The Inhabitants of the Philippines Part 31

Ratzel, 'History of Mankind,' vol. i., p. 471, says: Among the Negritos of Luzon, a fabulous beast with a horse's head which lives in trees is venerated under the name of Balendik. And on p. 478: When killing an animal, the Negritos fling a piece heavenwards crying out at the same time, "This is for thee."

They show great respect for old age, and the British War Office might learn something from them for they are reported to tend with love and care every old man of warlike repute.

Their language largely consists of curious clicks and grunts, and those of them who trade with the Christians usually learn enough of the local dialect to do the necessary bargaining.

There are some varieties of the Negritos who are more or less mixed up with the Malays, but their origin is not clear.

The Malay women are very unprejudiced, perhaps there are no women on earth more ready to form temporary or permanent alliances with foreigners: they do not disdain even the Chinamen. They perhaps do not like them, but they know that John Chinaman makes a good husband, provides liberally for his family, and does not expect his wife to do any hard work.

By some writers the Malay women, notably the Visayas, are accused of unbounded sensuality (Anto. de Morga. Sucesos de Filipinas), but anyhow the Tagal women draw the line at Negritos, and will have nothing to do with them.

Fray Gaspar de San Agustin however thought that the Visaya women would not be so particular.

This being so, the hybrid races in Luzon must have sprung from the union of Remontados--that is to say, of Malays who took refuge in the hills either from a natural love for savage life, or as fugitives from justice--with the Negrito women.

Amongst these varieties are the Balugas, who live in the eastern cordillera of Nueva ecija, in north and south Ilocos, and in the mountains of Tayabas. Some of these people have advanced a step in civilisation, they build huts and do a little rude cultivation.

The Dumagas, another hybrid race, occupy the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre from the northern frontier of El Principe district to the Bay of Palanan, where the last Tagal village is situated, the Tagals thinly peopling the sh.o.r.es. But from Palanan to Punta Escarpada the whole coast is in the undisputed possession of the Dumagas.

The Dumagas keep up a friendly communication with the few Christian villages near them, and do a small trade with them. They even work on their lands and help in fishing for a small remuneration, generally paid in cotton cloth.

They have no known religion, they marry without ceremony, and are said to disregard the ties of kinship.

Those who live far from the Christian villages are said to be entirely brutal and devoid of all virtue, for they will sell their own children for a little rice. They are almost irreclaimable from their savage and independent character.

Some of these Dumagas live amongst the Irayas and the Catalanganes, two heathen and semi-independent tribes showing signs of Mongolian blood, who occupy a considerable stretch of country in the province of Cagayan between the Rio Grande and the Sierra Madre, say about twenty geographical miles north and south of the 17th parallel. These Dumagas intermarry with the tribes they live amongst, and have adopted their dress, religion, and customs.

The Mamanuas, also a hybrid race, inhabit the mountains of the north-east promontory of Mindanao. They are few in number. There were, in 1887, four Jesuit mission stations amongst them, three of which are on Lake Mainit, or Sapongan, as it is called on some maps.

The Manguianes, who are probably a hybrid Negrito-Visaya race, occupy almost the whole interior of Mindoro, up to within two leagues of the coast. There are a few in the mountains of Romblon and Tablas. There are three varieties of these people, those residing near the western coast are much whiter, with lighter hair and full beards.

Those living in the centre of the island are of a darker colour, have sloping foreheads and less intelligence, while those of the southern part, by their oblique eyes, aquiline noses and olive colour, show signs of Chinese blood.

They are docile and do not fly from civilised man. A primitive agriculture and the collection of jungle produce enables them to obtain from the Christians, in exchange, rice, knives, bells, gongs, tobacco, and buyo. They are not much advanced in religion, but are very superst.i.tious. They believe that the spirits of their ancestors and relations never leave the places where they lived, but remain to protect their descendants and families. There is noted amongst these people a strong sense of morality and honesty, which unfortunately is not recognised by their Christian neighbours, who are accustomed to oppress them with the most exaggerated usury.

Since these words were written, Dean C. Worcester has published his book on the Philippines, and amply confirms these remarks. He saw a good deal of the Manguianes, and bears testimony to their honesty and morality, and adds: "On the whole, after making somewhat extensive observations amongst the Philippine natives, I am inclined to formulate the law that their morals improve as the square of the distance from churches and other civilising influences."

He gives some particulars of their laws, and of their ordeals, which are common to many of the Malays. There are some Manguianes in the Island of Palawan. They inhabit the mountains in the interior of the southern part of the island, and little is known about them, for the pirate races, or Mahometan Malays, who occupy the coasts, keep a strict watch to prevent their communicating with outsiders.

The few who have been seen by the Spaniards, are said to be industrious, and physically similar to the Tagbanuas. Their customs are said to be influenced by their constant intercourse with the Mahometans. They were thought to number about 4000 in 1887, by Don Felipe Canga Arguelles, the Governor of the Island. The Moors appear to oppress the Manguianes of Palawan much as the Christian natives do the Manguianes of Mindoro.

The ill.u.s.tration represents a Negrito from the Island of Negros, a very favourable specimen of his race. He wears the head-dress of a chief, and is armed with a bow and arrow of portentous length. His figure, though not muscular, gives promise of great agility.

