The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes Part 31

[All immigrations from the West.] In this connection it must not be overlooked that all these immigrations, howsoever many they be supposed to have been, must have come this way from the west. Indeed, a noteworthy migration from the east is entirely barred out, if we look no farther back than the Chinese and j.a.panese. On the contrary, all signs point to the a.s.sumption that from of old, long before the coming of Portuguese and Spaniards, a strong movement had gone on from this region to the east, and that the great sea way which exists between Mindanao and the Sulu islands on the north and Halmahera and the Moluccas in the south was the entrance road along which those tribes, or at least those navigators whose arrival peopled the Polynesian Islands, found their way into the Pacific Ocean. But also the movement of the Polynesians points to the west, and if their ancestors may have come from Indonesia there is no doubt that in their long journeys eastward they must have touched at the coasts of other islands on their way, especially the Philippines. Polynesian invasions of the Philippines are not supposed to have closed when a migration of peoples or of men pa.s.sing out to the Pacific Ocean laid the foundation of a large fraction of the population of the archipelago. It is known that now and then single canoes from the Pelew or the Ladrone Islands were driven upon the east coast of Luzon, but their importance ought not to be overestimated. The migration this way from the west must henceforth remain as the point of departure for all explanations of this eastern ethnology. (These statements are well enough for working hypotheses, but actual proofs are not at hand. Ratzel, Berl. Verhandl., etc., Phil. Hist. Cla.s.s, 1898, I., p. 33.--Translator.)

Now, how are the local differences of various tribes to be explained, when on the whole the place of origin was the same? Is there here a secondary variation of the type, something brought about through climate, food, circ.u.mstances? It is a large theme, which, unfortunately, is too often dominated by previously-formed theories. The importance of "environment" and mode of life upon the corporeal development of man can not be contested, but the measure of this importance is very much in doubt. Nowhere is this measure, at least in the present consideration, less known than in the Philippines. In spite of wide geological and biological differences on these islands, there exists a close anthropological agreement of the Indios in the chief characteristics, and the effort to trace back the tribal differences that have been marked to climatic and alimentary causes has not succeeded. The influence of inherited peculiarities is also more mighty here, as in most parts of the earth, than that of "milieu."

If we a.s.sume, first, that the immigrants brought their peculiarities with them, which were fixed already when they came, we must also accept as self-evident that the Negritos of the Philippines do not belong to the same stock as the more powerful, bright-colored Indios. As long as these islands have been known, more than three centuries, the skin of the Negritos has been dark brown, almost black, their hair short and spirally twisted, and just as long has the skin of the Indios been brownish, in various shades, relatively clear, and the hair has been long and arranged in wavy locks. At no time, so far as known, has it been discovered that among a single family a p.r.o.nounced variation from these peculiarities had taken place. On this point there is entire unanimity. In case of the Negritos there is not the least doubt; of the Indios a doubt may arise, for, in fact, the shades of skin color appear greatly varied, since the brown is at times quite blackish, at times yellowish, almost as varied as is the color of the sunburnt hair. But even then the practiced eye easily detects the descent, and if the skin alone is not sufficient the first glance at the hair completes the diagnosis. The correct explanation of individual or tribal variations is difficult only with the Indios, while no such necessity exists in the case of the Negritos. But among the Indios these individual and tribal variations are so frequent and so outspoken that one is justified in making the inquiry whether there has not developed here a new type of inherited peculiarities. If this were the case, it must still be held that already the immigrant tribes had possessed them.

[a.s.sistance from history.] Now, history records that different immigrations have actually taken place. Laying aside the latest before the arrival of the Spaniards, that of the Islamites, in the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries, there remains the older one. If ethnologists and travelers in general come to the conclusion concerning Borneo--and it is to be taken as certain--that the differences now existing among the wild tribes of this island are very old, it ought not be thought so wonderful if, according to the conditions of the tribes which have immigrated thence, there should exist on the Philippines near one another dissimilar though related peoples. This difference is not difficult to recognize in manners and customs--a side of the discussion which is further on to be treated more fully. We begin with physical characteristics.

