298 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. L, No. 11. 



less mixed with Chinese, Japanese, and Negri- 

 tos. In some islands the Chinese, in others 

 the Japanese, tj-pe prevails, according to the 

 proximity of these countries. 



Thejr are finely formed, of good stature, 

 copper-colored, with abundant straight, coarse. 



-^ 



TAUALS OF THE PHI] 



black hair, without beard ; head well shaped, 

 but flattened behind ; forehead moderate, cheeks 

 prominent, nose flattish, face long, and chin 

 narrow ; mouth large, with thick lips, strong 

 teeth, and powerful jaws ; chest wide ; limbs 

 and feet small, though the great toe is abnor- 

 mallj' developed, and almost as prehensile as 

 a thumb ; the joints very supple. 



Nature supplies the Tagal with rice, fruit, 

 roots, and fish ; and his skin is his principal 

 garment. He has, therefore, little inducement 

 to work, and, as a rule, does not, unless from 

 necessitj^ or to buy some gewgaw ; then re- 

 lapsing into his dolce far niente under the 

 palms. Their family' ties are close, but pecul- 

 iar in manj' of their ideas of what we should 

 call propriet}'. They are trusty servants, good 

 soldiers and sailors, fertile in expedients, using 

 with much skill their natural advantages. They 

 think little of death, bej'ond a splendid funeral, 

 and, though nominally Catholics, believe in 

 secret in the superstitions of their race. They 

 chew betel, smoke immoderately', and are very 



fond of cock-fights and lotteries. Their houses 

 are made of bamboo and canes, thatched with 

 the leaves of the nipa palm, and supported 

 on posts. No nails or tools are required for 

 their construction. All the Tagal needs is his 

 bolo, or knife ; for the materials are growing all 

 around. I know of no race more independent 

 of the industrial arts. His bolo is his'onlj'' es- 

 sential implement. His spoon, bowl, and basket 

 he finds in the shell of the cocoanut ; his basin, 

 plate, and umbrella, in the leaf of the banana ; 

 most of his domestic utensils, in the bamboo ; 

 his house, mat, hat, in the various palms. His 

 fruit requires no cooking, and his fish and rice 

 oul}- the simplest. If ever there were a child 

 of nature, the Tagal is one. 



The Tagals are noted for their skill in weav- 

 ing the vegetable fibres of their countrj', and 

 especially those of the pineapple, hemp, bam- 

 boo, palms, and reeds. Jusi is raw silk ; seda, 

 spun silk ; hemp, abaca, lupis, and sinamay, 

 which are variously combined in the gauze- 

 like tissues for which these islands are famous. 

 How the3' make such exquisite fabrics with the 

 rude processes at their command is one of the 

 puzzles which the traveller often meets among 

 semi-civilized peoples. 



COSTUME OF TAGAL WOMEN. 



The Tagals are the most numerous, best 

 known, least barbaric, and most industrious 

 of the races. Thej' speak a dialect of their 

 own, — the mother- tongue of the others, — and 

 number about 1,500,000. The Visayas of the 

 southern islands are possibly more in number. 

 The islands belong to Spain, and, during her 

 three centuries of occupation, have been very 

 poorly developed. Sajixiel Kneeland. 



