academy of sciences] RELIGIOUS IDEAS AND MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS 31 



Knowledge of astronomy is limited among the Man6bos to the names of a few of the princi- 

 pal stars and constellations. The nature of the stars, moon, sun, eclipses, and kindred phe- 

 nomena are all explained in mythological tales, from a belief in which no amount of reasoning can 

 move them. The old story that the comet is the harbinger or bearer of disease is in vogue. 



Esthetic arts, such as painting and architecture, are unknown, though Manobos can carve 

 rude and often fantastic wooden images, and can make crude tracings and incisions on lime tubes 

 and baskets. 



Notwithstanding their lack of scientific and esthetic knowledge, their observation of nature 

 is marvelous. This is obviously due to long familiarity with the forest, the stream, and the 

 mountains. From his boyhood years the Manobo has lived the life of the forest. He has 

 scanned the trees for birds and monkeys, the streams for fish. Living, as he generally has, 

 within a definite district, and roaming over it in search of game and other things to eat, at the 

 same time keeping a close watch for any variation that might indicate the presence of an out- 

 sider, he has come to possess those marvelous powers of sight and of observation that would 

 astonish the average white man. Within his own district the position of every tree is known. 

 Every stream and every part of it, every mountain, every part of the forest is known and has its 

 appropriate name. The position of a place is explained in a few words to a fellow tribesman, 

 and is understood by the latter. 



Trees and plants are recognized, and their adaptation in a great many cases for certain 

 economic uses is known, though I think that, in his knowledge of the latter, the Manobo is inferior 

 to both the Bisaya and the Mandaya, as he is undoubtedly of a more conservative and less 

 enterprising disposition. 



The Man6bo character has been so maligned by missionaries, and by all the Bisayas who 

 have dealings with them, that it deserves a clearance from the aspersions that have been cast upon 

 it. In dealing with the Man6bo, as with all primitive peoples, the personal equation brings out 

 more than anything else the good qualities that underlie his character. Several of the mission- 

 aries seem not to have distinguished between the pagan and the man. To them the pagan was 

 the incarnation of all that is vile, a creature whose every act was dictated by the devil. The 

 Bisaya regarded him somewhat in the same fight, but went further. He looked upon him as 

 his enemy because of the many acts of retribution, even though retribution was merited, that 

 had been committed by the Manobo or by his ancestors. He entertained a feeling of chagrin 

 and disappointment that this primitive man was unwilling to become an absolute tool in his 

 hands for thorough exploitation. Hence no name, however vile, was too bad for the poor forest 

 dweller who refused to settle near his plantation and toil — man, woman, and child — for an utterly 

 inadequate wage. His feeling toward the conquistas is little, if at all, better. 



Upon first acquaintance the Manobo is timid and suspicious. This is due to the extreme 

 cautiousness that teaches him to guard a life that among his own people has only a nominal value. 

 When in the presence of strangers for the first time, he remembers that reprisals have been ban- 

 died from time immemorial between his people on the one hand, and Bisayas, on the other, and 

 he realizes that without proper care, reprisals might be made on him. Again, if the visitor has 

 penetrated into his district, his suspicion may be aroused to its full force by calumnious reports 

 or rumors that may have preceded the visitor's arrival. My own visits were frequently pre- 

 ceded by rumors to the effect that I had magic power to poison or to do other things equally 

 wonderful, that I was a solider in disguise, or by other similar reports. But in these cases and 

 in all others one may allay the timorousness and suspiciousness of these primitive people to a 

 great extent by previous announcement of one's visit and intentions, and upon arrival in their 

 settlement, by refraining from any act or word that might betray one's curiosity. Surprise 

 must not be expressed at anything that takes place. The mere question as to what, for instance, 

 is beyond such and such a mountain, or where is the headwaters of such and such a stream, may 

 start up the full flame of suspicion. Hence prudence, a kind, quiet, but alert manner, a good 

 reputation from the last visited locality and a distribution of trifling gifts, is always efficacious 

 in removing that feeling of distrust that these primitive people feel toward a stranger. 



