September, 19 13 Wild Tribes of Davao District — Cole. 201 



Intermarriage between the tribes, Moro raids, warfare with the 

 accompanying capture of slaves, and the possible influence of boat-loads 

 of castaways, all have to be considered in dealing with the types found 

 in Davao District. We have already seen that the physical measure- 

 ments indicate a complex racial history. 



After giving full credit to all these influences, however, it does not 

 appear to the writer that such radical differences exist between the 

 tribes as will justify us in assigning to them different ancestry or places 

 of origin. The summarized description of the Bagobo given on page 56 

 would, with only slight modification, apply to all the other tribes, with 

 the exception of certain groups of the Ata in which the Negrito element 

 is very pronounced. In brief, the various influences that have been 

 at work on one group have influenced all the others, since their arrival 

 on the island of Mindanao. 



This conclusion is further justified by the language in which a large 

 per cent of the words in daily use are common to all the groups. Even 

 the Bila-an dialect, which differs more from all the others than do any 

 of those from one another, has so many words in common with the 

 coast tongues and is so similar in structure that one of my native boys, 

 who never before had seen a Bila-an, was able freely to carry on a con- 

 versation within a few days after his arrival in one of their most isolated 

 settlements. 



Similar as are the people and their dialects, the cultural agreements 

 are even more noticeable. Taking the Bagobo as a starting point, we 

 find a highly developed culture which, with a few minor changes, holds 

 good for the tribes immediately surrounding. These in turn differ 

 little from their neighbors, although from time to time some new forms 

 appear. The Cibolan type of dwelling, with its raised platform at one 

 end and box-like enclosures along the side walls, is met with until the 

 Mandaya territory is approached, while, with little variation, the house 

 furnishings and utensils in daily use are the same throughout the 

 District. The same complicated method of overtying, dyeing, and 

 weaving of hemp employed in the manufacture of women's skirts is 

 in use from Cateel in the north to Sarangani Bay in the south, while 

 in the manufacture of weapons the iron worker in Cibolan differs not 

 at all from his fellow-craftsman among the Mandaya. Here we are 

 confronted by the objection that, so far as is known, no iron work is 

 done by the Bila-an and Ata, but this is a condition which is encountered 

 throughout the archipelago. In the interior of Luzon are found 

 isolated villages, the inhabitants of which are expert workers in iron 



