CHAPTER VII
Missions to the Zambals
Along the provinces of Pangasinan and Pampanga, fronting their western side, there dwells another tribe, which they call Zambal, no less fierce than those already mentioned, and exceeding them in boldness. They are continually assaulting travelers, and they take their greatest pleasure in killing. So continual are their descents from the mountains to infest the said roads that it is only with great peril that one can cross from one province to the other without an escort; and even then many mishaps occur frequently; for these bandits lie hidden in the thickets and ravines at the sides of the road, and, when one of them gives a yell, all discharge their arrows, in the management of which they are very skilful; and, felling to the ground those whom they can reach, they cut off the heads of these, and carry them away in order to celebrate their feasts. They are also wont to approach the villages by night, and in hiding to wait for any person who strays from the rest and leaves the village early; then they do the same with him, be his rank what it may; afterward they take the skull of the slain man’s head and use it for a drinking-vessel, in the same manner as did the Scythians, as Ravisius Textor and Plinius relate.
This tribe obtain their living generally from the hunting of deer, wild swine and buffaloes, and from the honey produced by the innumerable bees which are in those extensive forests and shut-in mountains. They are accustomed also to plant certain potatoes, which here we call Malagan potatoes, and there are named camote, the seed of which, with the name, was carried [thither] from Nueva España; but they care little for the said planting, because without any work of their own the Author of Nature provides them with a kind of wild palm, so useful and profitable that this tree alone admirably displays the wisdom of its Creator—for what it spontaneously yields is a thing to cause astonishment, and would even be incredible to one who did not see it. [Mozo here cites several authors regarding the uses of the palm in other countries, but says, “all this is nothing compared to the palms which we are going to describe; accordingly, for the praise of the Creator, I am going to give a full account of the said tree,” which he accordingly does. The palm referred to is the buri,[24] or sago-palm; its farinaceous product is called yoro in Pampangan, and in Tagálog sagu. He describes the native method of fire-making among these people, as follows: “They take two splinters of a kind of bamboo, very thick and tall, which grows in abundance throughout the forests there, and along the creeks; and, scraping the outer surface of one of these a little with a knife, they make tinder of the shavings. Then they make a notch in the splinter with which they must rub the other one; and, placing on its outside that which serves for tinder, they make the other splinter firm, placing it on edge against some tree, first paring its upper edge thin, like a knife-blade. This done, with the other and notched splinter (and the tinder filling the notch) they begin, holding it flat, to rub the lower one very hard. In less than two minutes it begins to smoke, and is fully kindled; they breathe upon it to raise a flame, and, feeding this with dry leaves, grass, and little sticks, in a very short time they make a fierce blaze.”[25] Mozo also describes some vegetable medicines used by the natives. Among these wild people were sent missionaries, Fray Gonzalo de Salazar and others; these form villages with their converts—“Magalang, Tarlac, Bucsic, and Panlinlan, in which there are more than seven hundred families, as appears from the original register, made in the past year of 1759, of which I have a legal copy.” In 1728, Fray Juan Velloxin formed the village of Tunàs; and in 1755 Fray Sebastian Morono established those of Pandolan, Garlit, San Miguèl, and another one. Besides these, many converts removed their residence to other Christian villages. Mozo notices, as a curious phenomenon, that among these Zambals are certain persons who are immune to the bites of poisonous animals and insects—as he thinks, because of some quality of their “humors,” or of their physical conditions; he cites therefor Pliny and other writers, and various instances of which he has known personally. He also describes the cure of these poisonous bites by sucking out the poison, which act (as also the person who does it) is called, in Pampangan, tavac; but the ability to accomplish this he ascribes to some peculiarity of temperament or physique on the part of the healer.]
CHAPTER VIII
Missions to the Balugas,[26] or Aetas
Besides the aforesaid missions, the province maintains another, scattered through all the islands, to a class of people who, it is believed (and with no small reason), were in olden times the masters of the entire land. One of the grounds for this belief is, that in all the islands (which are very many) these people maintain an identical language, and different from those of all the other peoples among whom they live; while the other natives of each island have a language different [from those spoken in other islands], and even in some places (as is evident throughout all this treatise) are encountered at every turn different dialects in the same island. Another argument is drawn from the similarity which there is between the peoples of those islands and the Malayos, and even in their respective languages—these Malayos are natives of Maluco, and are quite energetic and warlike—excepting the people of whom we now speak. From this it has been inferred that these blacks ruled that country; and that the said Malayos, coming to it and subduing its former masters, compelled them to retire to the bush and the mountain heights, abandoning the rest of the country to the conquerors.
These people of whom we speak are very dark in color, not black like those of Angola; neither have they thick lips, or curly and short hair, like them. But their color is a brownish or pallid [descolorido] black, their hair like that of a mulatto; their lips are not thick; many of them are very corpulent, and all have large abdomens, and generally both men and women appear feeble. All go naked, with no other covering than a long strip like a narrow sash, with which, tied round the waist and drawn between the legs, the men cover their private parts; while the women wear a sort of apron, which covers them behind and before as far as the knees. Both sexes make these coverings from the bark of a tree which they call balete; stripping off its bark, which is very smooth and flexible, they place it in water, afterward beating it in order to loosen the outer layer; then washing and drying it, it remains of the color and softness of a chamois-skin, although it is thin. They keep this on until it wears out, and when they can no longer use it they repair to the shop in the grove, to look for another in their storehouse.
The nature and peculiarities of these Balugas are described by the reverend father, former provincial of the Philipinas, our father Fray Vicente Ibarra, in the report of the missions which he made to the governor of those islands, Don Fernando Valdés Tamon, in the year 1738. He says, then, speaking of these people: “The third mission which is in these mountains is very arduous, not so much on account of the toilsome roads as because the people have less intellect than [any other that] is known in these islands; for this reason it has not been possible to introduce them into any civilization, although those who are baptized are numerous. Their maintenance in the faith is so difficult that it cannot easily be explained after the no small expenses that are incurred; for all the time while the ministers are devoting themselves to their instruction it is necessary to support the fathers, furnishing to them rice, meat, wine, and tobacco, along with some trinkets for the women and children. For those people have neither house nor fields, nor any furniture save the bow and arrow and some heavy knives [machetes], with which they are continually seeking their food, without reserving anything for another day.”
[Mozo adds other information, acquired during his residence of three years among the Negritos; but precedes it by various citations from learned authors. Returning to his subject, he says:]