In the whole of the Philippine Archipelago, no archaeological
finding has surpassed the balanghai in changing
significantly the perception of the historians
regarding the past not only of Butuan and Caraga but of
the whole country as well.The balanghai has definitely debunked the claim that before the coming of the Spaniards Philippines had no contacts with the outside world.
Here are some excerpts from the book "1521 Limasawa?" by Adolfo Busa Sanchez, 1977:
(Pigafetta's account upon their embarkation on the island of Mazaua):
.... About two hours later, we saw two balanghai coming. They are large boats and are so-called (by those people). They were full of men, and their king was in the larger of them, being seated under an awning of mats. When the king came near the flagship, the slave spoke to him ....
.... When I reached ashore, the king raised his hands toward the sky and then turned toward us too. We did the same toward him as did all the others. The king took me by the hand; one of his chiefs took my companion; and thus they led us under a bamboo covering, where there was a balanghai, as long as eighty of my palms length, and resembling a fusta. We sat down upon the stern of that balanghai, constantly conversing with signs.
(On page 284 of the same book):
.... From the viewpoint of a Butuanon, a "balanghai" is more of a royal family boat. It is large enough to house the entire family of a datu or rajah. It can be converted into a warboat and it has a capacity of from 25 to 30 passengers or warriors. It is a kind of a boat about 15 to 17 meter long, built on its sides like a wine cask, with strips of timber planks fastened by strong wooden dowels. This boat is so constructed that it can be utilized to easily navigate along narrow waterway such as rivers and big stream, and it could also be used as a fishing boat in the open sea during fair weather. The vessel usually has no outrigger and could be powered only by men with paddles. At the stern is a canopy of a sort of an awning where the head or leader of that boat comfortably sits to give order to his men. The canopy is usually built about three feet high and six feet long, covered with strips of nipa or sago palm leaves (locally called by the Butuanons as liplip) neatly placed on top of the canopy or the top covering of the awning to give shelter to the members of the ruling family or chief as the case may be... On both sides of the balanghai men use their own paddles to power said native boat.
Source: 1521 Limasawa?
by Adolfo Busa Sanchez, 1977
To give you a better grasp of the significance of the balanghai
in the history of Caraga and the Philippines, hereunder
the words of Ms. Margarita R. Cembrano, the curator
of National Museum in Butuan:
... In late 1976, Butuan Boat 1 was discovered near the
east bank of the Libertad River. Then in 1977, Boat 2
was found about a kilometer southwest of the first site.
All in all, eleven boats were identified at four different
open sites (named after the land owners Luna, Toro-Toro,
and Fortun and the Shrine Museum). The National Museum
excavated and conserved three boats (Boat 1 in 1976, Boat
2 in 1978, and Boat 5 in 1986), despite the furious
commercial digging activities for imported ceramics in
the mid 1970s and later for processed gold.
Before these discoveries nothing was known about the
ancient Philippine boats. The series of Butuan boat
archeological excavations contibuted much to the
fundamental knowledge about the tradition of boat
construction and clarified basic time perspective on
the cultures of the ethnic groups of the region....
The radiocarbon (C-14) tests on the three boats
(numbered according to the order of their discovery)
gave the following results (radiocarbon dates are
suggestive rather then conclusive):
The Butuan Boat, just like the contemporary Badjaw/Sama
Laut's Lepa boat, and the barangay
boat described in the seventeenth century AD by the
Spanish Friar Francisco Alcina in his study of the
Eastern Visayas (Samar/Leyte area) material culture,
are built in a lashed lug technique. The elements of
this boat building tradition are believed to be of
Southeast Asian in origin, though there are parallels
in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, too. The technique of
edge-joining with hardwood spikes is also a tradition
in Southeast Asia. Throughout Southeast Asia and the
world, it is only in the Philippines where a flotilla
of such prehistoric wooden boats are known to exist.
by Margarita R. Cembrano