aud>ht or scENCEs] REL IGI0US IDEAS AND MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS 33 



fine. Unseemly insinuations to a woman are visited with a similar punishment, but should 

 such overtures go further, even death may be the penalty. 



As to temperance and sobriety, the rule is to eat and drink all one can, hence the amount 

 of food and drink consumed depends upon the supply. Sobriety is not a virtue. To lose 

 one's equilibrium and senses is to do honor to the host and justice to his generosity. 



Honesty is certainly a trait of the Manobo character. I do not mean to maintain that 

 there are not occasional pilferings, especially in small things that are considered to be more or 

 less communal in their nature, such as palm wine while still flowing from the tree, but other 

 kinds of property are perfectly safe. The rare violations of the rule of honesty are punished 

 more or less severely according to the amount of the property stolen and according to other 

 considerations. 



Though respect for another's property is decidedly the rule, yet it is surprising to note with 

 what care everything is counted, tied up, or put away, and how marks of ownership are set up 

 on all occasions. I think, however, that these precautions are due not so much to a fear of pilferers 

 as to a feeling of the instability of conditions in a country that has always been subject to turmoil. 



Honesty in the payment of debts is one of the most striking characteristics of these people. I 

 have advanced merchandise on credit to people whom I had never met before and the where- 

 abouts of whose houses I did not know except from their own information, and yet, six months or 

 a year later, when I entered their region I had no difficulty in locating them nor in collecting 

 from them. So high is their feeling of obligation to pay a debt that even children are sometimes 

 parted with in settlement, but this occurs in extreme cases only. Though debts are satisfied 

 conscientiously, yet a certain amount of consideration is expected as to the time and other 

 details of payment, except in some very urgent cases. 



Honesty in other matters, as in the performance of formal agreements, is equally noticeable 

 though I must say that the performance may not be as prompt in point of time as we would 

 expect. But it must be remembered, in connection with this last point, that in making an agree- 

 ment one is presumed to make allowance for a great many impediments, such as evil omens, 

 that do not figure in our system of contracts. Another difference, which applies also to the matter 

 of debts, is that the man who owes a debt must be reminded of his obligation and urged in a gentle 

 way to the performance of it. It occurs in some rare instances that a debtor is under a definite 

 contract as to the exact time for meeting his obligation. In these cases the creditor may be 

 more insistent upon payment. It is to the credit of the Manobo that he never disowns a debt nor 

 runs away to avoid the payment thereof. 



It has been said that the Manobo is ungrateful, but I do not think that his gratitude is so 

 rare nor so transitory a virtue as is claimed by those who pretend to know him. It is true that 

 he has no word to express thanks, but he expects the giver to make known his desires and ask for 

 what he wants. This is the reason why he himself is such an inveterate beggar. He receives 

 you into his house, feeds you, considers you his friend, and proceeds to make you reciprocate by 

 asking for everything he sees. If he is under any obligation to you, he expects you to ask in a 

 similar manner. If you do not do it, he considers you either apathetic or rich, and hence no 

 reciprocation is forthcoming. Among Manobos no presents are made except of such trifles as 

 have no value. 



The Manobo feels that he is at perfect liberty to conceal his real thoughts and to give utter- 

 ance to such distortions of truth as may not compromise him with others. The penalty for 

 slander is so great that this is a fault that is seldom committed. Hence to get the truth from a 

 Manobo, it is useless, as a ride, to question him singly or even in the presence of his friends alone. 

 He must be brought face to face with those who hold an adverse opinion or belong to an opposite 

 faction. If this can be done, in a more formal wa} r , as for example, by having a number of 

 principal men attend, it will be so much the easier to obtain the desired information. 



Queries as to trails or the dwelling places of neighboring Manobos are hardly ever answered 

 truthfully and do more harm than good, because they tend to arouse suspicions as to the ques- 

 tioner's motives. Such information is obtained more readily by cultivating the friendship of 