[Hair differences.] Among these the hair occupies the chief place. To be sure, among all the Indios it is black, but it shows not the slightest approach to the frizzled condition which is such a prominent feature in the external appearance of the Negritos and of all the Papuan tribes of the East. This frizzled condition may be called woolly, or in somewhat exaggerated refinement in the name may be attributed to the term "wool," all sorts of meanings akin to wool; in every case there is wanting to all the Indios the crinkling of the hair from its exit out of the follicle, whereby would result wide or narrow spiral tubes and the coa.r.s.e appearance of the so-called "peppercorn." The hair of all Indios is smooth and straightened out, and when it forms curves they are only feeble, and they make the whole outward appearance wavy or, at most, curled.

But within this wavy or curled condition of the hair there are again differences. In my former communication I have attended to examinations which I made upon a large number of islands in the Malay Sea, and in which it was shown that a certain area exists which begins with the Moluccas and extends to the Sunda group, in which the hair shows a strong inclination to form wavy locks, indeed pa.s.ses gradually into crinkled, if not into spiral, rolls. Such hair is found specially in the interior of the islands, where the so-called aboriginal population is purer and where for a long time the name of Alfuros has been conferred on them. On most points affinity with Negritos or Papuans is not to be recognized. Should such at any time have existed, we are a long way from the period when the direct causes therefor are to be looked for. In this connection the study of the Philippines is rich with instruction. In the limits of the almost insular, isolated Negrito enclave, mixtures between Negritos and Indios very seldom surprise one, and never the transitions that can have arisen in the post-generative time of development. (The island of Negros, on the contrary, is peopled by such crossbreeds.--Translator.)

If there are among the bright-colored islanders of the Indian Ocean Alfuros and Malays close together there is nothing against coming upon this contrast in the Philippine population also. Among the more central peoples the tribal differences are so great that almost every explorer stumbles on the question of mixture. There not only the Dayaks and the other Malays obtrude themselves, but also the Chinese and the Mongolian peoples of Farther India. Indeed, many facts are known, chiefly in the language, the religion, the domestic arts, the agriculture, the pastoral life which remind one of known conditions peculiarly Indian. The results of the ethnologists are so tangled here that one has to be cautious when one or another of them draws conclusions concerning immigrations, because of certain local or territorial specializations. Of course, when a Brahmanic custom occurs anywhere it is right to conclude that it came here from India. But before a.s.suming that the tribe in which such a custom prevails itself comes from Hither or Farther India, the time has to be ascertained to which the custom is to be traced back. The chronological evidence leads to the confident belief that the custom and the tribe immigrated together.

[Ancestor worship.] Over the whole Philippine Archipelago religious customs have changed with the progress of external relations. Christianity has in many places spread its peculiar customs, observances, and opinions, and changed entirely the direction of thought. On closer view are to be detected in the midst of Christian activities older survivals, as ingredients of belief which, in spite of that religion, have not vanished. Before Christianity, in many places, Islam flourished, and it is not surprising to witness, as on Mindanao, Christian and Mohammedan beliefs side by side. But, before Islam, ancestor worship, as has long been known, was widely prevalent. In almost every locality, every hut has its Anito with its special place, its own dwelling; there are Anito pictures and images, certain trees and, indeed, certain animals in which some Anito resides. The ancestor worship is as old as history, for the discoverers of the Philippines found it in full bloom, and rightly has Blumentritt characterized Anito worship as the ground form of Philippine religion. He has also furnished numerous examples of Anito cult surviving in Christian communities.

Chronology has a good groundwork and it will have to observe every footprint of vanishing creeds. Only, it must not be overlooked that the beginning of the chronology of religion has not been reached, and that the origin of the generally diffused ancestor worship, at least on the Philippines, is not known. If it is borne in mind that belief in Anitos is widely diffused in Polynesia and in purely Malay areas, the drawing of certain conclusions therefrom concerning the prehistory of the Philippines is to be despaired of.

