136 PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES 
subjugating the larger part of the islands with a force 
that at first sight must always seem inadequate. The 
head of each barangay acted for himself and his people 
with him. As an early observer puts it, each was intent 
on his own interests, even though they might be broth- 
ers. If one acquired supremacy, it was merely a mani- 
festation of superior ferocity and capacity in combat, 
either in his own person or that of his following. In that 
case his overlordship was to an extent recognized; but 
passed away as soon as his power fell to pieces with his 
death or from any other cause. The ancient political 
history of the Philippines was accordingly one endless 
succession of insults, jealousies, threats, murders, feuds, 
and reconciliations between the innumerable little 
barangays; without any unifications or consolidations 
ever occurring except of the most superficial and transi- 
tory kind. 
Indian civilization, probably because its source was 
remote and its transmission indirect, never affected 
Filipino society as it affected Filipino knowledge and 
thought; but yet it could scarcely have passed by 
without leaving some traces. The last and declining 
phase of this influence seems to have entered the 
Philippines chiefly from the south and to have carried 
with it, to as far as the Bisayan Islands, the name and 
possibly some glimmerings of the idea of kingship. 
Magellan found the chieftains of Cebu bearing the Indian 
title of rajah. And yet, their power does not appear to 
have been much greater than that. of the barangay 
lords in Luzon. Statecraft as an enduring product 
never interested the Hindu very much. His claim to a 
high place in the history of civilization rests on his 
achievements in religion, philosophy, and literature. 
With such a type of culture first filtered through other 
channels and then seeping into an almost unorganized 

