GENERAL PHYSICAL TYPE
In general, the Manóbo man is of athletic build and of strong constitution, although he is often short of stature. His muscular development denotes activity, speed, and endurance rather than great strength. Corpulency and prominence of the abdomen are never present, so far as I have observed. His skin, as a rule, is of a reddish-brown color that turns to a somewhat dark brown after long exposure to the sun, as in the case of those who engage in fishing in the lake region.
The hair is abundant, long, black, straight, and coarse. As we approach the domains of the Mañgguáñgans and of the Mamánuas, the hair is a little less abundant and shows traces of curliness. Occasional waviness may be observed also among those Manóbos who live near the territory of the Mandáyas, Debabáons, and Mansákas.
Beard and body hair are not abundant. In this respect the Manóbo differs from the Mandáya and from the Banuáon, both of whom have a more copious growth (though I can not be definite as regards the latter people), and, in some cases, beards that are abundant enough to suggest admixture with white people.
The head appears to be well developed, being rather high and arched, as compared with that of the average Bisáya.1 There is no flattening of the occiput. This roundness of the posterior part of the cranium, due, as Montano2 states, to the prominence of the parietal bumps, becomes very apparent when comparison is made with the heads of Bisáyas of other islands. The occipital arch of the latter is invariably flattened.
1In physical comparisons between Manóbos and Bisáyas no reference is made to the Bisáyas of eastern Mindanáo, the great majority of whom are undoubtedly of Manóbo or other pagan origin.
2Une Mission aux Philippines, 349,1906.
Owing to the prominence of the jawbones and to the above-mentioned height of the cranium, the face is decidedly lozenge-shaped, a feature that distinguishes it, on the one hand, from the long face of the Mandáya and of the Banuáon and, on the other, from the short, round face of the Mamánua and of the Mañgguáñgan. Montano3 says that this peculiar shape is due to the development of the zygomatic arches or cheek bones and to the diminution of the minimum frontal line, that is, the shortest transverse measurement of the forehead.
3Loc. cit.
Prognathism is marked but variable according to the testimony of Montano, who took the anthropometrical measurements of many crania which he obtained from caves in northeastern Mindanáo.