Pampanga Women.
The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.
They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats, salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.
Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as the sala and caida are very spacious, and have polished floors of narra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.
A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.
He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.
This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.
Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.
Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, so coquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”
He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.
[1] The roller pinions in both Chinese and native mills are of hard wood.
[2] Crocodilus Porosus.
Chapter XXVI.
Zambales (3).
The Zambales are a small and unimportant tribe of the Malay race, with some admixture of Negrito blood. They inhabit part of the province of Zambales from the River Nája down to South Felipe, a coast village in 15° N. latitude, and in their mountains there roam a good many Negritos. The Zambales are subjugated and converted to Christianity, but some still maintain a partial independence amongst the mountains, paying, however, the “Reconocimentio de Vassallaje.” At the time of the conquest, these people were famous head-hunters, and otherwise manifested a bloodthirsty disposition. They lived in villages of thirty to forty families, quite independent of each other, and their chiefs possessed but little influence. When one of a family died the surviving male relatives put on a black head-cloth or turban, which they durst not remove until one of them had killed some one else so as to satisfy the death vengeance. A murder could be atoned for by a payment in gold or in goods, or a slave or Negrito might be delivered up to be sacrificed to the manes of the departed. It was customary amongst them to take with them to their feasts the heads or skulls they possessed. The heads were placed on poles and ceremonial dances were performed around them. They also emulated the Vikings by making drinking cups out of their enemies’ skulls.
Their religion was similar to that of the Tagals. Their principal god was called Malayari, but he had under him two deputy gods, Acasi and Manglobag, and a large number of inferior gods. Their chief priest was called Bayoc, and exercised great influence amongst them. They celebrated baptism with the blood of a pig. Amongst them, as in Borneo and with many tribes of Malays who are not Mahometans, the pig is considered as the most acceptable sacrifice to the gods. For particulars about this I refer the reader to ‘Life in the Forests of the Far East,’ by Spenser St. John.
Now, at last, they have been brought into the Christian fold, though, perhaps, amongst the pine-clad mountains, heathen customs maintain their hold upon the wild hillmen. These latter trade with their Christian and partly-civilised brethren, bringing them jungle produce, tobacco, and the small bezoar stones, so highly prized by the Chinese, in return for articles they require. The Zambales raise some rice and a little sugar. Their trade is inconsiderable, their exports being limited to Sapan wood, jungle produce, timber, fire-wood, and charcoal, all of which is shipped to Manila, where it finds a ready sale. The total population of this province was 94,551 in 1876, but only a portion of these were Zambales.