The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Part 21

[103] Possibly a "house with festal decorations."

[104] i.e., And beyond.

[105] The Carolinas were discovered first by the Portuguese navigator, Diogo da Rocha, in 1525, and different groups of them were seen by early Spanish navigators. In 1686, one of them was discovered by the Spanish admiral, Francisco Lezcano, who named it Carolina, in honor of Crlos II, and the whole archipelago finally took its name from it. They number about 525 islands counting reefs and uninhabited rocks, and contain about 525 square miles. In the beginning of the eighteenth century they were entirely abandoned by Spain, and were only brought back to public notice in the beginning of the nineteenth century through several scientific expeditions. Gradually German commercial interests became paramount, and in 1885 the German flag was hoisted in the island of Yap in the presence of two Spanish gunboats. The pope arbitrating on the matter declared that the islands belonged to Spain, but gave special privileges to Germany. In 1899, the Carolinas, Palaos, and all of the Ladrones except Guam were ceded to Germany in payment of 16,750,000 marks. See Montero y Vidal's Archipilago, pp. 483-505 (who gives the propositions submitted by the pope); Gregorio Miguel's Estudio sobre las islas Carolinas; and New International Encyclopdia.

[106] The volcano of Apo is located on the highest summit of the Philippines, which is 10,311 ft. high. The first to attempt its ascent was Jos Oyangren in 1859, but he failed. It was first ascended in 1880 by Montano, Joaquin Rajal, and Mateo Gisbert, S. J. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 202-204.

[107] The Bilans are an exceedingly timid and wild people, fleeing, it is said, even from Moros with whom they are unacquainted. They inhabit the mountains south and west of Lake Bulan, in South Mindanao, their range being southeast of that of the Tirurayes. Their religion is a sort of demon worship and they are very superst.i.tious. They do not live in communities but each family by itself in a house at least one-half mile from any other house. The brief examination of those houses by Lieutenant H. Rodgers of the Philippine scouts, leads to the belief that the Bilans are a race superior to the Moro, being more cleanly, industrious, and more wealthy. The Moros do not allow them to trade direct with the Chinese merchants. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 560, 561.

[108] Dr. Barrows says (Census of Philippines, i, p. 461): "Man.o.bo is a native word which, in the Bagobo language on the Gulf of Dvao, means 'man.' It is so given in Padre Gisbert's vocabulary and also in a special vocabulary taken for the ethnological survey. Blumentritt, however, suggests--and I believe with merit--that Man.o.bo here in Northern Mindanao is a derivation of Manubo, which is itself derived from Masuba, meaning 'people of the river.' This term Man.o.bo should be retained for all of this great group living along the affluents and tributary streams of the river Agusan, and the term might, with propriety, I believe, be extended to the Montes farther west and back of Misamis. If there are objections to applying the term Man.o.bo to these pagans of Misamis, I would suggest the application of our general term Bukidnon."

[109] This letter is addressed directly to the superior of the mission.

[110] On the prevailing custom of making slaves among the peoples in Mindanao, Father Gisbert says in a letter written May 20, 1886 (Cartas, Manila, 1887): "The slavehunt is not always easy. By availing themselves of tricks and surprises, they can generally capture the old people, women, and the children easily. They first kill those who can make any resistance."

[111] Literally "shields." That is, the rice was measured into the shield.

[112] i.e., So so, or, just as it was.

[113] On the Moros, see Census of Philippines, i, pp. 465-467, 561-585.

[114] The Yakan are a primitive Malayan tribe of the same type and general culture as the Subanon of the Mindanao mainland, who live in Basilan, and who, some generations ago, accepted the Mahometan faith and are fanatical adherents thereof. They live scattered over the island cultivating a little maize, rice, and tapioca, bringing out some jungle product, but living as a whole miserably and in poverty. Some of them have migrated to the peninsula of Zamboanga and the islands adjacent to this coast. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 465, 466.

[115] According to Census of Philippines, the population of the comandancia of Basilan is 30,179, of whom 28,848 are uncivilized.

[116] Among the Smal Lat boys are trained for the priesthood by making their homes with priests, where they remain for several years in the capacity of servant and pupil. Occasionally, when grown they are sent to Singapore for continuous study, but such cases are rare. If a man goes to Mekka he is given the honorable t.i.tle of pilgrim and is held in high consideration. See Census of Philippines, i, p. 571.