[Tattooing.] Next to religious customs, among wild tribes fashions are most enduring. Little of costume is to be seen, indeed, among them. Therefore, here tattooing a.s.serts its sway. The more it has been studied in late years the more valuable has been the information in deciding the kinship relations of tribes. Unfortunately, in the Philippines the greater part of the early tattoo designs have been lost and the art itself is also nearly eliminated. But since the journey of Carl Semper it has been known that not only Malays but also Negritos tattoo; indeed, this admirable explorer has decided that the "Negroes of the East Coast" practice a different method of tattooing from that of the Mariveles in the west, and on that account they attain different results. In the one case a needle is employed to make fine holes in the skin in which to introduce the color; in the other long gashes are made. In the latter case prominent scars result; in the former a smooth pattern. But these combined patterns are on the whole the same, instead of rectilinear figures. Schadenburg has the operations commence with a sharpened bamboo on children 10 years of age. Among the wild tribes of the light-colored population tattooing is not less diffused, but the patterns are not alike in the different tribes. Isabelo de los Reyes reports that the Tinguianes, who inhabit the mountain forests of the northern cordilleras of Luzon, produce figures of stars, snakes, birds, etc., on children 7 to 9 years old. Hans Meyer describes the pattern of the Igorots. There appears to exist a great variety of symbols; for example, on the arms, straight and crooked lines crossing one another; on the breast, feather-like patterns. Least frequently he saw the so-called Burik designs, which extended in parallel bands across the breast, the back, and calves, and give to the body the appearance of a sailor's striped jacket. It is very remarkable that the human form never occurs.

What is true concerning tattooing on so many Polynesian islands holds also completely here. But reliable descriptions are so few, and especially there is such a meager number of useful drawings, that it would not repay the trouble to a.s.semble the scattered data. At least it will suffice to discover whether among them there are genuine tribal marks or to investigate concerning the distribution of separate patterns. Those known show conclusively that in the matter of tattooing the Filipinos are not differentiated from the islanders of the Pacific; they form, moreover, an important link in the chain of knowledge which demonstrates the genetic h.o.m.ogeneity of the inhabitants. The tattooings of the eastern islanders are comparable only to those of African aborigines, with which last they furnish many family marks, made out and recognized. It is desirable that a trustworthy collection of all patterns be collected before the method becomes more altered or destroyed.

[Teeth alterations.] Next to the skin, among the wild tribes the teeth are modified in the most numerous artificial alterations. The preferable custom, common in Africa, of breaking out the front teeth in greater or less number has not, so far as I remember, been described among the Filipinos; I only mention that while I was making a revision of our Philippine crania, two of them turned up in which the middle upper incisors had evidently been broken out for a long time, for the alveolar border had shrunk into a small quite smooth ridge, without a trace of an aveolus. It is otherwise with the pointing of the incisors, especially the upper ones, which, also is not common. I must leave it undecided whether the sharpening is done by filing or by breaking off pieces from the sides. The latter should be in general far more frequent. In every case the otherwise broad and flat teeth are brought to such sharp points as to project like those of the carnivorous animals. I have met with this condition several times on Negrito skulls and furnished ill.u.s.trations of them. On a Zambal skull, excavated by Dr. A. B. Meyer and which I lay before you, the deformation is easy to be seen. I called attention at the time to the fact that among the Malays an entirely different method of modifying the teeth is in vogue, in which a horizontal filing on the front surface is practiced and the sharp lower edge is straightened and widened. Already the elder Thevenot has accented this contrast when he says:

"These cause the teeth to be equal, those file them to points, giving them the shape of a saw."

This difference appears to have held on till the present; at least no skull of an Indio is known to me with similar deformation of the teeth. This custom of the Negritos is so much more remarkable since the chipping of the corners of the teeth is widely spread among the African blacks.

