6 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN lM ""°R? ? xxin. 



THE MANSAKAS 



The Mansakas do not seem to me to be as distinct tribally as are the Man6bos and Mandayas. 

 It would appear from their physical appearance and other characteristics that they should be 

 classed as Mandayas, or as a subtribe of Mandayas with whom they form one dialect group. 

 I judge them to be the result of intermarriage between the Mangguangans and the Mandayas. 

 They occupy the Mawab River Valley and the region included between the Hijo, Mawab, and 

 Madawan Rivers. They are probably the people whom Montano called Tagabawas, but I 

 think that this designation was perhaps a mistaken form of Tagabaas, an appellation given to 

 Mangguangans who live in the bd-as, or prickly swamp-grass, that abounds at the headwaters 

 of the Manat River. 



THE DEBABAONS 



The Debabaons are probably a hybrid group forming a dialect group with the Man6bos of 

 the Ihawan and Baobo, and a culture group in dress and other features with the Mandayas. 

 They claim relationship with Man6bos, and follow Man6bo religious beliefs and practices to a 

 great extent. For this reason I have retained the name that they apply to themselves, until 

 their tribal identity can be clearly determined. They inhabit the upper half of the Salug River 

 Valley and the country that lies to the west of it as far as the Baobo River. 



THE MANDAYAS 



These form the greatest and best tribe in eastern Mindanao. 21 One who visits the Man- 

 dayas of the middle Kati'il can not fail to be struck with the fairness of complexion, the browuness 

 of the hair, the diminutiveness of the hands and feet, and the large eyes with long lashes that are 

 characteristic of many of these people. Here and there, too, one finds a distinctly Caucasian 

 type. Iu psychological characteristics they stand out still more sharply from any tribe or group 

 of people that I know in eastern Mindanao. Shrewd and diplomatic on the one hand, they 

 are an affectionate, good-natured and straight-forward people, with little of the timidity and 

 cautiousness of the Man6bo. Their religious instincts are so highly developed that they are 

 inclined to be fanatical at times. 



On the whole, the impression made upon me in my long and intimate dealings with the 

 Mandayas of the Kati'il, Manorigao, and Karaga Rivers is that they are a brave, intelligent, 



" It Is very interesting to not© that the people called Taga-balo6yes and referred to by so many of the writers on Mindanao can be none other than 

 the Mandayas. Thus San Antonio (Blair and Robertson, 40: 407, 1906) states that ' ' the Taga-balooyes take their name from some mountains which 

 are located in the interior of the jurisdiction of Caraga. They are not very far distant from and trade with the villages of (Karaga) and some, indeed, 

 live in them who have become Christians. * • * These people, as has been stated above, are the descendants of lately arrived Japanese. This 

 is the opinion of all the religious who have lived there and bad intercourse with them and the same is a tradition among themselves, and they desired 

 to be so considered. And it would seem that one is convinced of it on seeing them: for they are light complexioned, well-built, lusty, very reliable 

 In their dealings, respectful, and very valiant, but not restless. So I am informed by one who has had much to do with them: and above all these 

 are the qualities which we find in the Japanese." 



In further proof, Father Pedro de San Francisco de Assis (ibid. 41: 138, et seq.) says: "The nearest nation to our village [Bislig] is that of the 

 Taga-balooyes who are so named from certain mountains that they call Balooy. * • • They are a corpulent race, well built, of great courage 

 and strength, and they are at the same time of good understanding, and more than halfway industrious. Their nation is faithful in its treaties 

 and constant in its promises, as they are descendants, so they pride themselves, of the Japanese, whom they resemble in complexion, countenance, 

 and manners." The writer describes briefly their houses and their manner of life, and mentions in particular the device they make use of in the 

 construction of their ladders. It is interesting to note that the same device is still made use of by the more well-to-do Mandayas on the Karaga, 

 Manorigao, and Kati'il Elvers. In other respects their character, as described, is very similar to that of the present Mandayas of the Kati'il River 

 who in physical type present characteristics that mark them as being a people of a superior race. 



In Medina's historia (Blair and Roberston, 24: 175, 1906,) we find it related that Captain Juan Nifio de Tabora mistreated the chief of the Taga- 

 balooyes in Karaga and that as a result the captain, Father Jacinto Cor, and 12 soldiers were killed. Subsequently four more men of the religious 

 order were killed and two others wounded and captured by the Taga-bahoyes. 



Zuniga in Estadismo (ibid. 2: 71, et teq.) notes the fairness of complexion of the Taga-balooyes, a tribe living in the mountains of Balooy in Karaga. 



Father Manual Buzeta in Diccionario geografico-estadfstico-historieo de las Islas Filipinas (1: 506, 1905) makes the same observation, but M. 

 Felix Renouard de Sainte Croix in Voyage commercial et politique aux Indes Orientales (1803-1809) goes further still by drawing attention to these 

 people as meriting distinction for superior mentality. 



The Jesuit missionary Pastells in 1883 (Cartas de los PP. de la Compafila de Jesus, 4: 212, 1884) writes that the people above Manresa (south- 

 eastern Mindanao) are perhaps of Moro origin but bettered by a strain of noble blood, which their very appearance seems to him to indicate. In 

 support of this view he cites the authority of Santayana, who claims Japanese descent for them and repudiates the opinion of those who attribute 

 Hollandish descent. In a footnote, the above celebrated missionary and scholar adds that the town of Kinablangan (a town on the east coast of 

 Mindanao) owes its origin to a party of Europeans who were shipwrecked on Point Bagoso and took up their abode in that place, intermarrying 

 with the natives. I was informed by a Bisaya trader, the only one that ever went among the mountain Mandayas, that he had seen a circular, 

 clocklike article with strange letters upon it in a settlement on the middle Kati'il. The following year I made every effort to see it, but I could not 

 prevail upon the possessors to show it to me. They asserted that they had lost it. It is probable that this object was a ship's compass. 



