NON-CHRISTIAN PEOPLES OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



1233 



Negritos, locally known as Batacs, and 

 that the latter people have partly disap- 

 peared through fusion with them. 



In the northern portion of their terri- 

 tory the men frequently wear the clout 

 and the women the short skirt of the 

 savage. Further south, where they have 

 come in contact with Moros, they have 

 adopted the dress of the latter people, 

 sometimes in its entirety and sometimes 

 in a more or less modified form. The 

 men wear their hair long. As a rule, 

 neither men nor women have ornaments 

 save those which they can fashion for 

 themselves from the products of their 

 native forests. While most of them suc- 

 ceed in obtaining cloth, a not inconsider- 

 able number clothe themselves in bark. 



The Tagbanuas of southern Palawan 

 are a fairly industrious people and have 

 in the past raised rice enough to feed 

 themselves and their parasitical Moro 

 neighbors into the bargain. The govern- 

 ment is just now for the first time suc- 

 ceeding in its efforts to protect them 

 from the Moros and is establishing for 

 their benefit trading-posts where they can 

 sell their superfluous products and obtain 

 what they want at reasonable cost. 



The Tagbanuas are expert hunters and 

 fishermen. There are no deer on Pala- 

 wan, but in this island they display great 

 skill in killing hogs, and in Culion and 

 Busuanga they take deer in considerable 

 numbers, bringing them down with bows 

 and arrows, the use of which they have 

 doubtless learned from the Negritos. 



They are very fond of music and danc- 

 ing. The instruments most in use are 

 bronze timbrels, known as ahgongs. They 

 also employ bamboo flutes. Some of 

 their dances would hardly pass muster 

 in polite society. 



THE TINGIANS fSEE PICTURES, PAGES 



1 185, 1 187, 1 188, 1 190, 



AND 1 191) 



The TIngiarts are in many ways the 

 most attractive of the non - Christian 

 Philippine tribes. Although all Tingians 

 are non-Christians, we may divide them 

 into civilized and uncivilized groups. 

 The stronghold of the former is the sub- 

 province of Abra, where they exist to 

 the number of some 14,000. They also 



extend over to the east into the neighbor- 

 ing subprovince of Kalinga and to the 

 west into the province of south Ilocos. 

 A few have wandered south and have 

 settled in western Lepanto. Another 

 small group long since strayed into 

 northwestern Pangasinan, where their 

 living descendants have almost lost their 

 tribal identity. But, curiously enough, 

 those who wandered farthest from home 

 and established themselves in the prov- 

 ince of Nueva Ecija have retained al- 

 most unchanged their tribal dress, man- 

 ners, and customs. 



Many of the Tingians are round-faced 

 and comparatively light-skinned. The 

 men wear their hair long and hold it in 

 place with small turbans or narrow head 

 bands. The typical dress of the men is 

 still the clout, but there are few who do 

 not possess shirts and trousers. Nearly 

 all of them have hats, chiefly made by 

 themselves or their Ilocano neighbors 

 (see page 1188). Not a few have even 

 arrived at the dignity of shoes and stock- 

 ings. 



The women have until recently worn 

 only skirts of clean, white cotton cloth 

 when at work ; but of late years short- 

 sleeved camisas have come into general 

 use, and many women are now rather 

 ashamed to be seen without these upper 

 garments. As a rule, they wear their 

 abundant clean hair done up in a knot 

 at the side of the head instead of at the 

 back. It is v/rapped in beads and pro- 

 duces a pleasing effect. 



A CURIOUS IDEA OE BEAUTY 



Their characteristic ornaments, of 

 which they are inordinately proud, are a 

 series of armlets made of beads, which 

 begin at the hands and in the case of a 

 wealthy woman extend to the shoulders. 

 It is the custom for small girls to con- 

 strict their forearms by armlets tightly 

 fastened half way between wrist and el- 

 bow, and to leave these in place as they 

 grow, thus ultimately producing an hour- 

 glass effect, which is increased by the 

 swelling of the wrists which almost inva- 

 riably results. Such unsightly deformed 

 forearms are considered as ornamental 

 by those immediately concerned as are 



