THE MANGYANS OF MINDORO. 149 



doubt that as among most people monogamy prevails and that 

 the man and woman are faithful to each other, but at various 

 places throughout the Mangyan area I met men w^ho had two 

 wives. As nearly as I could find out the principal reason for 

 this was in order that the man might have two women to work 

 for him instead of only one. 



On the Bako River in one settlement I was told that a man 

 sometimes has two wives. In another settlement not far from 

 the first the people said that a man married only one woman 

 whom he never deserted; an unfaithful man or woman was 

 punished by a beating by the old people. At still another 

 settlement a man was married to two women who were sisters. 

 The first had no objection to the man marrying the second. 

 From the occurrence of cases of polygamy at widely separated 

 points in the Mangyan territory and from the fact that inquiries 

 made in the short time I was among them brought to light 

 several such cases, I am inclined to infer that the practice is 

 not uncommon. 



Marriage is rare between Mangyans and Christian Filipinos. 

 It is probable that the Christians have some prejudice against 

 marrying Mangyans. Whether the latter in general object to 

 such mixed marriages I am unable to say. One Mangyan told 

 me that if they were to marry with the Christians both parties 

 to the marriage would fall ill. I think it is likely that at some 

 time in the past a Christian Filipino and a Mangyan woman 

 married, and that the woman caught some infection from the 

 man. The existence of a tradition that serious illness will 

 follow a marriage between the two people is difficult to explain 

 except by some such hypothesis as this.'^ 



The names of both men and women in some parts of the 



"■ "The largest social unit seems to be the family, and all the people 

 living in a rancheria will usually be found to be related either by blood 

 or marriage. The head of this loose aggregation will almost always be 

 the oldest man, the only exception being when he is too feeble to take any 

 part in the government of the rancheria, when his duties are taken by the 

 next oldest, although even then his counsel will be listened to with respect. 

 The chiefship, if it amounts to such, is not hereditary. The powers of the 

 chief are also quite limited. Disputes are settled by a council of the old 

 men of the same or neighboring rancherias, and the decisions of these 

 courts are looked on as final." 



The above is from the manuscript of Dr. Fletcher Gardner on the 

 Hampangan Mangyans of Mindoro. These are the people near Bulalakao. 

 It is probable that a similar form of social organization may be found 

 among Mangyans elsewhere in the island. 