[Skill flattening.] The other part of the body used most for deformation--the skull--is in strong contrast to the last-named custom. Deformed crania; especially from older times, are quite numerous in the Philippines; probably they belong exclusively to the Indios. If they exist among the Negritos, I do not know it; the only exception comes from the Tinguianes, of whom I. de los Reyes reports their skulls are flattened behind (por detras oprimido). Such flattening is found, however, not seldom among tribes who have the practice of binding children on hard cradle boards--chiefly among those families who keep their infants a long time on such contrivances. A sure mark by which to discriminate accidental pressure of this sort from one intentionally produced is not at hand; it may be that in accidental deformation oblique position of the deformed spot is more frequent; at any rate, the difference in the Philippines is a very striking one, since there not so much the occiput as the front and middle portions suffer from the disfigurements, and thereby deformations are produced that have had their most perfect expression among the ancient Peruvians and other American tribes.

I have discussed cranial deformation of the Americans in greater detail, where I exhibit the accidental and the artificial (intentional) deformation in their princ.i.p.al forms. The result is that in large sections of America scarcely any ancient skulls are found having their natural forms, but that the practice of deformation has not been general; moreover, a number of deformation centers may be differentiated which stand in no direct a.s.sociation with one another. The Peruvian center is far removed from that of the northwest coast, and this again from that of the Gulf States. From this it must not be said that each center may have had its own, as it were, autochthonous origin. But the method has not so spread that its course can be followed immediately. Rather is the supposition confirmed that the method is to be traced to some other time, therefore that somewhere there must have been a place of origin for it. On the Eastern Hemisphere, and especially in the region here under consideration, the relations are apparently otherwise. Here exist, so far as known, great areas entirely free from deformation; small ones, on the other hand, full of it. There are here, also, deformation centers, but only a few. Among these, with our present knowledge, the Philippines occupy the first place.

The knowledge of this, indeed, is not of long duration. Public attention was first aroused about thirty years ago concerning skulls from Samar and Luzon, gathered by F. Jagor from ancient caves, to furnish the proof of their deformation. Up to that time next to nothing was known of deformed crania in the oriental island world. First through my publication the attention of J. G. Riedel, a most observant Dutch resident, was called to the fact that cranial deformation is still practiced in the Celebes, and he was so good as to send us a specimen of the compressing apparatus for delicate infants (1874). Compressed crania were also found. But the number was small and the compression of the separate specimens was only slight. In both respects what was observed in the Sunda islands did not differ from the state of the case in the Philippines. Through Jagor's collections different places had become known where deformed crania were buried. Since then the number of localities has multiplied. I shall mention only two, on account of their peculiar locality. One is Cagraray, a small island east of Luzon, in the Pacific Ocean, at the entrance of the Bay of Albay; the other, the island of Marinduque, in the west, between Luzon and Mindoro. From the last-named island I saw, ten years ago, the first picture of one in a photograph alb.u.m accidentally placed in my hands. Since then I had opportunity to examine the Schadenberg collection of crania, lately come into the possession of the Reichsmuseum, in Leyden, and to my great delight discovered in it a series of skulls which are compressed in exactly the same fashion as those of Lanang. It is said that these will soon be described in a publication.

It is of especial interest that this method has been noted in the Philippines for more than three hundred years. In my first publication I cited a pa.s.sage in Thevenot where he says, on the testimony of a priest, that the natives on some islands had the custom of compressing the head of a newborn child between two boards, so that it would be no longer round, but lengthened out; also they flattened the forehead, which they looked upon as a special mark of beauty. This is, therefore, an ancient example. It is confirmed by the circ.u.mstance that these crania are found especially in caves, from the roofs of which mineral waters have dripped, which have overlaid the bones partly with a thick layer of calcareous matter. The bones themselves have an uncommonly thick, almost ivory, fossil-like appearance. Only the outer surface is in places corroded, and on these places saturated with a greenish infiltration. It is to be a.s.sumed, therefore, that they are very old. I have the impression that they must have been placed here before the discovery of the islands and the introduction of Christianity. Their peculiar appearance, especially their angular form and the thickness of the bone, reminds one of crania from other parts of the South Sea, especially those from Chatham and Sandwich Islands. I shall not here go further into this question, but merely mention that I came to the conclusion that these people must be looked upon as proto-Malayan.

