan was founded by Boholanos before or

after the coming of the first Spaniards. The name Dapitan

means a place of rendezvous or meeting-place, of 800

families.Dapit in Bisayan means "to invite" - Dapitan, place

to which 800 families were invited. This is the tradition of

the name Dapitan.

I have great pleasure in furnishing you all the information

you may wish concerning superstitions, usages, customs, etc.

Ask me and if I know, I will answer you.

I salute from here those who are learning to dance and the

others the same, the same. Today, Easter, I pick three roses

from the tree I planted and send their petals to you; they are

small for they are somewhat wild. How I miss the healthful

cold of Mitteleuropa! How much I wish to breathe the

perfume of the pines.

Your friend and brother who sends to your family the purest

aspirations of his heart.

José Rizal

I have received your post card with Prosit.

I cannot refrain from making some comments on page 14-15

of Mangianenschrift von Mindoro.

It says Read:

Saan ca ma

paroon

Saan ka man paroon (Wherever you

may go.)

Cami uala

pagkabohay Kami walag pagkabuhay

ma quita Makita

Uala cayo

macain

Wala kamig makain

mag utus ng makakayanan

at tomalagá at tomatalagá (Command what may be

possible for he is ready.)

Z. 3 is in pagkabova ... etc. pagkabuhay

Z. 5 There is no need of making ... ma what is ... na

In the original it is very good: nakita mo ng ami(g)

kalgaya(n). There is no mistake. This phrase means: You

saw our situation. (Literally, seen by you our situation.)

Kalagayan is substantive of lagay. Amin, our; the

substantive is placed before; namin, our is placed

after; amig kalagayan, our situation; kalagayan (na amin)

namin, our situation (that our).

Tomatalagá is right as tomalagá.

I have many things more to say on this magnificent work of

Messrs. Meyer and Schadenberg and Foy, whom I admire

and congratulate, but I have no more time at present.

José Rizal

210. Rizal, en route to

Spain, 28 September 1896

Rizal en route to Spain to join the army in Cuba

is arrested in his cabin for alleged complicity in

the Philippine insurrection - Will be returned to

Manila for trial - Tells Blumentritt what

happened to him.

S. S. Isla de Panay, Mediterranean

28 September 1896

My very dear Friend,

A passenger on board has just told me a news

that I can hardly believe and should it be true,

would bring to an end the prestige of Philippine

authorities.

You will remember that last year you notified

me that physicians were lacking in Cuba, that

many soldiers were dying without medical

assistance. Instantly I presented myself to the

authorities applying for the post of temporary

physician for the duration of the campaign.

Months and months elapsed and in view of the

fact that I did not receive any reply, I started to

build a wooden house and a hospital and thus

earn my livelihood in Dapitan. On 30 July I

received a letter from the governor general of the

folowing tenor:

The Governor General of the Philippines

Manila, 1 July I896

Mr. José Rizal

My dear Sir,

I have informed the government of your desire, and

acceding to it, it has no objection to your going to Cuba to

render your services to our Army as Assistant Physician in

the Corps of Military Health. Therefore, if you still

entertain that idea, the Politico-Military Commander of

that district will issue a pass to you to enable you to come

to this Capital City where in my turn I shall give you a

passport to the Peninsula where the Minister of War will

assign you to the Army of Operations in Cuba as assistant

in the Corps of Military health.

On this date I am writing to the Politico-Military

Commander there and you can make the trip immediately.

It has been a satisfaction for me to have been able to

please you.

Your attentive servant who kisses your hand,

Ramon Blanco

This letter upset my plans, for I was not

thinking of going anymore to Cuba in view of

the fact that more than six months had already

elapsed since I filed my application; but fearing

that they might attribute to something else if I

should now refuse to go, I decided to abandon

everything and depart immediately. I went then

to Manila with my entire family, leaving behind

all my business. Unfortunately, I did not

overtake the mail boat for Spain and fearing that

my stay in Manila for one month might bring me

troubles, I made known to the governor general

my desire to be isolated from evervbody except

my family while I was waiting on board.

Whether due to this or something else the

governor general sent me to the

cruiser Castilla where I stayed incommunicado

except with my family. During this interval,

serious disturbances occur in Manila -

disturbances that I regret - but which serve to

show that I am not the one, as they believe, who

stirs things. My absolute innocence has been

demonstrated as can be seen in the two letters of

introduction in his own writing to the ministers

of war and colonies that the governor has given

me as well as the accompanying letter which

says:

The Commander-in-Chief of the Army oF the Philippines

Mr. José Rizal

My dear Sir,

Enclosed are two letters for the Ministers of War and

Colonies which I think will be well received.

I have no doubt that you will justify me before the

Government by your future behavior not only for your

word of honor but because the present happenings must

have shown you palpably that certain actions which are the

product of foolish ideas yield no other result but hatred,

destruction, tears, and blood.

May you be very happy is the wish of your attentive

servant who kisses your hand,

Ramon Blanco

Manila, 30 August

The texts of the two letters of introduction are

identical and I shall copy only one:

The Captain General of the Philippines

Personal

Manila, 30 August 1896

Most Excellent Marcelo de Azcárraga

My esteemed General and distinguished Friend,

I recommend to you with genuine interest Dr. José Rizal

who is departing fur the Peninsula at the disposal of the

Government, ever desirous of rendering his services as

physician to the Army in Cuba.

His conduct during the four years that he was an exile in

Dapitan has been exemplary, and he is, in my opinion, the

more worthy of pardon and benevolence as he is in no way

involved either in the chimerical attempt that we are

lamenting these days or in any conspiracy or secret

society, that they have been plotting.

With this object I have the pleasure to remain,

Your most affectionate friend and

colleague who kisses your hand,

Ramón Blanco

The letter of recommendation to the Minister of

Colonies is identical.

With these two letters I have come, confident

that I would go to Cuba to win a name and undo

calumnies. Now they tell me that they are

sending me to Ceuta!!(1)

I cannot believe this for it would be the greatest

injustice and the most abominable infamy,

unworthy not of a military official but of the last

bandit. I have offered to serve as a physician,

risking life in the hazards of war and abandoning

all my business. I am innocent and now in

reward they are sending me to prison!!!

I cannot believe it! This is infamous, but if it

turns out to be true, as everybody assures me, I

am communicating to you these news so that you

may appraise my situation.

Yours,

José Rizal

211. Rizal, Fort Santiago,

Manila, 29 December 1896

Farewell of the Martyr to his favorite friend

Prof. Fernando Blumentritt

My dear Brother,

When you receive this letter, I shall be dead

by then.

Tomorrow at seven, I shall be shot; but I am

innocent of the crime of rebellion.

I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.

Adieu, my best, my dearest friend, and

never think ill of me!

Fort Santiago, 29 December 1896

José Rizal

Regards to the whole family, to Sra. Rosa,

Lolena, Conradito, and Federico.

I leave a book for you as my remembrance.

https://www.univie.ac.at/ksa/apsis/aufi/rizal/rbcorr.htm