[117] i.e., A distance of two palm-lengths.

[118] A dish made in the Philippines from the inner and harder sh.e.l.l of the cocoanut.--See Echegaray's Diccionario etimolgico, and Noceda and Sanlucar's Vocabulario de la lengua tagala.

[119] See beliefs and superst.i.tions of the North American Indians in regard to eclipses in Jesuit Relations (Cleveland reissue), vi, p. 223, xii, pp. 31, 73, xxii, p. 295.

[120] The princ.i.p.al articles of food are rice, for which corn is sometimes subst.i.tuted, fish, chickens, vegetables, wild fruits, and cocoanut oil. The natives are fond of chickens and eggs, and most families raise poultry for the table. Pork is forbidden by their faith, and the use of venison, or the flesh of the carabao, ox, sheep, or goat, is limited, the Moros being apparently not fond of meat. See Census of Philippines, i, p. 564.

[121] Cogon (Imperata koenigii) is a species of gra.s.s of general natural growth, the young shoots of which afford excellent food for cattle. The gra.s.s is used in some localities as a subst.i.tute for nipa, where the latter does not grow, in thatching roofs. The name "cogon" is applied to many coa.r.s.e, rank-growing gra.s.ses. See Census of Philippines, iv, p. 118.

[122] We give the verses in the original language with the Spanish translation of Father Pablo Cavallera, and add the English translation of the latter, which is necessarily crude.

[123] An authority among the Moros, after the panglima, and as well a name denoting n.o.bility of race and blood. See Cartas de ... la mision de Filipinas (Manila, 1887), p. 34, note.

[124] The letter occupies pp. 326-349, and is accompanied by an ethnographical map (which we do not reproduce) made by the fathers of the Society of Jesuits. Our extract relates to the ethnology of Mindanao, and occupies pp. 336-349.

[125] Dr. Barrows (Census of Philippines, i, pp. 462, 463), says in speaking of the tribes of Mindanao that the term Indonesian has been applied to some of them to explain their higher stature and finer physique, which means that they are connected with people of mixed Caucasian blood, who were in primitive times distributed across the Malay Archipelago, and who find their purest living type in the Polynesians. He does not accept the evidence, as the perceptible gain in height among such peoples is not apparently accompanied by the other distinguishing marks of the Caucasian or Polynesian, and consequently regards them as Malayan. See also Le Roy's Philippine Life (New York, 1905), p. 20.

[126] See laws of the Smal Lat in regard to family and social life in Census of Philippines, i, p. 569.

[127] The root of the plant gabe (Colocasia antiquorum variety) is highly prized and extensively cultivated, the leaves also being used as food. Of the resins and oils mentioned, piayo, also called conferal and galagala (Agathis orantifolia--Salisb.) is used for burning and lighting, and the manufacture of varnish; and balao or malapaho (Dipterocarpus velulinno--Bl.) is used for calking. See Census of Philippines, iv, pp. 121, 202, 221; and Philippine Gazetteer, p. 78.

[128] Cabo Negro (Caryota urens) is a palm from which a kind of starch or sago is extracted. The camagon (Diospyros discolor) is a native persimmon tree 30 to 45 ft. high growing in Luzn and some of the other islands. See Census of Philippines, iv, pp. 139, 143.

[129] Salt is produced by evaporation, from a method taught prior to the coming of the Spaniards by the Chinese. Sea-water, enclosed in a depression surrounded by d.y.k.es, is evaporated by the sun's rays; when the water has disappeared, the salt deposited on the floor of the basin is gathered up and cleaned by filtration. See Census of Philippines, iv, p. 469.

[130] This is the Musa sapientum, which is a variety of banana. This fiber is inferior to abac. See Census of Philippines, iv, p. 167.

[131] See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 566, 567, for the industrial life of the Moros. The occupation of smith is especially honorable.

[132] The Coripha minor. Its trunk is black and very straight, and the wood is very hard. It is also used for making stockades and for conducting water. See Blanco, p. 161.

[133] Blanco describes a shrub called tubli, the fruit of which is very small, and which he does not believe to belong to the species Galactia under which he describes it. The lagtan or lactang (Anamirta cocculus) is a coa.r.s.e woody plant whose stems are used for tying and binding. The wood is of a yellow color. It like the preceding plant makes the fish that eat mixtures containing it exhibit the appearance of intoxication so that they can be caught by the hand. The fruit is called bayati by the natives. See Census of Philippines, iv, p. 155; Blanco, pp. 411, 557, 558.

