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- Title:
- Toxicity
- Description:
- Fr. Medina noted that Taal Lake (then called Bongbong or Bombon) was salty, deep and emptied into the sea. Tunny fish different from the European kind was caught there. Augustinians founded Taal town in 1572, just a year after Manila. When Taal Volcano erupted Fr. Albuquerque built an altar at the foot of the volcano, a procession was made by all town residents and a mass celebrated. Since then no fire or smoke was seen as of 1630. Taal Island about 4 leagues in circuit had fields and cows. Medina noted that Tanauan, Lipa, Bauang and Batangas were founded by his order. “But they have few people [now], so that the presence of the Spaniard must be a poison that finishes them,” he wrote. Taal town likewise had few people but when it was new, “the lake swarmed with [native] people. There was a population issue in Batangas, just as there was in Cebu during Medina’s residence 50 years into colonisation. In future centuries, agriculture took off and population increased in both places. Batangas was known at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th for its cheeses as was Cebu. Friars were the likely teachers of milking cows and cheese-making. In early American surveys only those two areas were cited for making cheese. There may have been other places making cheese but they were not named.
- Subjects:
- Augustinians Taal island Batangas Milking Cheesemaking
- Exhibition:
- Juan Medina 50
- Source:
- Volcano of Taal. Adams: 1880. In “The Philippines in the 19th Century—A Collection it Prints.” Rudolf J. H. Lietz (RLI Gallery Systems, 1998)
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Toxicity", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll102.html