XOX-CHRISTIAX PEOPLES OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



1219 



variously estimated to number from 5,000 

 to 20,000. This tribal designation has 

 also been applied with doubtful propriety 

 to the wild inhabitants of the little island 

 of Sibuyan, who have now almost en- 

 tirely disappeared. It may be that when 

 we know more of the ]Mindoro JMangyans 

 we shall find it necessary to divide them 

 into several difi:erent tribes. I myself 

 have lived among those inhabiting north- 

 ern and central Alindoro, and have re- 

 peatedly visited those living in the south- 

 ern and western portions of the island. 



The northern Mangyans, especially 

 those living on the slopes of ]\Iount 

 Halcon, are a very primitive people. 

 The costume of the men consists of a 

 clout only. The women also wear clouts, 

 supported bv braided rattan cord coiled 

 around waist and hips. Little girls be- 

 gin with only enough cord to go around 

 the body two or three times, while old 

 women often wear great masses of it. 

 Girls of marriageable age and young un- 

 married women usually cover the breasts 

 with a band made from the dried petiole 

 of a banana leaf stitched with rattan. 

 Clouts are usually made of bark cloth 

 (see page 1178). 



In the northern part of the island men 

 and women have few, if any, ornaments 

 and usually lack blankets. They are semi- 

 nomadic, and when wandering through 

 the forests in search of cabo negro palm 

 trees, from which they obtain a starchy 

 product similar to sago, they build indi- 

 vidual shelters of the flimsiest character. 

 I have seen them asleep in the rain, 

 crouching on their haunches over small 

 fires and each sheltered only by two or 

 three rattan leaves, shaped much like 

 huge ferns, stuck into the ground in such 

 a way as to bend over. 



Some of the members of the tribe 

 spend the dry season wandering about 

 in search of fish and game, which they 

 take very skillfully with bow and arrows, 

 and helping out their bill of fare with 

 such vegetable products as they can ob- 

 tain from the forest. When the rainy 

 season begins they build more substantial 

 structures, consisting of good-sized plat- 

 forms of poles roofed over with palm or 

 rattan leaves. 



Some IMangyans make forest clearings 



and culti\'ate the soil to a limited extent, 

 raising camotes and a Httle rice and 

 sugar-cane. 



HOW A PR0Fe:SS0R 01? MATHI^AIATICS 

 COUNTS 



The i\Iangyans are sometimes polyg- 

 amous. They are of low intelligence 

 and are ordinarily unable to count above 

 three. Professors of mathematics can, 

 however, count up to twenty by utilizing 

 fingers and toes. The common method 

 of procedure in dealing with numerals 

 above three is to tie the requisite number 

 of knots in a bit of rattan. I have trav- 

 eled for days with no other helpers or 

 companions than Mangyans, with whom 

 I was compelled to communicate by signs, 

 yet we got on beautifully. They are 

 kindly, gentle people who will never make 

 trouble if decently treated, but when 

 abused they are capable of revenging 

 themselves, using for the purpose ex- 

 ceedingly deadly poisoned arrows. 



They are by no means fastidious as to 

 their animal food. I have seen them 

 gorge themselves with the rotten flesh of 

 the tamarao, or small Mindoro buft'alo, 

 although it smelled to heaven and crawled 

 with maggots. If a white man had swal- 

 lowed a bite of it he would probably 

 have died of ptomaine poisoning, but they 

 ate it with satisfaction and with apparent 

 impunity. Snakes, crocodiles, ancl huge 

 white grubs all form table delicacies 

 highly appreciated by them. 



The Mangyans in southern Mindoro 

 are a much less naked people than are 

 their northern brothers. The men fre- 

 cjuently possess good shirts and wear 

 neat cloth clouts ornamented with beads. 

 They also wear bead necklaces and 

 1)raided rattan armlets. Into the latter 

 are thrust feather or flower ornaments. 

 They are long-haired and frequently use 

 head bands or small turbans. The women 

 also wear beads in abundance, don cloth 

 skirts over their clouts, and frequently 

 have upper garments as well. These peo- 

 ple raise, spin, and weave cotton. 



AN ancii:nt Philippine: alphabet 



The Mangyr of southern Mindoro 

 dififer from all other Philippine tribes 

 save the Tagbanuas, in that they have re- 