[Hope of Filipino and American study.] The changes which will take place in the political condition of the Philippines may be of little service to scientific explorations at first; but the study of the population will be surely taken up with renewed energy. Already in America scholars have begun to occupy themselves therewith. A brief article by Dr. Brinton is to be mentioned as the first sign of this. But should the ardent desire of the Filipinos be realized, that their islands *hould have political autonomy, it is to be hoped that, out of the patriotic enthusiasm of the population and the scientific spirit of many of their best men, new sources of information will be opened for the history and the development of oriental peoples. To this end it may be here mentioned, by the way, that the connecting links of ancient Philippine history and the customs of these islands, as well with the Melanesians as with the Polynesians of the south, are yet to be discovered.

As representatives of these two groups, I present, in closing, two especially well-formed crania from the Philippines. One of them, which shows the marks of antiquity that I have set forth, belongs to an "Indio." [Comparison of Indio and Negrito skulls.] It has the high cranial capacity of 1,540 cubic centimeters, a horizontal circ.u.mference of 525 millimeters, and a sagitta-circ.u.mference of 386 millimeters; its form is hypsidolicho, quite on the border of mesocephaly: Index of width, 75.3; index of height, 76.3. Besides, it has the appearance of a race capable of development; only, the nose is platyrrhine (index, 52.3), as among so many Malay tribes, and in the left temple it bears a Processus frontalis squamae temporalis developed partly from an enlarged fontanelle. The other skull was one taken from a Negrito grave of Zambales by Dr. A. B. Meyer. It makes, at first glance, just as favorable an impression, but its capacity is only 1,182 cubic centimeters; therefore 358 cubic centimeters less than the other. Its form is orthobrachycephalic; breadth index, 80.2; height index, 70.6. As in single traits of development, so in the measurements, the difference and the debased character of this race obtrude themselves. Only, the nasal index is somewhat smaller; on the whole, the nose has in its separate parts a decidedly pithecoid form.

PART VI

People and Prospects of the Philippines

Blackwood's magazine for August, 1818, has an account of conditions in Manila and the Philippines from data given by an English merchant who left the Islands in 1798 after twenty years' residence in which he acc.u.mulated a fortune.

"Your first question, with respect to the Spanish population, must refer to native Spaniards only; as their numerous descendants, through all the variety of half-castes, would include one third at least of the whole population of Luconia (i.e., Luzon--A. C.)

"Of native Spaniards, accordingly, settled in the Philippine Islands, the total number may be stated at 2,000 not military. The military, including all descriptions, men and officers, are about 2,500, out of which number the native regiments are officered These last, in 1796-7, were almost entirely composed of South Americans and were reckoned at 5,000 men, making a military force of about 7,500.

"The castes bearing a mixture of the Spanish blood are in Luconia alone at least 200,000. The Sangleys, or Chinese descendants, are upwards of 20,000, and Indians, who call themselves the original Tagalas, about 340,000, making a total population in that island of about 600,000 souls. What may be the respective numbers in the other Philippine Islands I never had any opportunity of learning."

(This opinion, of a day when it was not desired to disparage the people, gives an idea of the mixed blood of the Filipinos which, in the opinion of the ethnologists, like Ratzel, is a source of strength. It cla.s.ses them with the English and Americans. One danger of the present appears in over-emphasizing the Malay blood, just as in Spanish times a real loss seems to have come from the contempt toward the Chinese which led to minimizing and concealing a most creditable ancestry.

Prejudice in the past called all trouble makers mestizos, but today's study is showing that trouble maker meant man who would stand up for his rights; one must not forget that mestizo was used as a reproach, that the leaders of the people were really typical of the people. By the old injustice those who were mediocre were called natives and whoever rose above his fellows was claimed as a Spaniard, but a fairer way would seem to be to consider Filipinos all born in the Philippines.--C.).

