THE SYSTEM OF FINES
It is not intended here to consider the system of fines as penalties for voluntary wrongdoings but only as punishments for certain little acts of forgetfulness or of omission that might be construed as conscious acts of disrespect. The system is a very strange one and, to our way of thinking, very harsh, productive sometimes of bad feeling and even of more serious results.
Instances that have passed under my personal observation will illustrate the system. Thus, on one occasion an acquaintance of mine left the house without making his intention known to those present. While he was under the house, one of the guests happened to spit through the floor upon the clothes of the man underneath. Upon his return he identified the guilty one both by his position in the house, and by the quality of the chewing material he was using. The case was discussed at length and it was decided that for carelessness the guilty one should make material reparation in the form of a chicken and some drink.
Again, the dog of a certain individual on the upper Agúsan was guilty of soiling the clothes of a person that happened to be working under the house. As the owner of the sick dog (it had been mangled by a wild boar) had been previously warned of the possibility of something untoward happening, he was fined and was condemned to make further reparation in the form of a convivial meeting in order to remove the ill feeling.
Instances of fines that were imposed on me will illustrate the principle involved. Upon my arrival in new regions I was almost invariably called upon to pay a certain amount, on the ground that I had had no permission to enter the settlement, or that the local deities had been displeased at my visit, or that I was a spy, or for some other reason. The refusal to pay was always accepted after lengthy explanations and after the distribution of a few trifling gifts to the more vehement members of the settlement, but in one case arms were drawn and I had to take my stand with, back to the wall and await developments.
Other instances in which unintentional disrespect toward the person or property of anyone was displayed might be adduced to profusion. It will suffice to say, however, that such acts as the following, even when unintentional, lay the agent under a liability, the commercial value of which must be determined by the circumstances and very frequently by formal arbitration: Spitting upon, or otherwise soiling another; rudely seizing the person of another; unbecoming treatment of another's property, especially of his clothes, as when, for instance, one steps upon another's shirt; opening another's betel-nut knapsack or other concealed property; borrowing things without formal announcement and due permission; going into certain places interdicted by the owner, as bathing, for instance, in that part of a river which the owner has forbidden the use of,7 or visiting his rice granary; and using disrespectful language, even in joke, about another, as, for instance, speaking of one as an insect, a Mañgguáñgan.8
7Due, presumably, to the fact that the place, usually a deep pool, is the abode of a water wraith.
8This is a term of reproach when applied to a Manóbo.
These interdictions are necessary among the Manóbos in order that in their social dealings with one another proper deference may be shown toward their person and property. For were a mere "pardon me" a sufficient reparation for an act, however unintentional, advantage might be taken of it to inflict a thousand and one little incivilities that would serve to arouse the relentless spirit of revenge that centuries of feuds have instilled into the Manóbo character.