A Visit to the Philippine Islands

by John Bowring

On entering a forest the Indian supplicated the demons not to molest him. The crackling of wood, the sight of a snake in a cottage newly built, were deemed presages of evil. In the house of a fisherman it was deemed improper to speak of a forest, in that of a huntsman of the sea. A pregnant woman was not allowed to cut her hair, lest her child should he horn hairless.

The price paid for a woman given in marriage was regulated by the position of the parties. The mother had a claim, as well as the nurse who had had charge of the childhood of the bride. Whatever expense the daughter had caused to the father he was entitled to recover from the bridegroom. Among opulent families there was a traditional price, such as the father or grandfather had paid for their wives. If the bride had no living parents, her price was paid to herself. Three days before the marriage the roof of the parental dwelling was extended, and an apartment, called a palapala, added for the wedding festival; the guests brought their presents to the bride, and, whatever the value, it was expected that when, on future occasions, the relations of hosts and guests were changed, an offering of not less value should be given. Among the ceremonies it was required that the lovers should eat from the same plate and drink from the same cup. Mutual pledges and promises of affection were given, and the catalona pronounced a benediction. Sad scenes of drunkenness and scandal are said to have followed the ceremony in the after festivities, which lasted three days. In the northern islands only one wife was allowed, but any number of handmaids and slaves; in the south, where, no doubt, Islamism was not without its influence, any number of legitimate wives was permitted: circumcision was also practised.

Hired mourners, as well as the members of the family, were gathered round the corpse, and sang hymns proclaiming the virtues of the dead. The body was washed, perfumed, dressed and sometimes embalmed. The poor were speedily buried in the silong over which their huts were constructed. The rich were kept for several days, laid out in a coffin made of a solid trunk, the mouth covered with gold-leaf, and the place of sepulture any favourite spot which the deceased might have selected; if on the bank of a river, the passage of boats was interdicted for some time, lest the dead should interfere with the concerns of the living, and a guard had charge of the tomb, near which the garments, usual food and arms of the departed were placed in a separate box—in the case of a woman, her loom and instruments of labour. Where a chief of distinction was interred, a building was erected, in which two goats, two deer, and two pigs were imprisoned and a fettered slave belonging to the deceased, who was ordered to accompany his master to the other world, and died a miserable death of starvation. It was supposed on the third day after the interment that the dead man visited his family: a vase of water was placed at the door, that he might wash and free himself from the dirt of the grave; a wax light was left burning through the day; mats were spread and covered with ashes, that the footmarks of the dead might be traced; and the door was opened at the accustomed time of meals, and a splendid repast laid out for the expected visitor. No doubt it was disposed of by the attendants in the same way as other costly sacrifices. The Indians of the north put on black, those of the south white, mourning robes.

INDIAN FUNERAL.

In the administration of justice the elders were consulted, but there was no code of laws, and the missionaries affirm that the arbitrators of quarrels were generally but too well paid for their awards. Murder committed by a slave was punished with death—committed by a person of rank, was indemnified by payments to the injured family. When a robbery took place, all the suspected persons were ordered to bring a load of grass; these loads were mixed in a heap, and if the stolen article was found it was restored to the owner, and no inquiry made as to the bringer of the bundle in which it was concealed. If this method failed, they flung all the suspected into a river, and held him to be guilty who came first to the surface, on the theory that remorse would not allow him to keep his breath. Many are said to have been drowned in order to escape the ignominy of rising out of the water. They sometimes placed candles of equal length in the hands of all the accused, and he was held to be guilty whose candle first went out. Another mode was to gather the accused round a light, and he towards whom the flames turned was condemned as the criminal. Adultery was condoned for by fine to the wronged persons.

Gold was used by weight as the medium of exchange, but there was no coined or stamped currency. The largest weight was called a gael, but it represented a dollar and a quarter in silver, nearly corresponding to the Chinese ounce or tael; a gael consisted of two tinga, a tinga of two sapaha;[2] a sapaha was divided into sangraga, a very small bean, which was the minimum weight. Accounts were kept by heaps of stones of different sizes. Their measures were the dipa (brace = 6 feet), the dancal (palm), tumuro (span), sangdamac (breadth of the hand), sangdati (breadth of the finger). Thus, as among many rude nations (the vestiges are still to be traced in the phraseology of civilization) every man carried with him his standard of mensuration.

Time was reckoned by suns and moons, in the Philippines as in China. In Chinese the same words designate day and sun, moon and month, harvest and year. The morning was called “cock-crowing,” the evening “sun-leaving.”

No Indian passed another without a salutation and a bending of the left knee. An inferior entering the house of a superior crouched down until ordered to rise. Earrings were worn by women and sometimes by men; the chiefs had coloured turbans, scarlet if they had killed an enemy, striped if they had killed seven or more. Peace was made by the mingling blood with wine, and each drank of the blood of the other. This was the most solemn of their oaths.

Chastity seems to have been unknown, though a price was always exacted for a woman’s favours.