with wandering through the forest in a 

 state of absokite nudity, and that they 

 indulge in various obscene dances. I am 

 satisfied that the former series of tales 

 are without foundation in fact. Objec- 

 tionable dances are very rare among the 

 wild peoples of the Philippines, although 

 they are sometimes indulged in by the 

 Moros, and are common among the 

 Manobos of Mindanao. One apparently 

 credible witness, who was a surgeon in 

 the United States Army, informed me 

 that he had once witnessed such a dance 

 among Negritos in the wildest part of 

 the Zambales Mountains. I have never 

 observed anything of the sort, nor do I 

 believe that such dances occur with any 

 degree of frequency among these peo- 

 ples. 



The number of Negritos in the Philip- 

 pines can hardly exceed 25,000, and it 

 is constantly diminishing from purely 

 natural causes. In many regions their 

 birth rate is known to be materially be- 

 low their death rate, and in my opinion 

 they must be regarded as a "link" which 

 is not now missing, but soon will be. 

 Within my own recollection they have 

 disappeared from Cebu, Masbate, and 

 Sibuyan. At last accounts but 14 indi- 

 viduals remained in Tablas, where they 

 were formerly numerous. 



XOT TREli-DWIJLLERS 



Statements to the effect that Negritos 

 build houses in trees are, so far as my 

 personal observation and information go, 

 without foundation in fact. 



Curiously enough, the head-hunting 

 peoples of the Philippines are apparently 

 limited to northern Luzon. None of the 

 warlike hill tribes inhabiting other parts 

 of the archipelago are known to take the 

 heads of their victims. 



The explanation of their head-hunting 

 customs which is given by the Negritos 

 of northeastern Luzon is very simple. 

 They believe that each family must take 

 at least one head per year or suiTer mis- 

 fortune in the form of sickness, wounds, 

 starvation, or death. Their victims are 

 always beheaded with bolos. Heads are 

 buried in the ground under the "houses" 

 of the men who take them. Plates, or 

 ollas, are placed over the spots where the 

 heads are buried, and possibly contain 

 offerings to evil spirits. The "houses" 

 under which heads are buried are then 



AN ILONGOT WOMAN 



The typical dress is a short skirt, often of 

 bark cloth, but they are very anxious to get 

 real cloth whenever it is possible (see p. 857). 



849 



