42 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN [Me " (vo?xxi£ 



THE UNDERPART AND THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE HOUSE 



The space under the fireplace is usually not occupied because of the water and refuse that 

 fall from the kitchen, but to one side of it is the inevitable pigpen, containing a pig or two. It 

 is only the wealthier Manobos who can boast of more than afew, for the maintenance of many 

 would be a heavy drain on their limited food supply. These few pigs subsist on such scraps and 

 parings as may be thrown or allowed to fall down to them. 



To one side of the pigpen, if there is room, is placed the rice mortar, an article of indispensable 

 necessity in every household. In it is hulled with wooden pestles, and frequently in measured 

 time, the daily supply of rice. 



At the time when the house is constructed, the forest adjoining is cleared, and camotes, 11 a 

 little sugarcane, and a few other tilings are planted. The house usually overlooks this clearing 

 at least on one side. On the other sides there is usually the grim, silent forest. When the house 

 is built with a view to defense, trees are felled all around in such a way as to make a regular 

 abatis. Ordinarily there are at least two trails, one, a main trail, so tortuous and difficult, in the 

 generality of cases, that it would lead one to imagine that the owner of the house had deliberately 

 selected it for its difficulties, the other, a trail leading to the watering place. In approaching 

 the house the visitor is obliged to climb over fallen logs, the passing of which requires no little 

 maneuvering on the part of a novice. Without a guide it would be often difficult, if not impos- 

 sible, to locate the houses, even if one had been shown their location from a distance. 



ORDER AND CLEANLINESS OF THE HOUSE 



As from one to four families may live in a. single house, it is needless to say that there is 

 generally a decided appearance of disorder, as well as a tumult that baffles description. In the 

 only room of the house are congregated the married couples, generally a few extra relatives, their 

 children, and their dogs. The Manobos are naturally very loud talkers, their children, especially 

 the infants, are as noisy as children the world over, and their dogs, which may number from 3 to 

 15, are so constituted that, when they are not fighting with one another, they may at any moment, 

 without apparent motive or provocation, begin one grand dismal howl which, united to the crying 

 of the babies and to the loud tones of their elders, produces a pandemonium. It is at meal times 

 that the pandemonium waxes loudest, for at that time the half-starved dogs, in their efforts to get 

 a morsel to eat, provoke the inmates to loud yells of ''Slda, sida," i2 and to other more forcible 

 actions. 



In a large house, with such a conglomeration of human beings, it is obvious that an im- 

 pression of confusion is made upon the visitor. The performance of the various culinary opera- 

 tions by the women, the various employments in which the men are engaged, making arrows, 

 fish traps., etc., the romping of the children, all these tend to heighten the impression. But the 

 Manobo goes on with his work, tranquil in the midst of it all, savoring his conversation with 

 incessant quids of betel nut or tobacco. 



The Manobo has not yet come to a knowledge of the various microbes and parasites that 

 are liable to undermine the foundations of health, so that the sanitary condition of his house is 

 not such as would pass a modern inspection. Both men and women are inveterate chewers of 

 betel nut and tobacco, and, instead of using a spittoon, they expectorate the saliva through the 

 interstices of the floor or anywhere that they may find convenient, thereby tinging the floor 

 and walls a bright red. As the Manobo broom is a most crude affair made out of a few twigs, 

 it does not remove all the remains of the meals as they lie spread over the floor. The peelings 

 of sugarcane, the skin of bananas and of other fruits, the remains of rattan, and such other 

 refuse as may be the result of the various occupations that take place in the house are all strewn 

 around the floor and frequently are not removed for a considerable length of time. 



u Ipomoea batata*. I! An exclamation to drive away a dog. 



