At the date on which we went to Santa Fe_The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 43, 1670-1700 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

time since the said village had experienced any aggression from the

baganis. Consequently, the people were living somewhat free from

their past misery, and relieved of the frequent alarms and consequent

frights. However, they were suffering great famine on account of

the said aggressions, and because they had lost almost all the crops

of maize and sweet potatoes (the only things which they cultivate),

during that time because of the great and prolonged heat and the lack

of rain. They were supporting themselves on the few sweet potatoes

that had been saved, thanks to the humidity of the ground, and the

shade of the trees, and on the soft parts of convolvulus and palms

which grow along the shores of the rivers. In spite of so many and so

severe troubles, thanks be to God, there has not been hitherto, but two

families of San Luis who have become fugitives. That action has not at

all been because they repent of having become Christians, but for other

very different reasons. Those families have, however, now established

relations with the father and promised him to abandon the Dacungbanua

or lands of Magdagasang, where they are living at present, as soon as

they shall have harvested the palay of their fields, and settle in a

village other than the one in which they lived formerly. What a fine

example, then, Father Superior, of Christian fidelity and resignation

have those newly-reduced people given us in general, and how evident a

proof of their true conversion to Christianity! In my opinion, these

are results that ought to be attributed, after divine Grace (without

which no good thing can be done), especially to the plan which Father

Pastells has always followed in so far as it has been allowed him, in

the reduction of heathens. It is exclusively a system of attraction

by means of great charity, great mildness, continual patience, and

solid foundations upon which the village recently established rests;

namely, the foundations of a good inspector who continues to form

gradually in the village the good customs of the Christians, of

good authorities who rule and govern the people without exactions

and injustice, or excessive rigor, of good masters who instruct

and educate the children, with the visit of the father, as often

as possible in order further to exercise his spiritual ministries,

and to ascertain how they all observe their important obligations.

Coming back, now, from this long digression, your Reverence, Father

Superior, could not imagine with what pleasure and blessings the

Christians of those three visitas above mentioned, of Santa Fe,

Manurigao, and San Luis, received the palay which your Reverence

gave as an alms for the relief of those places because of that great

scarcity of food of which I have spoken above. The heads of the

families could not restrain their joy when they found themselves with

palay which could be distributed to each one, although it was, it is

true, very little compared to their great necessity. "How troublesome

we are to you, Fathers," they said, "and how much patience you must

have with us. But God will be able to repay you superabundantly for

the good that you are doing us. Had we not received help, of a truth,

our sick and stricken would have died of hunger and poor food. But

now with this palay, we shall have enough to put new life into us,

and we shall keep some of it for a small field, which will give

us hopes of enduring the famine better later on." So did the poor

wretches express themselves. They really planted their fields with

the little palay which they could set aside for it; and at the date

of the writing of this letter, some fields are seen so luxuriant

and with so fine a heading of grain that within one month they are

promised a moderate harvest. May God in His goodness preserve those

fields and cause them to bear one hundred per cent.

The day following our arrival at Santa Fe, and the succeeding days,

we managed to assemble in the convent all the Mandayas who appeared

in the village. Father Pastells exhorted them to receive the faith of

our Lord Jesus Christ, and many of them were baptized. Some of them

obstinately refused, giving no other reason for their refusal, if

reason it can be called, than Ualay gusto co, "I do not wish it." And

they could not be changed from that decision, notwithstanding all

our arguments and eloquence. That happens to us at various times so

that we missionaries may learn that the faith and baptism are gifts

of his divine generosity, and that if God do not illumine and impel

them with His powerful grace, in vanum laboravimus. [93] But if some

of them resisted divine Grace, others, God be thanked, yielded to it,

and gladly received holy baptism. All together, adults and children,

we baptized forty. Among that number three women whom we call bailanas

are worthy of special mention. Those women were clad in their baro or

doublet, of a deep-red color throughout, a dress which is peculiar to

their profession, and which differentiates them from other women. Since

I have mentioned these important persons of Mandaya society, it will

not be outside of my design, nor will it be without interest for your

Reverence, to say something about the same. The bailanas are, as it

were, the priestesses of the Mandayas. They exercise the functions of

priestesses, for they offer sacrifices and other offerings to their

false gods, invoke them for the cure of their sick, consult them in

cases of necessity, etc., etc. Consequently, they possess considerable

authority and influence among the Mandayas, since the latter look

upon them as mediators between them and their gods, the instruments

through whom is transmitted the will and mysterious orders of the gods,

and, finally, as persons superior to themselves, although they may be

baganis or petty kings, inasmuch as they believe them to be in direct

communication with their gods or invisible spirits. This class of

sharpers are not few among the Mandayas, both because those people

are very superstitious and believe that their persons and whatever

surrounds them are under the influence of good and evil spirits,

and because the profession of bailan is a lucrative trade. For,

for every religious act that the bailanas perform at the request

of another, they receive their fee or at least they have a share

of the sacrifice or offering that is made to the gods. Hence those

women are the most difficult to attract to our holy faith, and even

to enter the presence of the father missionary. For they fear that

they will lose their influence, their repute, and their easy living,

if they become Christians. Poor creatures, how mistaken they are!