[134] The claims often put forward by many writers that some of the peoples of the Philippines arise from a mixture of Chinese and j.a.panese blood with the Malay have no foundation. The Chinese have, it is true, mingled with almost every tribe in the archipelago, but they have not given rise to a new tribe or race.

[135] i.e., They are a Negrito tribe.

[136] This is the Calamus maximus, a very large species of rattan. See Blanco, pp. 185, 186; and Census of Philippines, iv, p. 159.

[137] See ante, p. 241, note 106.

[138] Throughout the friar chronicles and accounts the words "reduce"

and "reduction" are frequently employed. As used the words have a rather wide application. The primary meaning is of course "conversion"

to the Christian faith, but along with this idea must be understood the settlement of the converts in villages in a civilized manner, where they could be under the immediate eye of their spiritual directors. Hence the words bear in a sense a two-fold meaning--the one religious, and the other civil.

[139] An allusion to Joseph Montano's Rapport M. le ministre de l'instruction publique sur une Mission aux les Philippines et en Malaise (Paris, 1885). Of him Pardo de Tavera says (Biblioteca filipino, p. 270): "Doctor Montano is a French anthropologist and physician.... This book is very important and the author divides it into five parts, namely, geology, meteorology, anthropology, pathology, and dialects and political geography, with a few notices regarding agriculture and commerce. The most important chapters are those relating to anthropology and linguistics."

[140] Census of Philippines, i, p. 473, calls these people a branch of the Mandayas.

[141] Dr. Barrows (Census of Philippines, i, p. 460) restricts the term "Buquidnon" to mountain-dwellers in Luzn and the Visayas, who escaped reduction when those islands were christianized. The term "Buquidnon" means "people of the mountain forest."

[142] These are the Negritos. Aetas is the oldest known name for that people. It is probably derived from the Taglog word itim, "black." In many places the Negrito seems to have disappeared by absorption into the conquering Malay race. There are about 23,000 of them still in the islands. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 468, 478, 532, 533.

[143] Dr. Barrows (Census, i, p. 471) calls this people a division of the Bagobos.

[144] The Bagobos, together with the Moros and Mandayas, are migratory in habit, though they do not leave the province. They are said to be fire worshipers. The blood feud prevails. The Ocacola Bagobos have discontinued their annual sacrifice which they would eat. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 462, 463, 531.

[145] Called by Barrows (Census, i, p. 470) a Bagobo tribe.

[146] See ante, p. 199, note 84.

[147] A more complete t.i.tle of this book by Jose Gumilla, S. J., is, El Orinoco il.u.s.trado, historia natural, civil, y geographica, de este gran rio ... govierno, usos y costumbres de los Indios sus habitadores (Madrid, 1741).

[148] See ante, p. 197, note 82. Pardo de Tavera derives Tiruray from atew rooter, "people living above," that is, "up the river." This branch of the Man.o.bos are described by First Lieut. G. S. Turner, Tenth U. S. Infantry, who collected information for the Census among them, "as ignorant, shiftless savages ruled by superst.i.tions and fear, with little moral or legal restraint upon their desires or pa.s.sions. They were formerly much preyed upon by Moros and Man.o.bos, but they are troubled no longer in this respect." See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 462, 549-552.

[149] The Smal are an exceedingly important element in the Sulu Archipelago. Their former locus, where the pure Smal dialect was spoken, is in the islands between Basilan and Jol, especially Tonguil and Balanguingui. These were the very latest pirate haunts to be broken up by the Spaniards. The Smal are now scattered along the coast of Zamboanga and nearly everywhere in the archipelago of Sulu. See Census of Philippines, i, p. 475.

[150] It is the custom among the heathen to change, suppress, and add vowels. For example: biag for buag, "baptism;" bidi for budi, "girl;" isug for usug, "man;" buhay for bahay, "woman;" guianga for guanga, "forest;" inay for ina, "mother;" budiay for budi; di for dili, "no;" etc.--Pablo Pastells, S. J.

[151] An important pagan tribe whose habitat is about the bay of Sibuguey and the bay of Dumanquilas. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 461, 462, 476.