No mention is here made of such luxuries as shoes, hats, or European clothes on which gains of from 500 to 1,000 per cent are the rule. Neither have various other usuries been included, such as high interest or payment of expenses in case of delays, all of which go to swell the gain that a Bisáya considers his right and his privilege when he has to deal with beings whom he hardly classes as men.
Among the Manóbos the credit system almost invariably prevails, based upon the sacredness with which the Manóbo pays his debts. It is true that the Christianized Manóbo occasionally is not very scrupulous in this respect, but this is because he has been fleeced so much by his Christian brethren.
Arriving in a settlement, the trader displays only a part of his wares at a time. If he has two pieces of cloth, he displays only one. Of five sacks of rice, only two are his, he claims. In answering the inquiry as to whether he has dried fish, he says that he has just a little for his personal use, for the price of it in Butuán was prohibitive. On being besought to sell a little, he secretly orders it taken out from the jar and delivered to his customer, at an outrageous price. The object of this simulation is to hasten the sales of his wares, for should he display all his stock, many of his customers might prefer to wait in hopes of a reduction in prices, a sort of a diminutive "clearance sale."
As the article for which the exchange is made is nearly always abaká fiber, it is evident that a certain period, longer or shorter according to the amount of fiber contracted for, must be allowed the customer. When this period exceeds a week, the stipulation is made that the payment shall be made in installments. A shorter period is allowed than is necessary for the stripping of the hemp, under the pretense that the trader is in a hurry to leave the settlement and catch a certain steamer with which he deals. This is a prudent precaution as the Manóbo is not very methodical in his affairs nor quick in his movements. A thousand and one things--omens, sickness, bad weather--may delay him in the fulfillment of his contract. It is this tardiness that gives rise to the ill feeling and bickering that are not infrequently the outcome of this system of trading. The Manóbo, moreover, has long since become aware of the stupendous gain made by the traders, and, when not dealt with gently, becomes exasperated and on occasions deliberately delays his creditor. Then again, some other trader may have got into the settlement in the meantime and seduced him into buying, cash down, some more enticing article, for this primitive man, like the rest of the world, often buys what he lays his eyes upon without any thought of the future. For this reason, the trader keeps close observation upon all who owe him, almost daily visiting their houses and profiting by the occasion to help himself to whatever little fish or meat or other edibles he may find therein. One who has been in debt a long time is a favorite victim, for when he is unable to pay his debt on time he is shamelessly required to offer a substantial apology6 in the form of a chicken or some other edible.
6Ba-lí-bad.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF TRADING
In general, there was no established system in the Agúsan Valley as far as the dealings of Bisáyas went. The constant fluctuation of prices was a sufficient explanation of this. Thus, rice might be worth 13 centavos per kilogram in Butuán, while at the same time it might command a price of 43 centavos on the Híbung River or in Veruéla. Salted fish might be selling in Butuán for a trifle, whereas up the Simúlau a jar of it at retail might be worth 20 or 30 sacks of paddy. In general the increase in price of a commodity was in direct proportion to its distance from points of distribution. By points of distribution are meant the Chinese stores in Butuán and Talakógon.
Again the old-time custom of selling paddy at a fixed customary price held the Manóbo in commercial servitude to his Bisáya compeer. This was due to the intense conservatism of the Manóbo and to his peculiar religious tenets in this regard, both of which were fostered and sustained by the tribal priests and encouraged by Bisáyas. Could he have been induced to retain his paddy instead of selling it at 50 centavos per sack he would not have been obliged to repurchase at P5 per sack. The same might be said of his tobacco, which he sold wholesale by the bamboo joint at 25 centavos each, or, at most, at a peso each, and which he repurchased, paying, in times of scarcity, 20 centavos for enough to chew a few times.
The credit system, too, was an impediment to his financial advance. It seems to have been a tribal institution. During my trading tour I frequently heard my Manóbo debtors proclaim boastingly to their fellow tribesmen that I had much confidence in their integrity.