And now your Reverence may behold one of their pagdiuatas or

sacrifices which they perform in honor of their gods, Mansilatan and

Badla. Several bailanas assemble in the place assigned for the purpose,

together with those persons interested and invited to take part in

it. They erect a sort of small altar on which they place the manaugs

or images of the said gods which are made of the special wood of the

bayog tree, [94] which they destine exclusively for this use. When the

unfortunate hog which is to serve for the sacrifice is placed above

the said altar, the chief bailana approaches with balarao or dagger

in hand, which she brandishes and drives into the poor animal, which

will surely be grunting in spite of the gods and of the religious

solemnity, as it is fearful of what is going to happen to it; and

leaves the victim sweltering in its blood. Then immediately all the

bailanas drink of the blood in order to attract the prophetic spirit

to themselves and to give their auguries or the supposed inspirations

of their gods. Scarcely have they drunk the blood, when they become as

though possessed by an infernal spirit which agitates them and makes

them tremble as does the body of a person with the ague or like one

who shivers with the cold. They seize in their hands a gong to which

they give repeated blows with the third finger, snapping it with the

thumb, thus making a kind of toccata with it. While they are doing

this, after having belched forth a few dozen of times, they invoke

the above-mentioned gods Mansilatan and Badla, to whom they chant

the following Mandayan song:

Miminsad, miminsad si Mansilatan

Opod si Badla nga magadayao nang dunia.

Bailan, managunsayao,

Bailan, managunliguit. [95]

This means in Spanish: "Mansilatan has come down, has come down. Later

[will come] Badla, who will preserve the earth. Bailanas, dance;

bailanas, turn ye round about." As soon as the invocation has concluded

bailanas and non-bailanas, that is to say, all the people who have

gathered, dance and cry out like disorderly persons, devour the hog,

and end by getting drunk. Such is the conclusion and end of the

demoniacal bucolic feast to the gods Mansilatan and Badla.

And although these things are so, the Catholic apologist will

not fail to comprehend the most important teachings which he could

utilize as a confirmation of the most transcendental questions of our

true religion. For leaving aside the action of the sacrifice and the

ceremonies that accompany it, is there not some glimpse in that song,

Miminsad, miminsad si Mansilatan, etc., although an imperfect one, of

the dogmas of the plurality of persons in God, and of the creation and

redemption of the world? Indeed, it is so, and more if one keep in mind

the signification in which the Mandayas understand it, according to the

ancient and constant oral tradition received from their ancestors. That

tradition which gives the true meaning to those verses has been taken

down by Father Pastells from the mouth of many tigulang or old men who

have been converted to Christianity. It is as follows. Mansilatan,

the principal god and father of Badla, descended from the heavens

where he dwells in order to create the world. Afterward his only

son Badla came down also to preserve and protect the world--that is

men and things--against the power and trickery of the evil spirits,

Pudaugnon and Malimbung, the latter a woman and the former a man,

who are trying by continual artifices to harm and injure them. Those

evil spirits did not obtain nor will they ever obtain their most evil

intents to destroy the earth and mankind, for they are under the power

and protection of the powerful and invisible god Badla. Consequently,

and in view of so great love and mercy on the part of the latter and

because of so much goodness on the part of his father Mansilatan,

the bailanas who are the priestesses of the same, can never do less

than be joyful, and in the transports of their joy invite one another

to dance and circle about their revered images as an act of reverence

to so great benefactors. Also there is not wanting among the beliefs

of the Mandayas one which gives, although in a confused and corrupted

manner, the idea of the Holy Spirit, thereby completing the mystery of

the holy Trinity. For they say that, from Mansilatan, the father of

Badla his only son, also proceeds the god Busao, who is nothing else

than the omnipotent virtue of the former. This last is communicated

to some men preeminent in valor and skill for their combats, so that

it makes them strong and valiant above other men. Those privileged

men who are animated by the spirit of Busao are called in the Mandaya

language baganis, which means valiant.

And now I desire to call your Reverence's attention to those two

spirits, Pudaugnon and Malimbung, of whom I made mention above. Does

it not seem to you, Father Superior, that they are an image, although

disfigured, of that malign spirit and chief of all tempters, Lucifer,

who caused Eve to fall by his lies and deceit, and by means of the

latter, conquered and overthrew Adam, from which originated the ruin of

all the human race and the innumerable ills that inundate the earth? It

is quite apparent that there is something in that, and that opinion

does not seem ill founded if we consider the etymology of the words

Pudaugnon and Malimbung, and the explanation which the Mandayas give

of the said spirits. For, first, the word Pudaugnon is derived from the

root daug, which means "to conquer," "to tempt," and from the particles

pu or pa, and non or on, which make the root a substantive adjective,

and the resultant meaning is, if the person is a man, as in this case,

"he who tempts" or "the tempter." So also Malimbung is composed of

the root limbung, which means "to deceive," and the particle ma which

makes it a substantive adjective. Thus it means, the subject being

a woman, "she who deceives" or "the deceiver." The Mandayas say,

then, of those evil spirits that Pudaugnon, the wicked and mortal

enemy of mankind, strong as a man (which he is) and powerful as a

spirit, pursues, attacks, and injures poor mortals as much as he is

allowed; and that Malimbung, cunning and artful as a wicked woman,

and endowed with an irresistible force of seduction like a spirit

(which she is also) seduces by her deceits, and causes the strongest

men, who do not guard against her wiles, to fall. In this woman, is

there not a picture of Eve, the unhappy Eve, possessed for her sin,

by the spirit of her tempter Lucifer, seduced and seductive, with

whose golden cords, Adam, the most lofty cedar of Lebanon in this

world, was bound and was dashed into the deepest depths of evil? [96]

