THE EARLY MALAYS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS | ;, 



sWes. Thus, referring to the translator of the primitive 



"Pavon says that those of the early Bisaya who knew how to 

 write and possessed documents were those who overtopped the ? 



A -?Tf y r" Tu ght and abiHt ^ and wh0 w *re generally of 

 Chinese ancestry ; the priests ; the rowers ; and the chief men " « 



As in China "the political structure (among these prim- 

 itive Malays) rested on the family as a unit". 45 The very 

 first "order" or article of the code in question thus provides 

 tor enforcing that peculiarly Chinese virtue— veneration for- 

 age : 



"Ye shall not kill ; neither shall ye steal ; neither shall ye do 

 hurt to the aged : lest ye incur the danger of death. All those 

 who infringe this (order shall be condemned) to death by bein<* 

 drowned with stones in the river, or in boiling water." 46 



Again more specifically in the seventh "order" death is 

 prescribed for one "who shoots arrows at night at old men 

 and women". 47 As in China, moreover, a peculiar sanctity 

 attaches to burial places. Thus the fourth "order" enjoins : 



"Observe and obey ye : let no one disturb the quiet of 

 graves. When passing by the caves and trees where they are, 

 give respect to them." 48 



This code then is a most interesting document and leads 

 up to various topics of archaic and comparative jurispru- 

 dence, like tabu, the ordeal and primitive marriage. 



The last named has been treated elsewhere by the 

 present writer 49 but it will hardly be irrelevant to point out 

 here that while the early Malays had not passed out of the 

 stage of marriage by purchase 50 and while as viewed by the 

 Chinese writers the former lacked one familiar factor — the 

 matchmaker 51 — in other respects their marital customs dis- 



!1 Id. 188. 45 Id. 164. 46 Id. 186. 47 Id. 187. 



* s Id. 186. Dr. Robertson adds in a note : 



"Burial in caves, at least for the chief men, was common 

 among the early Bisaya, a fact that is well attested by the many 

 burial caves that have been, and are being, discovered. In some 

 of these caves well preserved coffins and bones have been found. 

 Quite recently, Mr. Luther Parker, of the Bureau of Education 

 of the Philippines, found a number of skulls and other bones in 

 several of these caves, and he has written a very illuminating 

 paper concerning them, which it is hoped will be published." 



49 See his "Primitive Malay Marriage Law" American Anthropol- 

 ogist, XII, 250-256 



50 Id. p. 250. 



51 "It is not the custom to use go-between, or match-makers, in 

 contracting a marriage. Some gold is paid to the relations of the girl 

 and then she is married." Particulars of the Philippines' Pre-Spanish 

 Past, 10. 



