Tinguianes (27).
The Tinguianes inhabit the western half of the province of Abra, and their villages are thickly scattered about on the eastern slopes of the Ilocos mountains, and on the banks of the River Abra. They have also pushed their way to the extreme north-east corner of Abra, and they extend southwards and westwards along the coast as far as Punta Darigayos. Santiago is a Christian Tinguian town, and was founded in 1736.
The Tinguianes are of a peaceful disposition, and are gradually becoming civilised and converted to Christianity. In fact, of late years, the advance of the Spaniards has been considerable. It is only in the more remote parts of their territory that some of them retain their independence, and their ancient laws, beliefs and customs. The constant intercourse they have with the Ilocanos has resulted in spreading that dialect amongst them, whilst their own language is dying out.
In appearance the Tinguianes differ considerably from the other mountain tribes of Luzon, being taller, and of a much lighter colour. Their noses are not flattened like those of the Malays, but are aquiline, and remind one of the features of the Cholos of the Peruvian coast. They are a cleanly people; the men wear turbans, jacket and trousers; the women belonging to their nobility have their garments beautifully embroidered. They wear arm-sheaths, and sometimes leg-sheaths, made of plaited fibre, and ornamented with beads, or with coloured stones, brought from the Batanes islands, which they purchase in Ilocos. They also wear necklaces of these stones, copper or silver ear-rings, and other trinkets.
Spanish writers consider these people to have a strong admixture of Chinese blood, and suppose it may be from a remnant of the pirates under Li-ma-hon, who were defeated by Juan Salcedo in 1574. The learned Blumentritt, however, dissents from this opinion, which he considers to be a modern invention, and gives Salcedo credit for doing his work very thoroughly, and not letting many of the pirates escape. He says that, although in dress and appearance the Tinguianes are very similar to the fishermen of the province of Fo-Kien, there are no Chinese words to be found in their dialect, and that consequently the intermixture of Chinese can only have been small. However this may be, the coast of Fo-Kien, which is opposite Formosa, is only about 500 miles from the Port of Vigan, the currents are favourable for the southerly voyage, and sailing craft can cross in either monsoon. Consequently, either as traders, fugitives, or castaways, Fo-Kien sailors or fishermen could easily have arrived on the coast.
The Tinguianes assiduously cultivate their land, and irrigate their rice-fields with some skill. They breed horses and cattle, which they sell in the markets of Ilocos, as well as jungle produce, wax, skins and gold-dust. They raft timber down the Abra River and make for sale various articles of wood, such as bateas, ladles and spoons, also they make mats and baskets.
Tinguianes, Aeta, and Igorrotes.
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Their marriages are conducted in a similar manner to those of other tribes, the ceremony, whether Christian or heathen, being followed by the usual feasts and dancing, and music in the intervals of eating and drinking. Their instruments are drums, flutes and guitars. As usual, roast pig is the principal dish, the animal being roasted whole on a spit of cane. When the feast is over the newly-married couple are conducted to their house by the principal chief or elder. A large mat being spread on the ground they lie down on it keeping at a distance of several feet from each other. A boy of six or eight years of age then lies down between them, and the elders retire leaving the trio together. The bride and bridegroom are forbidden to indulge in any caresses, nor even to speak to each other till the following day. The healthy life led by the women enables them to recover very rapidly after child-birth. In fact, they return to their usual avocations directly after the ceremony of purification, which consists of washing the newly-born infant in running water. Divorce among the heathen is merely a matter of paying a fine of some thirty dollars, in money or in kind, to the village chief or elder, or to the Goberna-doreillo, if the village is under Spanish rule. Divorce is not allowed amongst those who are converted, and this must be a great hindrance to their acceptance of Christianity.
They take little care of the sick, and when hope is given up the patient is left alone to die. The Peruvian Indians have a similar custom. Amongst the Serranos, when a sick person does not soon show signs of recovery, a family meeting is called, and a fixed sum is voted for his cure, say twelve or twenty reals. When this amount has been spent, the patient is removed from his couch and laid upon a hide on the ground outside the house. A child is posted to fan him and keep off the flies, and only water is given him till he dies.
The Tinguianes formerly buried their dead in pits dug under their houses, after subjecting the corpses to a baking or drying process, and on certain days in the year food was placed near the tombs for the souls of the dead to partake of. Those who are converted have of course to bury their dead in the cemetery, and to pay a fee to the priest.
