THE MANSÁKAS
The Mansákas do not seem to me to be as distinct tribally as are the Manóbos and Mandáyas. It would appear from their physical appearance and other characteristics that they should be classed as Mandáyas, or as a subtribe of Mandáyas with whom they form one dialect group. I judge them to be the result of intermarriage between the Mañgguáñgans and the Mandáyas. They occupy the Mawab River Valley and the region included between the Hijo, Mawab, and Madawan Rivers. They are probably the people whom Montano called Tagabawas, but I think that this designation was perhaps a mistaken form of Tagabaas, an appellation given to Mañgguáñgans who live in the bá-as, or prickly swamp-grass, that abounds at the headwaters of the Mánat River.
THE DEBABÁONS
The Debabáons are probably a hybrid group forming a dialect group with the Manóbos of the Ihawán and Baóbo, and a culture group in dress and other features with the Mandáyas. They claim relationship with Manóbos, and follow Manóbo religious beliefs and practices to a great extent. For this reason I have retained the name that they apply to themselves, until their tribal identity can be clearly determined. They inhabit the upper half of the Sálug River Valley and the country that lies to the west of it as far as the Baóbo River.
THE MANDÁYAS
These form the greatest and best tribe in eastern Mindanáo.21 One who visits the Mandáyas of the middle Kati'il can not fail to be struck with the fairness of complexion, the brownness of the hair, the diminutiveness of the hands and feet, and the large eyes with long lashes that are characteristic of many of these people. Here and there, too, one finds a distinctly Caucasian type. In psychological characteristics they stand out still more sharply from any tribe or group of people that I know in eastern Mindanáo. Shrewd and diplomatic on the one hand, they are an affectionate, good-natured and straight-forward people, with little of the timidity and cautiousness of the Manóbo. Their religious instincts are so highly developed that they are inclined to be fanatical at times.
21It is very interesting to note that the people called Taga-baloóyes and referred to by so many of the writers on Mindanáo can be none other than the Mandáyas. Thus San Antonio (Blair and Robertson, 40: 407, 1906) states that "the Taga-baloóyes take their name from some mountains which are located in the interior of the jurisdiction of Caraga. They are not very far distant from and trade with the villages of (Karága) and some, indeed, live in them who have become Christians. * * * These people, as has been stated above, are the descendants of lately arrived Japanese. This is the opinion of all the religious who have lived there and had intercourse with them and the same is a tradition among themselves, and they desired to be so considered. And it would seem that one is convinced of it on seeing them: for they are light complexioned, well-built, lusty, very reliable in their dealings, respectful, and very valiant, but not restless. So I am informed by one who has had much to do with them: and above all these are the qualities which we find in the Japanese."
In further proof, Father Pedro de San Francisco de Assis (ibid. 41: 138, et seq.) says: "The nearest nation to our village [Bislig] is that of the Taga-baloóyes who are so named from certain mountains that they call Balooy. * * * They are a corpulent race, well built, of great courage and strength, and they are at the same time of good understanding, and more than halfway industrious. Their nation is faithful in its treaties and constant in its promises, as they are descendants, so they pride themselves, of the Japanese, whom they resemble in complexion, countenance, and manners." The writer describes briefly their houses and their manner of life, and mentions in particular the device they make use of in the construction of their ladders. It is interesting to note that the same device is still made use of by the more well-to-do Mandáyas on the Karága, Manorigao, and Kati'il Rivers. In other respects their character, as described, is very similar to that of the present Mandáyas of the Kati'il River who in physical type present characteristics that mark them as being a people of a superior race.
In Medina's historia (Blair and Roberston, 24:175, 1906,) we find it related that Captain Juan Niño de Tabora mistreated the chief of the Taga-baloóyes in Karága and that as a result the captain, Father Jacinto Cor, and 12 soldiers were killed. Subsequently four more men of the religious order were killed and two others wounded and captured by the Taga-baloóyes.
Zuñiga in Estadismo (ibid. 2:71, et seq.) notes the fairness of complexion of the Taga-baloóyes, a tribe living in the mountains of Balooy in Karága.
Father Manual Buzeta in Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de las Islas Filipinas (1: 506, 1905) makes the same observation, but M. Felix Renouard de Sainte Croix in Voyage commercial et politique aux Indes Orientales (1803-1809) goes further still by drawing attention to these people as meriting distinction for superior mentality.
The Jesuit missionary Pastells in 1883 (Cartas de los PP. de la Compañía de Jesús, 4:212, 1884) writes that the people above Manresa (southeastern Mindanáo) are perhaps of Moro origin but bettered by a strain of noble blood, which their very appearance seems to him to indicate. In support of this view he cites the authority of Santayana, who claims Japanese descent for them and repudiates the opinion of those who attribute Hollandish descent. In a footnote, the above celebrated missionary and scholar adds that the town of Kinablangan (a town on the east coast of Mindanáo) owes its origin to a party of Europeans who were shipwrecked on Point Bagoso and took up their abode in that place, intermarrying with the natives. I was informed by a Bisáya trader, the only one that ever went among the mountain Mandáyas, that he had seen a circular, clocklike article with strange letters upon it in a settlement on the middle Kati'il. The following year I made every effort to see it, but I could not prevail upon the possessors to show it to me. They asserted that they had lost it. It is probable that this object was a ship's compass.
[Transcriber's note: The preceding six paragraphs are all part of footnote 21.]