NON-CHRISTIAX PEOPLES OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



1223 



In general it may be said that those in- 

 habiting the lower Agiisan \"alley, where 

 they had long been mercilessly exploited 

 by their Filipino neighbors, are de- 

 bauched with bad liquor, broken-spirited, 

 and hard to deal with, while the fighting 

 Alanobos further up the river, wdio in the 

 past managed to maintain their indepen- 

 dence, are now progressing much more 

 rapidly. 



WAR AND SUPERSTITION 



Among the wilder Manobos the passion 

 for mangayaos, or killing expeditions, is 

 strong. The fighting men are, however, 

 very superstitious, and if they hear a 

 small pigeon, called limocon, call in the 

 wrong direction, will immediately return 

 home. 



The Manobos who inhabit the back 

 part of the subprovince of Bukidnon are 

 physically an especially fine lot (see page 

 1 1 73). The men in this region fight 

 fiercely when unjustly treated, but have 

 shown themselves very appreciative of 

 fair and kindly usage, and, as a result of 

 having received it at the hands of Ameri- 

 cans, are rapidly forming villages and 

 settling down. 



The Manobos believe in an endless 

 series of spirits or supernatural beings, 

 called busaos, each of which is endowed 

 with especial powers. Their priests, or 

 hailanes, go through elaborate and re- 

 markable ceremonies in establishing com- 

 munication with the spirits and in com- 

 municating the desires of the latter to 

 the people. At times these singular in- 

 dividuals seem veritably to become pos- 

 sessed of devils, and are dangerous if 

 they can gain access to deadly weapons. 

 I once had the good fortune to be present 

 when the busaos were being called and 

 witnessed some extraordinary sights. 



The people of this tribe are especially 

 fond of music and dancing, and their 

 pantomimic dances far exceed, in num- 

 ber and variety, those of any other Phil- 

 ippine tribe with which I am familiar. 

 In the course of an evening I have seen 

 them mimic the woodpecker, the mon- 

 key, the robbing of a bees' nest, an old 

 man with elephantiasis trying to dance, 

 a young man stealing a kiss from a sleep- 



ing maiden, individual peculiarities of 

 persons present, and what not. 



THE MONTESKS 



The wild people, other than Negritos, 

 who inhabit the mountainous interior re- 

 gions in Panay and Negros, are com- 

 monly called Montescs. As the designa- 

 tion is a Spanish word meaning ''moun- 

 tain people," it is obviously unsatisfac- 

 tory. 



The}^ are also called Bukidnon, and it 

 may be that they are descended from the 

 same parent stock as are the people of 

 northern Mindanao, to whom this latter 

 name is invariably applied, but if this is 

 the case I have failed to note any evi- 

 dence of it. It should be stated that 

 "Monteses" is also an alternate name for 

 the true Bukidnons. 



They are a people of Malay origin, 

 whose original manners and customs 

 have been much modified by contact with 

 Filipinos and Negritos. The men wear 

 clouts, the women skirts and camisas. 

 They build fairly well-constructed houses 

 of good size, but live a family or two in 

 a place as a result of their belief that a 

 person who di^s needs some one to ac- 

 company him on his long journey, so 

 that it is incumbent on his male relatives 

 to start a companion on the same road 

 he is traveling. As almost any one will 

 do, a somewhat disturbed state of society 

 results. 



These people practice agriculture to a 

 considerable extent. 



They quarrel and fight among them- 

 selves, using exceptionally long bolos 

 with peculiarly carved hilts and good, 

 strong lances. 



I lived among them in Negros for six 

 weeks, but unfortunately the photo- 

 graphs then secured have since been de- 

 stroyed. 



At first they sought an opportunity to 

 kill my companion and myself, believing 

 that we had come to poison the stream 

 from which they obtained their drinking 

 water. Later, noting that we paid more 

 for tiny birds' eggs than hens' eggs were 

 worth, bought snail shells, and did other, 

 to them, inexplicable things, they decided 



