* * * * * * *
ART. 3. Two years after the pueblo shall have been formed the inhabitants thereof shall pay a moderate tribute, which shall not for the present exceed one real per head, the youths and children being excepted, obtaining in compensation the usufruct of the lands which they may hold as their own property so long as they do not abandon the cultivation, being able to sell to others under the same conditions with the knowledge of the authority of the district.
ART. 4. Said authorities and also the priests shall maintain the greatest zeal and vigilance that the Christian pueblos do not intrude on those of the infidels or Negritos, neither that individuals live among them nor that they harass or molest them on any pretext whatsoever under penalty of being punished. * * *
ART. 5. As I have understood that if the Negritos refuse social life it is on account of their being warned by the Christians who employ them in cutting wood, bamboo, and bejuco, and in the collection of other products of the woods which they inhabit, the chiefs of the provinces and the justices of the peace shall take care that no one enters into such contracts with the Negritos without competent authorization, leaving his name in a register in order that if he fail to pay the true value of the articles satisfactory to the Negritos or mistreats them it will be possible to fix the blame on him and to impose the proper penalty.
Article 6 states that—
It shall not be necessary for the Negritos to embrace the Catholic faith, but the priests shall go among them to examine their condition and learn their needs and teach them the advantages of civil life and the importance of religion.
Article 7 provides for a report every three months from those officers in charge of such districts.
This all sounds very well, and if carried out might have succeeded in improving the condition of the unfortunate Negritos, but we can not find that the provincial officials showed great zeal in complying with the executive request.
On January 14, 1881, a decree very similar to this was issued. The first part of this decree related to the newly converted or “sometidos.” But article 7 authorized the provincial authorities to offer in the name of the State to Aetas and other pagans the following advantages in exchange for voluntary submission: Life in pueblos; unity of families; concession of good lands and direction in cultivating them in the manner which they wished and which would be most productive; maintenance and clothing during one year; respect for their usages and customs so far as they did not oppose the natural law; to leave to their own wishes whether or not they should become Christians; to buy or facilitate the sale of their crops; exemption from contributions and tributes for ten years and lastly, government by local officials elected by themselves under the direct dependency of the head of the province or district.
These provisions were certainly liberal enough, but they bore little fruit so far as the Negritos were concerned. Being sent out as circulars to the chiefs of all provinces, such decrees received scant attention, each provincial head probably preferring to believe that they were meant for someone else. Although it sounded well on paper, the difficulties in the way of successful compliance with such an order were many. But in one way and another the authorities sought to reach the hill tribes, though it must be confessed they were actuated rather by a desire to preserve peace in their provinces and to protect the plainsmen from the plundering raids of the savages than by motives of philanthropy in improving the condition of the latter.