294 NOTES ON SOME PRIMITIVE PHILIPPINE TRIBES 



each digit comes to have a permanent numerical value. In act- 

 ual practice, if we desired to tell a man to return in five days, 

 we used to tie five knots in a bit of rattan and direct him to untie 

 one of them every morning until they were gone, and then re- 

 turn. 



When shown their own photographs they failed to recognize 

 themselves, although the} 7 at once pointed out the likenesses of 

 their friends. They made the most ludicrous attempts to catch 

 or find the persons who stared back at them from our pocket 

 mirrors. 



Adult women would entertain themselves for hours with rattles 

 which we extemporized by putting a few shot into a small metal 

 box. At Naujan lake the people came from miles around to 

 watch the spinning of a top which we happened to have among 

 our belongings. 



The} r are fatalists. The most dire misfortune serves only to 

 call forth the remark, " So it is appointed." 



We never saw the slightest indication of worship of any kind, 

 nor could we learn by the most diligent inquiry that they ever 

 practiced anything of the sort. They deny belief in a life after 

 death. Persons who fall seriously ill are deserted. A hut in 

 which a death has occurred is abandoned, the corpse and every- 

 thing in the hut remaining untouched. Relatives of a deceased 

 person change their names in order to insure better luck. The 

 morals of this simple people are astonishingly good. Although 

 the women seem utterly destitute of any sense of modesty, un- 

 chastity is very unusual and adultery so rare as not to be pro- 

 vided for in their criminal code. Although they had every 

 opportunity to steal from us, they never took anything but a 

 little tobacco, and even this they explained was not exactly 

 thieving, since the}^ put it directly into their mouths and took 

 only enough for their immediate needs ! Guilt or innocence is 

 determined by the old fire test. A person against whom there 

 is serious suspicion is compelled to snatch from the fire a piece 

 of hot iron. They profess to believe that if he is innocent he 

 will not be burned. The death penalty is not inflicted. A mur- 

 derer forfeits his property to the relatives of his victim. Polyg- 

 amy is lawful for those who can afford it. All we could learn 

 of the marriage ceremony was that " the old folks get together 

 and talk." 



The few half-hearted attempts which have thus far been made 

 to civilize the Mangyans have proved abortive. The priest at 



