academy of sciences] INTERTRIBAL AND OTHER RELATIONS 181 



To this list might be appended the values of exchange in paddy, beeswax, and rattan and 

 the corresponding gain made when these latter are bartered in their turn for hemp or disposed 

 of to the Chinese merchants. 



From the above list it is evident that a Bisdya trader could go up the river with goods valued 

 at 26 pesos and within a few weeks return with abakd valued at 138 pesos to 175 pesos, according 

 to the scales and other measures used. His total expenses, including his own subsistence, 

 probably would not exceed 30 pesos. 



No mention is here made of such luxuries as shoes, hats, or European clothes on which gains 

 of from 500 to 1 ,000 per cent are the rule. Neither have various other usuries been included, such 

 as high interest or payment of expenses in case of delays, all of which go to swell the gain that a 

 Bisdya considers his right and his privilege when he* has to deal with beings whom he hardly 

 classes as men. 



Among the Man6bos the credit system almost invariably prevails, based upon the sacredness 

 with which the Man6bo pays his debts. It is true that the Christianized Man6bo occasionally 

 is not very scrupulous in this respect, but this is because he has been fleeced so much by his 

 Christian brethren. 



Arriving in a settlement, the trader displays only a part of his wares at a time. If he has 

 two pieces of cloth, he displays only one. Of five sacks of rice, only two are his, he claims. In 

 answering the inquiry as to whether he has dried fish, he says that he has just a little for his 

 personal use, for the price of it in Butuan was prohibitive. On being besought to sell a little, he 

 secretly orders it taken out from the jar and delivered to his customer, at an outrageous price. 

 The object of this simulation is to hasten the sales of his wares, for should he display all his stock, 

 many of his customers might prefer to wait in hopes of a reduction in prices, a sort of a diminu- 

 tive "clearance sale." 



As the article for which the exchange is made is nearly always abakd fiber, it is evident that 

 a certain period, longer or shorter according to the amount of fiber contracted for, must be allowed 

 the customer. When this period exceeds a week, the stipulation is made that the payment shall 

 be made in installments. A shorter period is allowed than is necessary for the stripping of the 

 hemp, under the pretense that the trader is in a hurry to leave the settlement and catch a certain 

 steamer with which he deals. This is a prudent precaution as the Man6bo is not very methodical 

 in his affairs nor quick in his movements. A thousand and one things — omens, sickness, bad 

 weather — may delay him in the fulfillment of his contract. It is this tardiness that gives rise to 

 the ill feeling and bickering that are not infrequently the outcome of this system of trading. 

 The Manobo, moreover, has long since become aware of the stupendous gain made by the traders, 

 and, when not dealt with gently, becomes exasperated and on occasions deliberately delays his 

 creditor. Then again, some other trader may have got into the settlement in the meantime and 

 seduced him into buying, cash down, some more enticing article, for this primitive man, like the 

 rest of the world, often buys what he lays his eyes upon without any thought of the future. 

 For this reason, the trader keeps close observation upon all who owe him, almost daily visiting 

 their houses and profiting by the occasion to help himself to whatever little fish or meat or other 

 edibles he may find therein. One who has been in debt a long time is a favorite victim, for when 

 he is unable to pay his debt on time he is shamelessly required to offer a substantial apology 6 in 

 the form of a chicken or some other edible. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS OF TRADING 



In general, there was no established system in the Agusan Valley as far as the dealings of 

 Bisayas went. The constant fluctuation of prices was a sufficient explanation of this. Thus, 

 rice might be worth 13 centavos per kilogram in Butuan, while at the same time it might command 

 a price of 43 centavos on the Hibung River or in Veruela. Salted fish might be selling in Butuan 

 for a trifle, whereas up the Simiilau a jar of it at retail might be worth 20 or 30 sacks of paddy. 

 In general the increase in price of a commodity was in direct proportion to its distance from 



• Ba-U-bat. 