The Cornhill magazine in the late '70s had a contribution by the then British Consul, Mr. Palgreave, on "Malay Life in the Philippines,"

that makes more understandable the reputation of the islands, which before the opening of the Suez were a health resort for j.a.pan, the China coast and India. It also shows a fairness to the people uncommon in the Spanish-inspired writings of his day.

"Dull indeed must be his soul, unsympathetic his nature who can see the forests and mountains of Luzon, Queen of the Eastern Isles, fade away into dim violet outlines on the fast receding horizon without some pang of longing regret. Not the Aegean, not the West Indian, not the Samoan, not any rival in manifold beauties of earth, sea and sky the Philippine Archipelago. Pity that for the Philippines no word limner of note exists. The chiefest, the almost exceptional spell of the Philippines, is situated, not in the lake or volcano, forest or plain, but in the races that form the bulk of the island population.

"I said 'almost exceptional' because rarely is an intra-tropical people a satisfactory one to eye or mind. But this cannot be said of the Philippine Malays who in bodily formation and mental characteristics alike, may fairly claim a place, not among middling ones merely, but among almost the higher names inscribed on the world's national scale. A concentrated, never-absent self-respect, an habitual self-restraint in word and deed, very rarely broken except when extreme provocation induces the transitory but fatal frenzy known as 'amok,'

and an inbred courtesy, equally diffused through all cla.s.ses, high or low, unfailing decorum, prudence, caution, quiet cheerfulness, ready hospitality and a correct, though not inventive taste. His family is a pleasing sight, much subordination and little constraint, unison in gradation, liberty--not license. Orderly children, respected parents, women subject but not oppressed, men ruling but not despotic, reverence with kindness, obedience in affection, these form lovable pictures, not by any means rare in the villages of the eastern isles." (Here again comes the necessity of combatting the popular impression that the Philippines is a tropical land peopled by Malays. The modification of climate from being an ocean archipelago suggests that these islands are really subtropical, while mixture of blood joined with three centuries of European civilization makes the term Malay misleading.--C.)

PART VII

Filipino Merchants of the Early 1890s

F. Karuth, F. R. G. S., (President of an English corporation interested in Philippine mining) about 1894, wrote:

"Few outside the comparatively narrow circle who are directly interested in the commerce and resources of the Philippine Islands know anything about them. The Philippine merchants are a rather close community which only in the last decade or so has expanded its diameter a little. There are a number of very old established firms amongst them, several of them being British.... Amongst them also are firms--perhaps as far as wealth and local influence go, the most important firms--whose chiefs are partly at least of native blood.

NOTES

[1] New York noon is Manilla 1:04 next morning.--C.

[2] Navarrete, IV, 97 Obs. 2a.

[3] According to Albo's ship journal, he perceived the difference at the Cape de Verde Islands on July 9, 1522; "Y este dia fue miercoles, y este dia tienen ellos pot jueves." (And this day was Wednesday and this day they had as Thursday.)

[4] In a note on the 18th page of the masterly English (Hakluyt Society) translation of Morga, I find the curious statement that a similar rectification was made at the same time at Macao, where the Portuguese, who reached it on an easterly course, had made the mistake of a day the other way.

[5] Towards the close of the sixteenth century the duty upon the exports to China amounted to $40,000 and their imports to at least $1,330,000. In 1810, after more than two centuries of undisturbed Spanish rule, the latter had sunk to $1,150,000. Since then they have gradually increased; and in 1861 they reached $2,130,000.

[6] The Panama ca.n.a.l prevents this.--C.

[7] Navarrete, IV, 54 Obs. 1a.

[8] According to Gehler's Phys. Lex. VI, 450, the log was first mentioned by Purchas in an account of a voyage to the East Indies in 1608. Pigafetta does not cite it in his treatise on navigation; but in the forty-fifth page of his work it is said: "Secondo la misura che facevamo del viaggio colla cadena a poppa, noi percorrevamo 60 a 70 leghe al giorno." This was as rapid a rate as that of our (1870) fastest steamboats--ten knots an hour.