The Negritos of Palawan are few in number, and resemble those of Mariveles. They use a piece of cloth, made of the inner bark of a tree as their only garment. They call this the Saligan. They inhabit the upper parts of the mountains between Babuyan and Barbacan, say from 10 to 10 20' N. lat.i.tude. They do a little agriculture in a primitive fashion. The men clear the land, the men and women together do the planting, and the women alone the reaping.

Their arms are bows and arrows, and the only education of the young is in archery, which is taught them by their mothers from their earliest infancy.

They are said to be generous, hospitable, and inoffensive, but extremely revengeful if they are ill-treated. They have no religion, but perform certain ceremonies from time to time. Canga-Arguelles computed them to number about 500 in 1887.

The only use the Negritos can be to the United States will be as a subject of study for the elucidation of problems in ethnography, and to furnish skeletons for the museums.

PART I.

Luzon and Adjacent Islands.

Chapter XXIII.

Tagals (1). [19]

The most important race in the Archipelago is the Tagal, or Tagalog, inhabiting Central Luzon, including the following provinces:--

Batangas, Bulacan, Bataan, Camarines Norte, Cavite, Laguna, Manila, part of Nueva ecija and Tayabas, the districts of Infanta, Morong, and part of Principe, also the Island of Corregidor and the coast of Mindoro. They probably number about one million five hundred thousand souls.

Antonio de Morga, in his work 'Sucesos de Philipinas,' says (p. 126): "The women wear the baro and saya, and chains of gold upon their necks, also bracelets of the same. All cla.s.ses are very clean in their persons and clothing, and of good carriage and graceful (de buen ayre y gracia").

They are very careful of their hair, washing it with gogo and anointing it with ajonjoli oil [20] perfumed with musk.

In the 'Relacion de las Islas Philipinas,' 1595 (?), the anonymous author said of the Tagals: "The people of this province are the best of all the Islands, more polite, and more truly our friends. They go more clothed than the others, the men as well as the women. They are light-coloured people of very good figures and faces, and like to put on many ornaments of gold, which they have in great abundance."

In other respects, however, they seem, from the same author, to be less worthy of praise, for he goes on to tell us: When some princ.i.p.al man died, in vengeance of his death they cut off many heads, with which they made many feasts and dances.... They had their houses full of wood and stone idols, which they called Tao-tao and Lichac, for temples they had none. And they said that when one of their parents or children died the soul entered into one of these idols, and for this they reverenced them and begged of them life, health, and riches. They called these idols anitos, and when they were ill they drew lots to find which of these had given them the illness, and then made great sacrifices and feasts to it.

They worshipped idols which were called Al Priapo Lacapati, Meilupa, but now, by the goodness of G.o.d, they are enlightened with the grace of the Divine Gospel and adore the living G.o.d in spirit.

The old writer then remarks on the cleverness and sharpness of the boys, and the ease with which they learned to read and write, sing, play, and dance.

This characteristic appears general to the Malay race, for, speaking of the Javanese, Crauford says: They have ears of remarkable delicacy for musical sounds, are readily taught to play upon any instrument the most difficult and complex airs.

According to Morga, at the time of the Conquest, the Tagals wrote their language in the Arabic character. He says: They write well in these Islands; most people both men and women, can write. This tends to show that the equality of the s.e.xes, which I shall refer to later, has been customary from ancient times.

Tomas de Comyn (1810) says:

The population of the capital, in consequence of its continual communication with the Chinese and other Asiatics, with the sailors of different nations, with the soldiers, and with the Mexican convicts who are generally mulattoes, and who arrive in some number every year, has come to be a mixture of all the bloods and features, or otherwise a degeneration of the primitive race.

At Cainta, on a branch of the Pasig, the natives are darker, taller, and of a different type. This is accounted for by the fact that, in 1762-63, during the English invasion, a regiment of Madras Sepoys occupied the town for many months, long enough, in fact, to modify the native type to such an extent as to be plainly visible 125 years later.

Crauford says that some Christian inhabitants of Ternate followed their priests (Jesuits) to Luzon when the Spaniards were driven out of Molucas by the Dutch in 1660. They were located in Marigondon. There is now a town called Ternate between Marigondon and the sea, near Punta Restinga. But, with the exception of the capital and these two places, I think the Tagals have not greatly altered in physical characteristics since the Conquest--notwithstanding Ratzel's statement that "Spanish-Tagal half-breeds in the Philippines may be numbered by the hundred thousand," which I consider erroneous.

The fact is, that wherever a small number of male Europeans live amongst a native race, the effect on the type is smaller than may be supposed, and what there is becomes obliterated or disseminated in course of time. Colour may be a little altered, but all the other characteristics remain. The mestizas are not so prolific as the native women, and notwithstanding Jagor's a.s.sertion to the contrary, they often marry natives, and especially if their father has died while they were young. I knew in the town of Balayan three handsome sisters, daughters of a Spaniard who had died many years before. Although they lived in a house which had been at one time the finest in the town, and still retained some remnants of its former grandeur, they had reverted entirely to the native customs and dress. They spoke only Tagal, and all three of them married natives.