Pre-historic Civilization in the Philippines
By Elsdon Best
(Polynesian Society, Journal, Vol. 1)
When a powerful and highly civilized nation comes in contact with a barbaric and isolated people, who have nevertheless advanced many steps on the road of progress, it would naturally be thought that the superior and conquering race would endeavor to collect and place on record information concerning such people: their manners, customs, language, religion, and traditions. Unfortunately, in the case of the Spanish conquests of the XVI century, that nation appears never to have considered it a duty to hand down to posterity any detailed description of the singularly interesting races they had vanquished. As it was with the Gaunches of the Canaries, the Aztecs of Mexico, and the Quichuas of Peru, so was it with the Chamorro of the Ladrones, and the Tagalog-Bisayan tribes of the Philippines. The same vandal spirit that prompted the conquistadores to destroy the Maya and Aztec literature also moved them to demolish the written records of the Philippine natives, and but few attempts were made to preserve relics or information concerning them. The Spanish priests, as the lettered men of those times, were the persons we should look to for such a work, but in their religious ardor they thought only of the subjugation and conversion of the natives, and so, with the sword in one hand and crucifix in the other, they marched through that fair land ignoring and destroying the evidences of a strange semi-civilization which should have been to them a study of the deepest interest. Fortunately, however, there were a few in that period who were interested in such matters, and who wrote accounts of the state of culture of the islanders of that early date. Some of these MSS. have been preserved in the archives of Manila and have lately attracted the attention of Spanish scholars.
Such is the article from which the greater part of these notes is taken. In the volume for 1891 of the Revista Ibero-Americana, published at Madrid, there appeared a series of papers contributed by the Bishop of Oviedo, and entitled La antigua civilización de las Islas Filipinas, in which he gives a very interesting description of the natives and their mode of life. The source of this information is an old folio manuscript written on rice-paper in the year 1610 from data collected at the period of the Spanish conquest of the Philippines by Legaspi. It is extended to the year 1606, and relates minutely the condition of the islanders prior to the arrival of the Spanish. The codex is divided into five books, and these again into 183 capitulos, or chapters. The writer lived in the group for twenty-nine years in order to complete his work, which is authorised by authentic signatures of responsible persons. Extracts have also been made from Miguel de Loarca’s account of the Philippines written in 1583, Dampier’s voyage in the Pinkerton collection, and Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.
The first historical existence of the Malay proper is traced to Menangkabau in the Island of Sumatra, from whence they have spread over the islands of the East India Archipelago, and by their vigor, energy and skill have made themselves masters of the original inhabitants. At an early period they probably received instruction from Hindoo immigrants in the arts of working metals, spinning, weaving, etc. As to the whence of the various Malayan tribes of the Philippines, it is most probable that they originally reached the Archipelago from Borneo, or the Malay Peninsula. From northern Borneo the Sulu islands form a series of stepping stones across to Mindanao. As the Tagalog language is looked upon as one of the purest of Malay dialects, and contains the least number of Sanscrit words, it may be inferred from this that the race has occupied the islands from an early date. It is possible that the first settlers were carried thither by ocean currents, and that the Kuro Siwo, or Black Current, which sweeps up past Luzon, is also responsible for the existence of the Kabaran (a Malay tribe) in Formosa. From ancient times boats and men have drifted up from the Malay Islands to Japan, and W. E. F. Griffis, in his “Mikado’s Empire,” states that Shikoku and Kiushiu were inhabited by a mixed race descended from a people who had come from Malaysia and southeast Asia. It is most probable that Micronesia was settled from the Philippine Group, which thus became the meeting ground of the northern migration of Polynesians from Samoa, and the Micronesians proper. The Spanish codex before mentioned states that the Tagalog-Bisayan tribes were thought to be derived from the coast of Malabar and Malacca, and that, according to tradition, they arrived at the islands in small vessels called barangayan under the direction of dato or maguinoo (chiefs or leaders), who retained their chieftainship after the landing as the basis of a social organization of a tribal kind, and that every barangay (district or tribal division) was composed of about fifty families. Nothing definite appears to have been obtained from their traditions as to the original habitat of the race, and this may be accounted for by the supposition that the migration occurred at a remote period, and that all knowledge of their former home was lost. When a migratory race takes possession of new regions it maintains little or no correspondence with those left behind; thus in time they forget their old habitations, and their geographical knowledge is reduced to obscure and fading traditions.
On arriving at their new home the invaders must have ejected the indigenous Aieta from the low-lying country, and driven them back into the mountains. Juan de Salcedo, the Cortes of the Philippines, in his triumphal march round the island of Luzon, was unable to conquer many of the hill tribes, both Aieta and Tagalog, some of whom have remained independent until the present time. The Spanish Government forbade all intercourse with these mountaineers, on pain of one hundred lashes and two years’ imprisonment, and this edict had the effect of preserving the ruder, non-agricultural hill-races.
This invading race of Malays was divided into many different tribes, the principal ones being the Tagalog of Luzon and the Bisayan of the southern isles. The Tagalog, or Ta-Galoc, were the most numerous, and were endowed with all the valor and politeness which can be expected in a semi-civilized people. The Pampangan and Camarine tribes were noted for their generosity. The Cagayans were a brave people, but easily civilized. The Bisayans were also called Pintados, or “painted ones,” by the Spanish, from their custom of tattooing the body. Within this community of tribes there are numerous differences of dialects and customs, clothing, character, and physical structure, which in many cases indicate obvious traces of foreign mixture.
As a race, the Philippine natives of the Malayan tribes are of moderate stature, well-formed, and of a coppery-red color, or, as Morga quaintly describes them, “They were of the color of boiled quinces, having a clever disposition for anything they undertook: sharp, choleric, and resolute.” Both men and women were in the habit of anointing and perfuming their long black hair, which they wore gathered in a knot or roll on the back of the head. The women, who were of pleasing appearance, adorned their hair with jewels, and also wore ear-pendants and finger-rings of gold. The men had little or no beard, and both sexes were distinguished for their large, black eyes. The Zambales, or Beheaders, shaved the front part of the head, and wore on the skull a great lock of loose hair, which custom also obtained among the ancient Chamorro of the Ladrones. Most of the tribes filed their teeth, and stained them black with burnt coconut shell; while among the Bisayans the upper teeth were bored, and the perforations filled with gold, a singular custom observed by Marco Polo in China, and which was also practised in ancient Peru and Egypt. Many of the tribes are spoken of by the early Spanish navigators as being endowed with fair intellectual capacities, possessing great powers of imitation, sober, brave, and determined. The Tagalog character, according to some later writers, is difficult to define: the craniologist and physiognomist may often find themselves at fault. They are great children, their nature being a singular combination of vices and virtues.
The costume of the men consisted of a short-sleeved cotton tunic (chinina), usually black or blue, which came below the waist, a colored cotton waistcloth, or kilt (bahaque), extending nearly to the knee, and over this a belt or sash of silk a handbreadth wide, and terminating in two gold tassels. On the right side hung a dagger (bararao) three palms long, and double-edged, the hilt formed of ivory or gold, and the sheath of carabao-hide. They wore a turban (potong) on the head, and also leg-bands of black reeds or vines such as are seen among the Papuans of New Guinea. Chains, bracelets (calombiga), and armlets of gold, cornelian and agate were much worn, and he was reckoned a poor person who did not possess several gold chains. Hernando Requel, writing home to Spain, stated: “There is more gold in this island of Luzon than there is iron in Biscaya.”