NON-CHRISTIAX PEOPLES OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



1251 



I myself, in the course of my journeys 

 among the wild men, have been compelled 

 to prescribe for every conceivable ailment 

 and have done quite a bit of "jack-knife" 

 surgery (see page 1230). Were I a 

 young man and possessed of adequate 

 knowledge of the science of healing, I 

 would ask for nothing better than to be 

 a physician to these people. One would 

 not grow rich at it, but he would cer- 

 tainly be an uncrowned king. 



IMedical and surgical work are now be- 

 ing inaugurated in the province of Agu- 

 san, where a temporary hospital will soon 

 be replaced by a permanent one, and 

 where, as in the Mountain Province and 

 Nueva Vizcaya, this work will exert a 

 potent influence in maintaining and ex- 

 tending the friendly relations now exist- 

 ing with these people, in the absence of 

 which we could not accomplish a tithe of 

 wiiat is actually being done for their bet- 

 terment. 



SANITARY WORK 



Sanitary work among the wild men is 

 beset with difficulties. The savage is usu- 

 ally glad enough to have one relieve his 

 sufferings, but in many cases he strenu- 

 ously objects to one's compelling him to 

 clean up his premises or his person. 



In this regard there are wide differ- 

 ences between the several tribes. The 

 Negritos are not far above the anthropoid 

 apes, and the Ilongots and the Mangyans 

 have advanced but little beyond the Ne- 

 gritos. The Bontoc Igorots are filthy, 

 and while Governor Pack, of the Moun- 

 tain Province, insists that the Benguet 

 Igorots are just naturally dirty rather 

 than filthy, I venture to disagree with 

 him. The Ifugaos are comparatively 

 clean. The Kalingas are more so. The 

 Tingians are one of the cleanliest peo- 

 ples in the world. Improvement among 

 the Benguet Igorots is now very notice- 

 able. 



The settlements of the Manobos on the 

 Agusan River were until recently filthy 

 and undrained. They swarmed with mos- 

 quitos, and their inhabitants were, with 

 few exceptions, victims of chronic ma- 

 laria. The condition of these villages is 

 now greatly improved and some of them 



are really model settlements (see pages 

 1234 and 1235). 



The most extraordinary results thus 

 far achieved have been among the Bu- 

 kidnons, where Lieutenant Governor 

 Lewis has succeeded in converting ramb- 

 ling, ill-kept, foul-smelling rancherias into 

 the most sanitary towns in the Philip- 

 pines, leaving little room for further im- 

 provement (see page 1232). 



PRACTICAL SCHGOIvS F^OR TllK WII.D ME:n 



School work began promptly as soon 

 as the wild man's territory was made ac- 

 cessible and reasonably safe. It has been 

 vigorously prosecuted ever since with 

 varying success. So far as my knowledge 

 and information go, every effort thus far 

 made to educate the Negritos has failed 

 utterly. In my opinion, success cannot 

 be hoped for. 



These people are born nomads of very 

 low intelligence, and all that we can hope 

 to accomplish for them is to restrain their 

 mischievous, and occasionally criminal, 

 tendencies, and at the same time to pro- 

 tect them from injustice and oppression 

 at the hands of their neighbors. This is 

 being done with a reasonable degree of 

 success in Bataan, Zambales, Pampanga, 

 Pangasinan, and Apayao. Nothing has 

 as yet been done for the Negritos of the 

 east coast of northern Luzon, who are 

 abundantly able to protect themselves, 

 nor for those of Panay and Negros. 



English is taught in all schools. For 

 the Benguet Igorots there are schools af- 

 fording to both boys and girls practical 

 industrial training, which not only fur- 

 nishes them necessary mental discipline, 

 but increases their wage-earning capacity. 

 Many of the Benguet towns already 

 have secretary-treasurers, educated in the 

 schools of this subprovince,who can read, 

 write, cipher, and keep books. Girls are 

 taught to weave cloth on simple looms 

 and are then allowed to take the looms 

 home with them (see page 1241). They 

 soon teach others this valuable accom- 

 plishment. 



INDUSTRIAI, TRAINING A MARKED SUCCe:SS 



Among the Ifugaos the limited amount 

 of work now in progress is also largely 



