The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

Instead, therefore, of being allowed to till their land, these people are hurried off to the most distant and least accessible forests to dig for almáciga. This gum is found in crevices in the earth amongst the roots of secular trees. I was assured that deposits had been found of 25 piculs in one place—more than a ton and a half, but such finds are rare, as the gum is now scarce. The savage has to hide or guard his treasure when found, and he or his family must transport it on their backs for twenty, thirty, or forty miles, as the case may be, making repeated journeys to deliver it to their creditor. I think this hard work, and want of good food, explains the emaciation I noticed amongst these people. Some few of them were not in debt. Near Inagáhuan, I found a man named Amasa who had a small cane-field, and was at work squeezing the cane with a great lever-press, which reminded me of the wine-presses in Teneriffe. The lever was made of the trunk of a tree; the fulcrum was a growing tree, whilst the pressing block was a tree-stump hollowed at the top. The juice was boiled to a thick syrup, and found a ready sale in the neighbourhood. Amasa was the biggest and strongest man I saw amongst the Tagbanúas, and stood five feet nine inches high. He possessed a comfortable house and clothes, yet he accompanied me on one of my journeys as a porter, but the exposure at night was too much for him, and he had an attack of fever when he returned. Near Amasa lived a Christian woman named Ignacia, a widow. She had lived ten years in one place, and had an abundant supply of paddy stored in huge baskets in her house. She also had a plantation of cacao trees, many of them in full bearing. They were rather neglected, but had grown remarkably. I bought some of her produce for my own use.

I was surprised to find that the Tagbanúas could read and write; one day I observed a messenger hand to one of them a strip of bark with some figures scratched on it, which the latter proceeded to read, and on inquiring from the missionary, I learnt that they had an alphabet of sixteen or seventeen letters. I obtained a copy of this from the Padre Zapater, and it will be found on page 319. They do not use a pen, but scratch the letters with the point of a knife, or with a nail, or thorn.

The Tagbanúas are very fond of music and dancing. On the evening of my arrival at Yuahit, a collection of about a dozen huts with forty inhabitants, they gave an open-air performance in my honour. My party consisted of a boat’s-crew of eight Tagal sailors of the Navy, two servants, an interpreter, and two companions. The orchestra consisted of four brass gongs of varying sizes, and a tom-tom. Torches were stuck in the ground to illuminate the scene, and the whole of the inhabitants of the hamlet turned out and watched the proceedings with greatest interest. The dances were performed by men, women, and children, one at a time, and were perfectly modest and graceful. The women were dressed in shirts and bright-coloured patadions, and were adorned with silver rings, brass bangles, and armlets, some had strings of beads round their necks. The best dance was performed by a young woman, holding in each hand a piece of a branch of the bread-fruit tree, which they call Rima, with two of the large handsome leaves. These she waved about very gracefully in harmony with her movements. The spectators behaved very well, and were careful not to crowd round me. I rewarded the dancers with beads and handkerchiefs, and the musicians with cigars. This dancing seemed to me a very innocent amusement, but I was sorry to find that the missionary took a different view. He associated the dances with heathen rites and forbade them, confiscating the dearly-bought gongs of his converts, as he said they were used to call up evil spirits. However, I observed that he had hung up the largest gong to serve as a church-bell, after having sprinkled it with holy water. I remembered having read how the Moravian missionaries in Greenland put a stop to the dancing which formerly enlivened the long dark winter of that desolate region, and I asked myself why the Christian missionary, whether teaching in the icy gloom of the Arctic circle, or in brilliant sunshine on a palm-fringed strand, must forbid his converts to indulge in such a healthful and harmless recreation, in both cases almost the sole possible amusement. I could see no reason why the heathen should have all the fun. The labours of the missionary were, however, very much to the benefit of the Tagbanúas, as inducing them to settle down, build houses, and raise crops for their support.

The Spanish gun-boats had stopped the inroads of Moros by sea, and detachments of native troops along the coast stopped the raiding by land. For twenty years the Tagbanúas had suffered little, and for several years absolutely nothing from the Moros, yet they apparently could not realise their security, and were afraid to accumulate anything lest it should be taken from them. To the ravages of the pirate, there has succeeded the extortion of the usurer, and John Chinaman waxes fat whilst the wretched Tagbanúa starves.

Whilst travelling through the jungle I found some natives cutting canes, and my interpreter pointed out to me an emaciated couple, and assured me that during the famine of the previous season, these poor wretches had killed and eaten their own child to save their lives. What a state of things in a country where maize will grow up and give edible grain in forty-two days from the date of planting it! I trust that the change of government may result in some benefit to these poor people, and that a Governor or Protector of Aborigines may be appointed with absolute power who will check the abuses of the half-caste and Chinese usurers, and give the poor down-trodden Tagbanúas, at one time I firmly believe a comparatively civilised people, a chance to live and thrive.

Tandulanos.

The Tandulanos are physically similar to the Negritos, but less robust. They inhabit the shores of Palawan, being scattered along the western coast between the Bay of Malampaya and Caruray. They are more savage than the other races of the island, but they fulfil their engagements with rigorous exactness. They make rough canoes, and subsist principally on fish and shell-fish, and they do no cultivation. They are very skilful in the use of the harpoon which they employ for fishing. If they can obtain iron, they use it for their harpoon-points, otherwise they point them with the spike from the tail of a skate.

They use a most active poison on their harpoons and darts, so much so, that it is said to produce almost instantaneous death.

This poison is unknown to the other tribes. They refuse to sell their cerbatanas, or blow-pipes, from which they shoot their darts.