Weird Philippine sword/bolo

[Nonoy Tan]

"A thirteenth-century Chinese text provides a vivid description of the 'Pi-she-ya' ('painted or tattooed ones' [pintados, in Spanish]) maritime raiders, probably Visayans from the central Philippines, who created fear along the western littoral of the Philippines in the early first millennium A.D., seizing slaves and booty from coastal settlements (Chen 1966:271; Craig 1914:4; Laufer 1907:253-255; Scott 1984:74-75). The Pi-she-ya are even named as possible culprits in a series of thirteenth-century attacks on Cham [Vietnamese] settlements and other coastal centers of the Southeast Asian mainland."

Junker stated that raids were made on "Cham settlements and other coastal centers of Southeast Asian mainland." However, the original Chinese text say that raids were made in the villages of Shui-an and Weï-t'ou in Ts'üan-chóu-fu. Obviously, there is some reconcialtion yet to be made between the two statements.