182 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN [M '"°lvo£xxr£ 



points of distribution. By points of distribution are meant the Chinese stores in Butudn and 

 Talakogon. 



Again the old-time custom of selling paddy at a fixed customary price held the Manobo in 

 commercial servitude to his Bisaya compeer. This was due to the intense conservatism of the 

 Manobo and to his peculiar religious tenets in this regard, both of which were fostered and sus- 

 tained by the tribal priests and encouraged by Bisayas. Could he have been induced to retain 

 his paddy instead of selling it at 50 centavos per sack he would not have been obliged to repur- 

 chase at 1*5 per sack. The same might be said of his tobacco, which he sold wholesale by the 

 bamboo joint at 25 centavos each, or, at most, at a peso each, and which he repurchased, paying, 

 in times of scarcity, 20 centavos for enough to chew a few times. 



The credit system, too, was an impediment to his financial advance. It seems to have been 

 a tribal institution. During my trading tour I frequently heard my Manobo debtors proclaim 

 boastingly to their fellow tribesmen that I had much confidence in their integrity. 



The Manobo who could gain the confidence of the traders and accumulate his debts seemed 

 to be an honored person, but when he was able to make sufficient payment to satisfy his creditors 

 he was a great man. Hence, the traders played upon his vanity and advanced him such com- 

 modities as he desired, seldom obliging him to settle in full his obligations, and induced him to 

 accept on credit a certain amount so as to retain him in bondage to them. It must not be 

 imagined that there was anything tyrannical in the manner of collecting outstanding debts. 

 On the contrary, it was almost always done in a gentle diplomatic way, the trader knowing full 

 well that the Manobo regarded a debt as sacred and that he would finally pay it. But it must 

 not be supposed that the transactions were entirely free from disputes and quarrels. It happened 

 occasionally that the Manobo detected the frauds in his creditor's accounting or remembered 

 omissions of his own in a past reckoning, and so the bickering began, the Bisaya never caring to 

 admit his errors or frauds, while the Manobo, who is a hard and fast bargainer, insisted on claim- 

 ing what he considered his rights. As a rule, the matter was settled peaceably by the principal 

 men of the region. Numerous instances, however, occurred wherein the Manobo, exasperated 

 by the numerous frauds of his creditor, awaited a favorable occasion to dispatch him. On the 

 whole, it may be said that differences which arose between Bisayas and their mountain compeers 

 in eastern Mindanao are to be attributed in no small degree to the ruinous, relentless exploitation 

 of the unsophisticated, untutored Manobo by the greedy Bisaya traffickers. 



INTERNAL COMMERCIAL RELATIONS 



By internal trading is meant those simple transactions that take place between Manobo and 

 Manobo. The subject presents a striking contrast to the merciless system adopted by the Chris- 

 tian traders in their dealings with their pagan congeners. 



The transactions are simple exchanges of the absolute necessities of life. 



MONEY AND SUBSTITUTES FOR IT 



There is little conception of money as such among the hillmen unless they have been in 

 contact with Christian or Christianized traders, and even then although monetary terms are 

 made use of, there is but a vague conception of the real value of what they represent. I asked a 

 Manobo of the upper Wa-wa the price of his little bamboo lime tube. The answer was 30 pesos. 



Money, therefore, has no value as a circulating medium, although it may be prized as a 

 material out of which to make rings and other ornamental objects. As substitutes, there are 

 several units of more or less indefinite value. Thus, the value of a slave which, expressed in 

 monetary value, varies between 15 and 30 pesos, is mentioned in connection with large fines and 

 with marriage payments. Again, plates of the type called pinggan are referred to in small fines 

 and in other payments, but as these are imported articles the price varies. On the whole, 

 however, 100 pinggan are worth a good serviceable slave — that is, 30 pesos. Pigs also are men- 

 tioned as a unit of value, but here again the value is not wholly definite, as a great many of them 

 are imported and vary with the purchasing price. 



