academy of sciences] SURV EY OF MATERIAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL CULTURE 25 



payment though at a paltry price — these were the main features of the system. It may be 

 said that the resultant and final gain amounted to between 500 and 1,000 per cent. 



The bartering was carried on in a spirit of dissimulation, the Manobo being cozened into 

 the idea that the sale was an act of friendship and involved a comparative loss on the part of 

 the Bisaya. A period, more or less extended, was allowed him wherein to complete the payment, 

 with a promise of further liberal advances. 



Since the Manobo has become aware of the stupendous gain of the Bisaya, he is not so 

 prompt in his payments and in fact often thwarts his creditor by deliberate delays. Hence 

 the frequent bickerings, quarrels, and ill will that are ever a result of these commercial relations. 



It is needless to say that throughout the valley there was most undue fluctuation of prices. 

 Moreover, the Man6bo sold a part of his rice in harvest time at 50 centavos a sack, and in time 

 of scarcity repurchased it at as much as 5 pesos. 



The internal commerce of the Manobos presents, on the whole, a very different spectacle. 

 It consists in simple exchanges. There is no circulating medium. The units of exchange 

 are slaves (valued at from 15 to 30 pesos each), pigs, and plates, but with the exception of the 

 first, these units are not constant in value. 



The measures used are the gdntang, a cylindrical wooden vessel with a capacity of from 10 

 to 15 liters; the Tcabdn, 1 which contains 25 gdntang; the yard, measured from the end of the 

 thumb to the middle of the sternum; the span, the fathom, the finger, and the finger joint. 



Slavery is a recognized institution, but since the diminution of intertribal and interclan 

 wars the number of slaves has diminished. Slaves were originally obtained by capture and 

 then passed from hand to hand in making marriage payments. It sometimes occurs, in an 

 exigency, that a man delivers a child, even his own, into captivity. 



The slave is generally not ill-treated but has to do all the work that is assigned to him. He 

 has no rights of any kind, possesses no property except a threadbare suit, and is usually not 

 allowed to marry. However, he receives a sufficiency of food and seems to be contented with 

 his lot. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 



General principles and various laws. — It is frequently stated by Bisayas and others that 

 Manobo justice consists in the oppression of the weak by the strong, but I have not found this 

 to be true. The Manobo is too independent and too much a lover of revenge to brook coercion. 

 He recognizes a set of customary rules, and any departure from them is resented by himself 

 and by his relatives. 



Nearly all violations of rights are considered as civil and not as criminal wrongs, and upon 

 due compensation are condoned. Failure on the part of the offender to make this compensation 

 leads the aggrieved man and his relatives to take justice into their own hands. 



The guilty one in nearly every case is allowed a fair and impartial hearing in the presence 

 of his own relatives. The matter is argued out, witnesses are called, and the offender's own 

 relatives generally exert their influence to make him yield with good will. Hence the feast 

 that follows nearly every case of successful arbitration. 



One of the fundamental customs of the Manobos is to regard as a duty the payment of one's 

 debts, and this duty is performed sacredly and often at a sacrifice. Another fundamental 

 custom is the right of revenge. Revenge is a sacred duty that is bequeathed from generation 

 to generation, and from it result the long and terrible feuds that have devastated Manoboland. 



Customary law is based on the intense conservation of the Manobo, fostered by the priests 

 and strengthened by a system of religious injunctions and interdictions. Anyone who violates 

 these taboos or interdictions becomes liable for all evil consequences that may follow. 



Property rights are understood and rigidly upheld, so much so that there seems to be no 

 conception of a gift as such. Large tracts of land are considered the property of a clan, but 

 anyone on good terms with the clan may settle on the land and may have all the rights of a clans- 

 man except those of fishing. Each individual becomes the temporary owner of the land that he 



i Called also bikid and anega. A kabdn Is measured by counting out 25 gdntaHg. 



