146 MILLER. 



Another principal item in their food supply is camotes. 

 These grow rapidly without much care and yield abundantly. 

 A camote field once set out may be used for two or three years, 

 while as a rule but one crop of rice is obtained from a clearing. 

 When the time again comes for planting, the grass is so thick in 

 the clearing of the year before that it is easier to make a new 

 clearing than to get rid of the grass in the old one. 



At Piiia, Burabud," and Badyang near Bulalakao, there seems 

 to be a tendency to establish permanent settlements and culti- 

 vate old clearings. I have no doubt that if the people had a 

 few simple agricultural implements to enable them to keep the 

 ground free from grass and weeds, this tendency would develop, 

 and after a short time there would be settled communities at 

 these places. 



Along the Bako River and near Abra de Hog no such tendency 

 is apparent. Great numbers of clearings on the side of Mount 

 Halcon may be seen from the sea. These in all probability have 

 been made by Mangyans, but have become overgrown with 

 cogon grass and are no longer used for planting crops. A 

 small body of Mangyans making new clearings every year or 

 two would soon clear a large area of forested land. 



In addition to rice and camotes, the Mangyans plant yams 

 (ubi),^^ taro (gabi),^^ squash, bananas, and beans. They have 

 also papayas." When I was at Dangas and Piiia, the people 

 seemed to have enough to eat, although they had no rice. At 

 Burabud, however, they had very little. Storms had destroyed 

 their banana plants and the hot sun had prevented their camotes 

 from maturing. They had a few yams and occasionally found 

 a bunch of bananas which, although still green, were far enough 

 advanced so that they could be cooked and eaten. These people 

 lived near the ocean and caught some fish. This was of great 

 help, especially in a time of shortage. 



There is little else about their agriculture which calls for 

 comment. When supplies of food fail or run low, the Mangyans 

 go into the forest and gather various edible roots. One of these 

 which they call Jcorot (the nami of the Tagalogs)^^ is said to 

 require soaking three days in salt water and three in fresh before 



" Burabud in Bikol signifies "spring." 

 ^'■Dioscorea alata L. 

 " Colocasia antiquorum Schott. 

 " Carica papaya L. 



" Discorea daemona Roxb. See also Reed, W. A., Negritos of Zambales. 

 Pub. Phil. Ethnol. Surv. (1905) , 2, 40. 



