180 
PHILIPPINES. I 
with tLem for some days. I therefore cat my piece of 
venison, whiclij after all, was not ill-flavoured, and my 
Indians having followed my example, our good repute 
was established, and treason on their part no longer 
possible, 
" I found myself at length among the people of whom 
1 had been in search since my departure from Jala Jala, 
and commenced examining and studj^ng them at my ease. 
We established our bivouac a few paces from theirs, as if we 
formed a part of the family of our new friends. I could 
only converse with them by gestures, and had unheard-of 
difficulty in making myself understood ; but the day after 
my arrival I had an interpreter. A woman who bi-ought 
a child for me tcr give it a name, had been brought 
up by the Tagalocs. She had spoken their language, 
and still remembered sufficient to furaish me with all the 
particulars that interested me^ although not without 
difficulty. 
" The people with whom I had come to amalgamate for 
several days, appeared to me rather in the light of a large 
family of apes than of human beings. Even their 
voices resembled the small cries of these animals, and 
their gestures were identical. The only difference I 
found consisted in their knowledge of the use of the bow 
and lance, and in being able to make a fire j but in order 
to depict them well, I will commence by describing their 
fonns and physiognomies. The Ajetas or Negritos are 
ebony-black, like the negroes of Africa. Their utmost 
stature is four feet and a half j the hair is woolly, and as 
they take no puim in clearing it, and do not know how to 
arrange it, it forms a sort of crown around the head, 
