The Inhabitants of the Philippines Part 32

The tendency of the Philippine native to revert to old customs is well marked, and I agree with Jagor when he says: "Every Indian has an innate inclination to abandon the hamlets and retire into the solitude of the woods, or live isolated in the midst of his own fields," in fact to Remontar.

The Tagals are considered by Wallace as the fourth great tribe of the Malay race. He only mentions the Tagals, but in fact the population of the Archipelago, except the Negritos and some hybrids, belongs to the Malay race, although slightly mixed with Chinese and Spanish blood in a few localities. They are here and there modified by mixture with other races, and everywhere by their environment, for they have been Roman Catholics and subject to Spanish influence, if not rule, for upwards of three centuries.

They differ little in physical appearance from the Malays proper inhabiting the Peninsula, and although their manners and customs are somewhat changed, their nature remains the same. They retain all the inherent characteristics of the Malay.

The Tagal possesses a great deal of self-respect, and his demeanour is quiet and decorous. He is polite to others, and expects to be treated politely himself. He is averse to rowdiness or horse-play of any kind, and avoids giving offence.

Characteristics--Family Life.

For an inhabitant of the tropics he is fairly industrious, sometimes even very hard working.

Those who have seen him poling cascos against the stream of the Pasig will admit this.

He is a keen sportsman, and will readily put his money on his favourite horse or game-c.o.c.k; he is also addicted to other forms of gambling. The position taken by women in a community is often considered as a test of the degree of civilisation it has attained. Measured by this standard, the Tagals come out well, for amongst them the wife exerts great influence in the family, and the husband rarely completes any important business without her concurrence.

Crauford considers the equality of the s.e.xes to be general throughout the Indian Archipelago, more particularly in the Island of Celebes, where the inhabitants are the most warlike of all.

The Tagals treat their children with great kindness and forbearance, those who are well-off show much anxiety to secure a good education for their sons, and even for their daughters.

Parental authority extends to the latest period in life. I have seen a man of fifty years come as respectfully as a child to kiss the hands of his aged parents when the vesper bell sounded, and this notwithstanding the presence of several European visitors in the house.

Children, in return, show great respect to both parents, and come morning and evening to kiss their hands. I may remark that their manner of kissing is different to ours. They place the nose and lips against the cheek or hand of the person to be saluted, and draw in the breath strongly.

Appearance--Manners.

The Malays in general are not, perhaps, a handsome race, their flat noses disfigure them in the eyes of the recently-arrived European or American, and it takes time to get accustomed to them.

Still, their rich brown skin often covers a symmetrical, lithe and agile figure, the small hands and feet denoting their Turanian origin.

The youth of both s.e.xes up to the age of p.u.b.erty are not seldom of striking beauty, and their appearance is not belied by their behaviour. They are trained in good manners from their earliest youth, both by precept and example.

Palgrave says of them: "Nowhere are family bonds closer drawn, family affections more enduring, than amongst the Malay races.... His family is a pleasing sight, much subordination and little restraint, unison in gradation, liberty not license. Orderly children, respected parents, women subject, but not suppressed, men ruling, but not despotic, reverence with kindness, obedience in affection, these form a lovable picture, nor by any means a rare one in the villages of the Eastern Isles."

It may here be interesting to note the very contradictory opinions that have been expressed upon this subject.

John Foreman. W. G. Palgrave.

'The Philippine Islands,' 'Malay Life in the Philippines,'

p. 194. p. 146.

"Home discipline and training "Children early trained by of manners are quite ignored, precept and example to good even in the well-to-do families. manners, show less disposition Children are left without to noise and mischief than is control, and allowed to do just ordinary elsewhere at their as they please, hence they age."

become ill-behaved and boorish."

As will be seen in my text, my own experience rather confirms Palgrave's opinion, and I should say that even the children of the peasantry would compare favourably both in manners and intelligence with the children at the Board Schools in London, and to say nothing of Glasgow or Liverpool.

Amongst the Tagals, it is customary when speaking of or to a man to use the prefix Si--thus Si Jose, Mr. Joseph--whilst a woman is spoken of or to as Aling Maria, Miss Mary. The word Po is used for Sir. Thus: oo-po--Yes, sir; Hindi-po--No, sir; Uala-po--There is none, sir; Mayroom-po--There is some, sir.

Cleanliness.

The sense of personal dignity and self-respect, the dominant feeling in the Malay nature, is shown in the Tagals by a general cleanliness in their persons and clothing. They usually live near water, and nearly all of them can swim.

The heat of the climate makes bathing a pleasure, and as the temperature of the sea or river is commonly 83F., a prolonged immersion causes no inconvenience.

