1905J METZGER— THE FILIPINO. 21 



countenance, but their attitude towards strangers (Europeans) is 

 most distinctive. The Tagalog feigns great friendship, while the 

 Visayan is haughty and arrogant. From a physical point of view 

 they both are magnificent specimens of humanity but mentally an 

 anomaly which is most unfathomable. They are about five and 

 one half feet in height, ginger-bread in color, with high cheek 

 bones, flat nose and a wealth of coarse, straight, black hair pre- 

 senting at all times a lavish amount of cocoanut oil and surmount- 

 ing a placid countenance. 



The innate spontaneity of moral character of these so-called civi- 

 lized Filipinos is that of half child and half devil. In him we see 

 that puerile lack of objective and simplicity, while beneath that 

 placid countenance and solemn gravity of feature lies deeply rooted 

 all the cruelty, deceit and fiendishness of a demon. He is a profli- 

 gate and is passionately fond of gambling. This latter foible is 

 gratified in the national sport of cock-fighting and the Spanish 

 game of monte. However, where facilities offer he is a willing 

 tyro to the many and varied gambling devices imported in recent 

 years by the Europeans. He has no sense of appreciation, neither 

 can he comprehend a spontaneous gift, but rather looks upon any 

 form of kindness as an expression of fear or weakness. Honor, in 

 the sense of self respect, dignity, fidelity, virtue or a just discern- 

 ment of right in strict conformity with duty, is to this most incom- 

 prehensible being virtually nil. Magnanimity and chivalry are 

 likewise unknown quantities in the Filipino's composition. He is 

 quick to borrow but slow to return, superstitious to the utmost 

 degree, a natural coward, a brute, and if angered does not readily 

 reveal it in his expression but is most unrelenting, and will await 

 his opportunity for revenge. Unlike the Japanese or Chinese, he 

 is a poor imitator and no originator. Few have any regular voca- 

 tion, and those few who are endowed with a spirit of self-improve- 

 ment are only to be found in the large cities. These, moreover, 

 are mostly of the hybrid class, known as msestizos, and their train- 

 ing is in the arts. The average full-blooded Filipino is well satis- 

 fied to trust to the morrow and the munificence of a bountiful nature. 

 He may, out of necessity, cultivate a little patch of rice or sugar- 

 cane, but his preference is to sit and dream in the shade of the 

 mango-tree. 



Polity and discipline are vague institutions, and Filipino veracity, 



