

200 ' PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES 
the day designated Mahesvara, Kala, Sri, Berma, 
Bisnu—the slightly altered names of famous Hindu 
deities. These periods, which appear to be based on the 
visible planets, are used in written astrological divina- 
tion. It 1s of special interest to find this precise relic 
of Hindu astronomy maintained among a Mohammedan 
people. It is likely that the introduction of Arabic 
writing was the cause of the preservation of the Indian 
practice. 
Use of Numbers. As regards the mathematical 
abilities of the Filipino we are unfortunately very little 
informed. It is practically certain that he had no idea 
whatever of geometry or any of the other abstract 
branches of the science, and contented himself with 
simple arithmetical operations. He did, however, add 
and substract numbers considerably larger than those 
which most uncivilized people are accustomed to deal 
with; and while it is extremely doubtful whether he 
possessed any system of multiplication as such, he fol- 
lowed it in effect in his schemes of values, in which five, 
twenty-five, fifty, five hundred, and a thousand units 
received special designations. ‘This is the Bontok plan: 
the Tagalog and Bisaya may have had a more refined 
one. Such a system does not make for mathematical 
insight in our sense, but is capable of astounding 
utility for arithmetical operations; very much as among 
ourselves a person very inadequately equipped in 
formal arithmetic sometimes operates easily and cor- | 
rectly with large sums of money merely through know- 
ing the relative values of coins. With his keen property 
sense, and his possessions rated accurately as well as 
hishiy. the Filipino had of course to aces such a 
practical faculty. 
The purely native stratum of religion appears to be 
free from marked preference for any symbolic or 
