INTEREST, LOANS, AND PLEDGES
INTEREST
No interest is charged unless an express contract is made to that effect. In the case of a loan of paddy, however, even if no formal contract has been made, twice as much must be returned as was borrowed. Express contracts that call for interest are rather rare, as far as my observation goes, and when such contracts are made they are usually of a usurious nature, due, as I have noticed on several occasions, not so much to the desire for material gain, as to that of satisfying an old grudge against the borrower. In settlements that have had experience with the usurious methods of Christian natives, one finds here and there an individual who tries to follow the example set him by people that he looks up to. This practice is universally discountenanced, and, though it is submitted to under necessity in commercial dealings with Bisáyas, it gives rise to no inconsiderable ill feeling, a fact that explains, to my mind, the difficulties that Bisáyas experience in collecting from Christianized Manóbos, as also the killing of many a Bisáya in pre-American days. During my trading tour of 1908 there was universal complaint made to me by Manóbos of the upper Agúsan, upper Umaíam, and upper Argáwan Rivers against the system of usury employed by Bisáya traders, and many a time I heard this remark made concerning certain individuals: "We would kill him if we were not afraid of the Americans."
LOANS AND PLEDGES
With the exception of articles borrowed on condition that they are to be returned, loans are very rare in Manóboland. The most usual loan is that of paddy. Articles borrowed must be returned in as good a condition as that in which they were received.
I know of no leases among non-Christian Manóbos. Land is too plentiful to lease; other property is either sold or borrowed.
I have never known a material pledge to be given, but the custom of going bond seems to be very generally understood though not much practiced, as such a custom insinuates a distrust that does not seem to be pleasing to the Manóbo. A notable feature of the practice is the principle that the bondsman becomes the payer. I am inclined to think that this principle was taught to their mountain compeers by Bisáya and Christianized Manóbos who found in it a convenient expedient whereby to make the collection of debts easier and sure. On the strength of it, a chief or a more well-to-do member of the tribe becomes responsible for the debt of one whose surety he became.