The Manóbo who could gain the confidence of the traders and accumulate his debts seemed to be an honored person, but when he was able to make sufficient payment to satisfy his creditors he was a great man. Hence, the traders played upon his vanity and advanced him such commodities as he desired, seldom obliging him to settle in full his obligations, and induced him to accept on credit a certain amount so as to retain him in bondage to them. It must not be imagined that there was anything tyrannical in the manner of collecting outstanding debts. On the contrary, it was almost always done in a gentle diplomatic way, the trader knowing full well that the Manóbo regarded a debt as sacred and that he would finally pay it. But it must not be supposed that the transactions were entirely free from disputes and quarrels. It happened occasionally that the Manóbo detected the frauds in his creditor's accounting or remembered omissions of his own in a past reckoning, and so the bickering began, the Bisáya never caring to admit his errors or frauds, while the Manóbo, who is a hard and fast bargainer, insisted on claiming what he considered his rights. As a rule, the matter was settled peaceably by the principal men of the region. Numerous instances, however, occurred wherein the Manóbo, exasperated by the numerous frauds of his creditor, awaited a favorable occasion to dispatch him. On the whole, it may be said that differences which arose between Bisáyas and their mountain compeers in eastern Mindanáo are to be attributed in no small degree to the ruinous, relentless exploitation of the unsophisticated, untutored Manóbo by the greedy Bisáya traffickers.
INTERNAL COMMERCIAL RELATIONS
By internal trading is meant those simple transactions that take place between Manóbo and Manóbo. The subject presents a striking contrast to the merciless system adopted by the Christian traders in their dealings with their pagan congeners.
The transactions are simple exchanges of the absolute necessities of life.
MONEY AND SUBSTITUTES FOR IT
There is little conception of money as such among the hillmen unless they have been in contact with Christian or Christianized traders, and even then although monetary terms are made use of, there is but a vague conception of the real value of what they represent. I asked a Manóbo of the upper Wá-wa the price of his little bamboo lime tube. The answer was 30 pesos.
Money, therefore, has no value as a circulating medium, although it may be prized as a material out of which to make rings and other ornamental objects. As substitutes, there are several units of more or less indefinite value. Thus, the value of a slave which, expressed in monetary value, varies between 15 and 30 pesos, is mentioned in connection with large fines and with marriage payments. Again, plates of the type called píñggan are referred to in small fines and in other payments, but as these are imported articles the price varies. On the whole, however, 100 píñggan are worth a good serviceable slave--that is, 30 pesos. Pigs also are mentioned as a unit of value, but here again the value is not wholly definite, as a great many of them are imported and vary with the purchasing price.