178 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN [MM °iyoFxxi£ 



by the well-known Jesuit missionary Urios "the river of Bagani" (warrior chiefs), were reported 

 to be in a state of interclan war. Such a condition, however, was nothing unusual, for I never 

 ascended the upper Agiisan without hearing reports of atrocities on Baobo River. 2 



In time of peace, interclan dealings are friendly, but it may be said in general that dealings 

 of any kind are not numerous and that their frequency is in inverse ratio to the distance between 

 the two clans. It is seldom that a given individual has no feudal enemy in one district or another, 

 so that in his visits to other clans he usually has either to pass through the territory of an enemy 

 or to run the risk of meeting one at his destination. This does not mean that he will be attacked 

 then and there, for he is on his guard, but it must be remembered that he is in Manoboland 

 and that a mere spark may start a conflagration. 



Hence, visits to others than relatives and trips to distant points are not frequent. This is 

 particularly true of the womenfolk. Here and there one finds a Manobo man who travels 

 fearlessly to distant settlements for the purpose of securing some object that he needs, but he 

 never fails to carry his lance, and frequently, his shield; he is never off his guard, either on the 

 trail or in the house he may be visiting. 



During the greater social and religious gatherings the greatest vigilance is exerted by all 

 concerned as everyone realizes beforehand the possibility of trouble. Hence bolos or daggers 

 are worn even during meals. Enemies or others who are known to be at loggerheads are seated 

 at a respectful distance from each other with such people around them as are considered 

 friendly or at least neutral. This arrangement of guests is a very striking feature of a Manobo 

 meal and one of great importance, for it prevents many an untoward act. The host, in an 

 informal way, sees to the distribution of the guests, and when his arrangement is not accept- 

 able to any of the interested parties, a rearrangement is made and all seat themselves. This 

 proceeding has nothing formal about it. The whole thing seems to be done by instinct. 



EXTERNAL COMMERCIAL RELATIONS 



EXPLOITATION BY CHRISTIAN NATIVES 



The shameless spoliation 3 practiced during my residence and travels in eastern Mindanao 

 (1905-1909) by Christian natives upon the Christianized and un-Christianized Manobos is a 

 subject that deserves special mention. 



Exploitation by falsification. — The hill people, living in their mountain fastnesses out of 

 communication with the more important traders, had to depend wholly for their needs on petty 

 traders and peddlers of the Christian population. They were accordingly kept in absolute 

 ignorance of the true value of the commodities that they required. False reports as to the value 

 of rice, hemp, and vino were constantly spread. To-day, it would be a report of a war between 

 China and Japan that caused a rise of several pesos in the price of a sack of rice. To-morrow, it 

 would be an international complication between Japan and several of the great European powers 

 which caused a paralysis in the exportation of hemp and a corresponding fall of several pesos in 

 the value of it. These and numerous other fabrications were corroborated by letters purporting 

 to come from Butuan, but in most cases written by one trader to another on the spot, with a view 

 to giving plausibility to the he. It was a common practice for the trader's friend or partner in 

 Butuan to direct, usually by previous arrangement, two letters to him, in one of which was stated 

 the true value of the commodity and in the other the value at which it was desired to purchase or 

 to dispose of it. The latter letter was for public perusal and rarely failed to beguile the ignorant 

 conquistas and Manobos. 



But it was not only in the exorbitant rates charged and in the unspeakably low prices paid 

 for objects of merchandise that the Christian trader swindled his pagan fellow men. The use of 

 false weights and measures was a second means. The Manobo had little conception of a pikvl * 



' The Baobo River rises in a mountain that is very near the confluence of the Salug and Libagauon Rivers, and empties into one of the myriad 

 channels into which the Agusan is divided just below Veruela. 



• Since the establishment in 1909 of government trading posts, this spoliation has practically ceased in the Agusau Valley. 



• A pikul is the equivalent of 137.5 Spanish pounds. 



