The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

The Inhabitants of the Philippines.

Description of their appearance, dress, arms, religion, manners and customs, and the localities they inhabit, their agriculture, industries and pursuits, with suggestions as to how they can be utilized, commercially and politically. With many unpublished photographs of natives, their arms, ornaments, sepulchres, and idols.

Chapter XXII.

Aetas or Negritos, Including Balúgas, Dumágas, Mamanúas, and Manguiánes.

These people are generally considered to be the aborigines of the Philippines, and perhaps at one time inhabited the entire group. The invasion of the Malays dispossessed them of the littoral, and of the principal river valleys, and the Spanish Conquest drove them gradually back into the mountains. It seems strange that these irreclaimable savages should be able from their eyries on Mount Mariveles to distinguish a great city with its Royal and Pontifical University and yet remain unconverted, uncivilised, and independent of all authority, just as they were before Legaspi arrived.

They are a race of negroid dwarfs of a sooty black colour, with woolly hair, which they wear short, strong jaws, thick lips, and broad flat noses. The men I have seen in the jungle near Porac and at Mariveles were about 4 feet 8 inches in height, and the women about a couple of inches shorter. The men only wore a cord round the waist with a cloth passed between their legs. The women wore a piece of cloth around the hips, and as ornaments some strings of beads round their necks. However, like many other savages in the Philippines and elsewhere, those of them, both men and women, who are accustomed to traffic with the Christian natives, are possessed of clothes which they put on whenever they enter a village. Their appearance was not prepossessing; the skin of a savage is rarely in good order or free from some scaly eruption, and the stomach is commonly unduly distended from devouring large quantities of vegetable food of an innutritious character. Still they were not so unpleasing as might be supposed, for although their figures are not good according to our standards, nor are their muscles well developed, either on arms or legs, yet there was a litheness about them that gave promise of extreme agility and great speed in running. As a matter of fact, they do run fast, and climb trees in a surprising way. The Tagals and other Malays who go barefooted use their toes to pick up an object on the ground rather than stoop as a European would do, but the toes of the Negritos are more like fingers. They come near the Quadrumanes in this respect. The men carried bows, about five feet six inches long and a quiver full of iron-pointed arrows—also a wood-knife, or bolo, very roughly made. The former they make themselves; but the latter they obtain from the Tagals. I can confirm from my own experience a statement of various travellers, that they are fond of lying close to fires or in the warm ashes, for when I arrived at a bivouac of these people near Porac, their skins were covered with ashes, and I saw that they had recently arisen from their favourite lair, the prints of their forms being plainly visible. They had with them some wretched starveling dogs which assist them in the chase.

It would seem that the Negritos must be descended from a race which formerly extended over a vast area, for remains of them exist in Southern India, in the mountains of Ceylon, and in the Andaman Islands.

In the Malay Peninsula they are called Semang. From the description of them given by Hugh Clifford, in his interesting book, ‘In Court and Kampong,’ they appear to be identical with the Philippine Negritos. Crauford, in his ‘History of the Indian Archipelago,’ gives the measurement of a Negrito from the hills of Kêdah as four feet nine inches. Mr. F. V. Christian, in a paper recently read before the Royal Geographical Society, stated that he had found tombs of Negritos on Pónapé one of the Caroline group.

The Negritos build no houses, and are nomadic, in the sense of moving about within a certain district. They live in groups of twenty or thirty under a chief or elder, and take his advice about camping and breaking up camp, which they do according to the seasons, the ripening of jungle fruit, movements of game, etc. They seem to have great reverence for their dead and for their burial-grounds, and apparently dislike going far away from these places where they suppose the souls of their ancestors are wandering. They bury their dead, placing with them food and weapons for their use, and erect a rough shelter over the graves.

It would be curious to learn the opinion of these poor savages on the proceedings of some learned Teuton, prowling around their graveyards in search of skulls and skeletons for the Berlin or Dresden Ethnographical Museum.

They have no tribal organisation and even make war on other groups, seeking victims for the death-vengeance. They are therefore unable to assemble in large numbers; nor is it easy to see how they could subsist if they did so. They put up rough sloping shelters against the sun and wind, consisting of a framework of saplings or canes, covered with coarse plaited mats of leaves which they carry with them when they move their camp.

In Pampanga and Bataan, they are occasionally guilty of cattle stealing, and even of murdering Christians, if a favourable opportunity presents itself. In such a case an expedition of the Cuadrilleros of the neighbouring towns is sent against them.

If they can be found, their bows and arrows are no match for the muskets of the Cuadrilleros, and some of them are sure to be killed. After a time peace is restored.

The trade for jungle produce is too profitable to the Christians for them to renounce it, whatever the authorities may order.

The Negritos do not cultivate the ground but subsist on jungle fruits and edible roots, their great luxury is the wild honey which they greedily devour, and they barter the wax with the Christians for rice and sweet potatoes. They also hunt the deer and wild pigs, and as Blumentritt says, they eat everything that crawls, runs, swims, or flies, if they can get it. They chew buyo like the Tagals and other Malays, and are inordinately fond of smoking.

They are said to hold the lighted end of their cigars in their mouths, a thing I have seen done by the negroes on the Isthmus of Panama.

They appear to have no religion, but are very superstitious. They celebrate dances at the time of full moon, the women forming a ring and the men another ring outside them, something like a figure in the Kitchen Lancers. They move round to the sound of some rude musical instruments in opposite directions.

Whether this performance is intended as a mark of respect to the moon, or is merely held at the full for the convenience of the light, I cannot say.

Several travellers have stated that they sacrifice pigs when it thunders. As thunder-storms are very frequent and often of extraordinary violence in the Philippines, this custom would imply the possession of a large number of pigs on the part of the Negritos. Those of Mariveles and of the Zambales mountains do not appear to possess any domestic animals, except dogs, and they find it difficult to kill the wild pigs, active as they are. Consequently, I think this must apply to those Negrito tribes, such as the Balúgas and Dumágas, of whose condition I shall speak later. They are also said to offer up prayers to the rainbow. This offering can be made with greater ease than the sacrifice of a pig, but the frequency of rainbows at certain seasons will keep them pretty closely to their devotions.

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 Balúgas, who live in the eastern cordillera of Nueva Écija, 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 Dumágas, 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 shores. But from Palanan to Punta Escarpada the whole coast is in the undisputed possession of the Dumágas.

The Dumágas 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 Dumágas live amongst the Irayas and the Catalangánes, 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 Dumágas intermarry with the tribes they live amongst, and have adopted their dress, religion, and customs.

The Mamanúas, 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 Manguiánes, 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 superstitious. 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 Manguiánes, 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.”

A Negrito from Negros Island.

To face p. 207.

He gives some particulars of their laws, and of their ordeals, which are common to many of the Malays. There are some Manguiánes 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 Manguiánes of Palawan much as the Christian natives do the Manguiánes of Mindoro.

The illustration 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. latitude. 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).[1]

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 Écija 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 báro and saya, and chains of gold upon their necks, also bracelets of the same. All classes 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[2] 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.”

A Manila Man.

A Manila Girl.

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 principal 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 God, they are enlightened with the grace of the Divine Gospel and adore the living God 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 sexes, 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 assertion 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.

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.