﻿512 The Philippine Journal of Science 1914 



way, with money or another horse, and the same way with cattle, carabaos, 

 or hogs. The old men who take part in the settlement of a case are 

 responsible and have to answer for everything, should the same case ever 

 come up again. Questions can only be settled in the aforestated manner, 

 when the litigants are not in any way alike in age, stature, or in any 

 other manner; but if they are of about the same age, height, etc., the old 

 men put a sharp piece of iron on each litigant's head inserted to the 

 depth of 2 or 3 millimeters, and he that bleeds less wins the case. Should 

 the party who lost the case not be satisfied with the old men's decision, 

 he has the right to call in the old men from a neighboring town; when 

 they arrive, the old men that decided the case will also be called together. 

 The old men from the neighboring town speak first; they state their 

 arguments and ask that the question be reopened and the decision given 

 be revoked and given according to the petition of the man against whom 

 the case was decided. The old men that decided the case in the first place 

 say: "Our decision stands good, because we decided it by the gall of 

 sacrificed chickens that showed that he is the guilty man, but if you 

 insist that the decision be revoked first restore to life the dog and the 

 chickens from which the galls were taken, before we can give another 

 decision." 



After the old men have questioned both the litigants, they make them 

 take an oath of the most horrible nature; such as, "May your belly swell 

 up, from which you will die if you have declared falsely;" or, "May you 

 become blind, if what you have spoken be false;" "May you be eaten up 

 by a boa, if you did not speak the truth." The old men set fire to a bundle 

 of pine wood, split into small pieces, which they then stick into a shell full 

 of tapuy. At this the litigants answer, "I swear," accompanied with howls 

 and shrieks, signifying that he who lied will be punished by the anito 

 according to the oath that he took. 80 



The expenses, including the cost of dogs and chickens, incurred in the 

 settlement of questions are paid by both the litigants.* 1 



CERVANTES 9l 



Cervantes is the capital of Lepanto. Seven barrios belong to 

 it; namely, Concepcion, Rosario, and San Juan, inhabited by 

 Ilocanos and other Christians; and Dain, Malaya, Brooke-Din- 

 widdie, and Pilipil, inhabited by Igorots. In 1908 Cervantes had 



" Cf. Colin, Labor evangelica, 1663 (Blair and Robertson, ut supra, 40, 

 78, 79), who gives the following forms of oaths used by the Filipinos at 

 the time of the conquest: "May I die;" "May I be eaten by the crocodile;" 

 "May I turn into a monkey." "When the chiefs of Manila and Tondo 

 swore allegiance to our Catholic sovereigns, in the year one thousand five 

 hundred and seventy-one, they confirmed the peace agreements and the 

 subjection with an oath, asking 'the sun to pierce them through the middle, 

 the crocodiles to eat them, and the women not to show them any favor or 

 wish them well, if they broke their word.' " 



*° See page 518. The expenses may be regarded as the fee paid by the 

 one losing the case. 



" For description of Cervantes, see Perez, Igorrotes, 115-124. Cervantes 

 is called by some an Tlocano town, because of the numbers of that r:u-e 

 living there. 





