VENTURELLO] MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF TAGBANUAS 557 
place any one wishes to go, especially if it be an old man who ex- 
presses the desire. If during the voyage they meet any small boats, 
they desire to know who the people may be. If they be friends they 
will enter into conversation and trading; if they be strangers and 
suspicious men, they not only repel them but drive them from the 
spot. 
Fifty years ago the Tandulanos were very cruel. They had deal- 
ings with no tribe, not even with the Batacs. The only Christian 
with whom they had friendly relations was the well-known Esteban 
Castro, a rich land owner, who with much difficulty won the friend- 
ship of these savages. They reverence the man to such an extent 
that in order to enter into trading with them it is only necessary 
to mention the name of Esteban. It is due to his intelligence and 
friendship that their cruelty became less and that they entered into 
commercial relations with the Christians of the north. 
The Tandulanos twenty-five years ago were a large family, but 
the measles which broke out among them in 1882 caused about 
80 per cent. of them to die. This disease afflicts them as a plague 
of small-pox, of which they have great horror. 
One of the sicknesses which they greatly fear is catarrh, which 
in their opinion is incurable and contagious. Formerly, persons thus 
afflicted were buried alive. Today, however, if a person have this 
disease he is exiled to a lonely place and provisions are given for a 
certain number of days. After an interval the people will go to the 
place of quarantine. If the disease be cured the person can return 
to his home, but if he still suffers, then he is left there to die without 
aid or friend. In order to prevent this sickness, visiting strangers 
are closely examined. If they be well they can enter the dwelling 
place of the Tandulanos; if sick they are expelled. 
During the last few years they have changed many of their an- 
cient customs and have adopted those of the Batacs with whom 
they come in contact more frequently. 
The oldest man in the tribe is their chief and to him are sub- 
mitted all questions. 
During my frequent visits to the abode of the Tandulanos, I have 
never been so fortunate as to witness a wedding ceremony, but it 
is the same as among the Batacs. Any kind of a union is legal. A 
man who is married to his mother (after ene become a widow) 
or sister is considered a worthy man. 
This tribe is the lowest of all the tribes of Palawan. They do 
no kind of work, not even pertaining to their own use, much less do 