On the morning of a feast-day the number of bathers is increased, and at the time of high tide, a very large proportion of the population seems to be in the water, both s.e.xes and all ages mixing indiscriminately, the adults decently covered and all behaving themselves as decorously as the bathers at Brighton, Newport, or Atlantic City.

They have not yet arrived at that precise stage of civilisation that develops the Rough, the Larrikin, or the Hooligan. Palgrave says: A Malay may be a profligate, a gambler, a thief, a robber, or a murderer, he is never a cad.

Palgrave had not great opportunities of knowing the Tagals, but I confirm the above opinion, although I do not agree with the views on the future of the Philippines, and what is best for them, expressed in his fantastic and hyphen-infested verbiage, all seemingly written for effect.

Superst.i.tions.

The Tagal is extremely superst.i.tious, and like his kinsman, the Dayak, he is a believer in omens, although he has not reduced them so completely to a system, and three centuries of Christianity have diverted his superst.i.tions into other channels.

In his mind, each cave, each ravine, each mountain, each pool, each stream, has its guardian spirit, to offend or to startle which may be dangerous. These are the jinni of Southern Arabia and Socotra.

The Balete tree (Ficus Urostigima--Sp.) corresponds to our Witch Elm, and certainly at night has a most uncanny appearance. Each of these great trees has its guardian spirit or Tic-balan.

Daring, indeed, would be the Indian who would pa.s.s such a tree, enter a cave, ascend a mountain, or plunge into a pool without bowing and uttering the Pasing tabi sa nono [By your leave, my Lord] that may appease the spirit's wrath, just as the Bedouin of Dhofar cry, "Aleik Soubera--aleik soubera," to propitiate the jinni.

His mental att.i.tude in this respect reminds me of a story told me many years ago by a lady residing in Hampshire. A lady neighbour of hers inquired from her whether she taught her children to bow when the Devil's name was mentioned. My informant replied in the negative, whereupon the lady remarked, "I do, I think it is safer." This is the way with the Tagal, he bows because he thinks it is safer. If that prudent lady is still alive and may chance to read this, she may be pleased to learn that her opinion is shared by the whole Malay race.

Child-birth has its anxieties everywhere, and the more artificial the life the woman has led, the more she suffers at that critical time. The Tagal woman whose naturally supple frame has never been subjected to tight-lacing, nor compressed within a tailor-made costume, has a far easier time of it than her European sister, but superst.i.tion and quackery combine to terrify and ill-use her.

The Patianac, an evil spirit, profits by the occasion, and his great delight is to obstruct the birth, or to kill and devour the infant. The patianac might be busy elsewhere, but from the ridge-pole of the house a bird of ill-omen, the dreadful Tic-tic, raises a warning cry, for its office and delight is to call the attention of the evil spirit to the opportunity of doing mischief. Instantly every door and window is closed and every c.h.i.n.k stopped to prevent its entrance, whilst the anxious father and his kinsmen, naked as they were born, walk around and underneath the house, slashing the air with sticks or bolos to frighten away the spirit. Sometimes a man will get up on the ridge-pole to drive away the Tic-tic.

Meanwhile, in the stifling room, it is too often the case that violent means are used to expedite the birth, so violent indeed, that they sometimes result in the permanent injury or in the death of the woman.

Some years ago the Government inst.i.tuted an examination for midwives, and only those were allowed the practice who had been properly instructed, so that these absurdities and cruelties are on the wane, except amongst the poorest or in outlying districts.

The Asuan is merely a cannibal ghost, but the Tagal ghost throws stones, a thing I have not heard of a ghost doing in Europe.

All sorts of stories are told about the Asuan, similar to ghost stories in other lands.

About 1891 a house in Malate was stoned night after night, and although every effort was made to find out the authors, they were never discovered, and the natives steadfastly believed it to be the doing of the Asuan.

There is another superst.i.tious idea firmly rooted in the minds of the Tagals and other natives, of which the following is an instance: A villainous-looking native had been captured with some property stolen from my house, and was sent to the lock-up at the police station, from whence he promptly escaped, but was recaptured later. My coachman, a most meritorious servant who had been with me for years, a.s.sured me in an impressive manner, and with an air of conviction, that the culprit was one of those wizards who are able to pa.s.s through a keyhole by drawing themselves out into the thinness of a piece of string, and my other servants accepted this view implicitly.

The famous Tulisanes or bandits, thoroughly believe in the power of the Antin-Antin or amulet to render them invulnerable to bullets. It is, indeed, remarkable that notwithstanding the numbers of these criminals who have been shot by the Guardia Civil with their Antin-Antin upon them, this absurd belief should flourish, but there is no doubt it does. These charms consist of any sort of necromancers' rubbish, or are sometimes writings in invocations, usually worn round the neck under the clothing.