They share the idea that seems to prevail amongst all Malays, that the soul is absent from the body during sleep, and that consequently it is dangerous and wicked to awake anybody suddenly. The most dreadful thing that can happen to anybody, therefore, is to die whilst sleeping, leaving his soul wandering about. Their most desperate curse is to wish that this may happen to an adversary. This seems to reach a higher level of cursing than the oaths of the Tagals which I have previously mentioned. The usual respect for ancestors is shown, and any weapons or ornaments which have belonged to them are carefully preserved as valued heirlooms. The names of an ancestor must, however, on no account be pronounced by his descendants, so that if any necessity arises to answer a question which involves mentioning the name of one, a friend not related to the person enquired about must be called in to answer.
Monsieur de la Gironière visited these people, and describes them as men of good stature, slightly bronzed, with straight hair, regular profiles, and aquiline noses. The women truly beautiful and graceful. They appeared to him to resemble the people of the South of France, except for their costume and language. The men wore a belt and a sort of turban made from the bark of the fig-tree. Their arms consisted of a long lance, a small axe, called aligua, and a shield. The women wore a belt and a narrow apron which came down to their knees, their heads being ornamented with pearls, and grains of coral and gold were fixed amongst their hair. The upper parts of their hands were painted blue, and they wore plaited sheaths ornamented with beads on their fore-arms; these sheaths strongly compressed the fore-arm, being put on when the women were young, and they prevented the development of the fore-arm, whilst causing the wrists and hands to swell. This is a beauty amongst the Tinguianes as the little foot is amongst the Chinese.
They occupied seventeen villages, and each family had two habitations, one on the ground for use in the day, and one fixed on piles or on the summits of lofty trees, as much as sixty or eighty feet from the ground, where they sleep, to protect themselves from the nocturnal attacks of the Guinanes, their mortal and sanguinary enemies. From these lofty dwellings they threw down stones upon assailants. In the middle of each village there is a large shed which serves for meetings and public ceremonies. He further states that after an attack of the Guinanes had been repulsed from Laganguilan-y-Madalay by the Tinguianes he went to an assembly at that village and witnessed a ceremony in honour of the victory. The heads of the slain enemies were exhibited to the crowd, and various speeches were made. The skulls were then split open and the brains removed and given to some young girls, who worked them up with their hands in a quantity of basi or native beer. The compound was then served in cups to the chiefs, who partook of it with every appearance of enjoyment, and was afterwards handed round to all the warriors in due order. M. de la Gironière and his Tagal servant also partook of this refreshment out of politeness to their hosts. The ceremony was followed by a dance and a smoking concert, during which copious libations of basi were consumed.
M. de la Gironière has omitted to mention how his hosts, after this drunken orgy, managed to regain their elevated sleeping quarters, sixty or eighty feet from the ground. One would think that the Tinguian coroner would have been busy the next morning. He, however, does tell us that, being unable to sleep, he got up in the night and looked about him, finding a well or pit, which he descended. At different levels in this shaft were short galleries or niches, and in each of these was a dried or mummified corpse. This shaft was sunk inside the house where he slept.
He learnt from the Tinguianes that they believed in the existence of the soul, that it leaves the body after death, but remains in the family. Also that they venerated any strange object, such as a rock or tree which resembled some animal. They would make a hut over or near it, and celebrate a feast, at which they sacrificed pigs; they afterwards danced and drunk basi, then burnt down the hut and retired. They had, he says, only one wife, but might have several concubines, who, however, did not inhabit the conjugal domicile, but each had a hut of her own. The riches of a Tinguian was demonstrated by the number of porcelain vases he possessed. According to M. de la Gironière, the Tinguianes mummified their dead by subjecting them to a long drying process. The body, propped up on a stool, was surrounded by braziers with charcoal or wood embers, and the moisture which exuded from it was wiped off by the women with cotton. When the body was well dried up it was kept above ground for fifteen days and then committed to the tomb. The neighbours and friends kept up the wake and pronounced eulogies on the defunct until they had consumed all the eatables and liquor in the house, when they took their departure.
These people must have very greatly increased in numbers, as the Spanish authority has extended its protection to them, checking the incursions of the Guinanes and other savages. It has been stated that in former years the Tinguianes were much sought after as recruits for the garrison of Manila. They do not appear to be a warlike race, yet so fine a body of men ought to be able to supply a battalion of infantry for the native army which the United States will have to raise, for nobody can suppose that 25,000 young Americans can be permanently kept in garrison in the Archipelago. But this I discuss in another chapter.