But let us return to those three bailanas of whom I spoke above,

and who have given rise to this digression. One of them, an old

woman, indeed very old, since she was about seventy years old, at

the exhortation of Father Pastells to become a Christian and abandon

the foolishness of the Mandayas, which are no other than the deceits

of the devil, became possessed or rather seemed to become possessed

with that bailan spirit of which I spoke above, and began to tremble

from head to foot. Did that knavish bailan divinity know beforehand

what was about to happen to him, and that he had to leave the house

in which he had lived for so long a time? But his apparent possession

of the foolish old woman, and the trembling of her body did not last

long, when he saw and heard the derisive guffaws of laughter from

all the Christians who were present. Ah! this was without doubt the

reason which made that invisible spirit, in shame at having been so

illtreated by the fathers and by the Christians present, hasten to

issue forth, and escape with all speed toward hell, or to the body of

another bailana of the mountain who would treat him better. Finally

the poor old woman, like her associates in the profession, surrendered

to the exhortations of the father, or rather, to the grace of the Holy

Spirit, and they consented to receive holy baptism. How beautiful and

how consoling it was to hear from those lips which had invoked more

than a thousand times perhaps, the infernal spirits hidden under

the names of Mansilatan, Badla, Busao, Tagabanua, etc., respond

affirmatively and with deep conviction of spirit to the following

questions of Father Pastells. "Do you believe," he asked each one,

"all that God has revealed and what the holy Catholic Church teaches

us?" "Yes, I believe." "Do you renounce the beliefs of the Mandayas,

and all their lies and works of iniquity?" "Yes, I renounce." "Do

you give your heart wholly and without reserve to God, the Creator of

heaven and earth, and to Jesus Christ his only son, the Redeemer of

the world?" "Yes, in truth, I do give it entirely." "Do you desire in

good faith to receive holy baptism?" "I wish it right gladly." After

that so express profession of faith, the three bailanas, together

with the other baptized adults, were fittingly instructed in the

mysteries of our holy religion and in their duties as Christians. Then,

according to the custom introduced by our fathers, they were stript

of the garments of their heathenism, and they were clothed in the

garments of the Christians, which were lent for the occasion, as the

new clothes which were given to them as a present were not yet made;

and holy baptism was conferred on them to the great joy of all.

On the thirteenth of the same month of December, when we had concluded

our occupation in the holy faith, we returned to Caraga, postponing

for a later time, although we regretted it keenly, the visit to the

small villages near Manurigao and San Luis; for we were compelled

to return as I had not yet performed the holy exercises of the year,

and it was near the feast of the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That fine feast came, and I saw for the first time how the good

inhabitants of Caraga celebrated it. I noted no rich jewels and

refined music in the church. All was simplicity and poverty, like a

new parish recently separated from its metropolitan, and given over to

its own life with few resources, in a most wretched country. Neither

did I observe in the village anything of that excessive luxury, and

the annoying diversions with which in other parts, the Christians

of divided heart try falsely to honor God. Caraga, in spite of

its antiquity of two centuries, with its excellent lands, and its

established reputation of producing excellent cacao, coffee, [97] and

tobacco, is a small, poor, and simple village. The chief causes of

that are that it has been deserted by several old families who have

settled in the small villages recently established, and although

it has increased somewhat with the new Christians, who have been

converted from the beliefs of the Mandayas, the latter are as a rule,

both simple and indolent and but little accustomed to work, and they

need rather to be aided, instead of being able to give aid to the

others. But the reason which has had, and has, most influence in the

above is their isolation which is caused by the very poor sea and land

communication which make that region the most remote and forgotten one

of these islands and (if I may use the word), as it were, the finis

terrae. [98] Hence, it receives but little life from without, and is

forced to live on its narrow resources and few means of subsistence.

Consequently, wholly and precisely for the above reasons, its method

of existence and of celebrating its feasts has, I know not what,

which attracts and satisfies. This is born of the characteristic

simplicity and open and jovial nature of these people of Caraga, from

the fraternal union with which all, both great and small, those who

have something and those who have nothing, unite to take part in the

feasts and common joy, and finally from the expansive communication,

without an admixture of any sort of fear, which they have with the

father missionaries whom they regard and love as their dear fathers.

And now you shall see, Father Superior, the religious ceremonies

with which we managed to honor the birth of our Blessing, Jesus. As

a preparation for the feast [of Christmas] the [feast of the]

expectation of the delivery of our Lady was celebrated one week

beforehand, and a daily mass of the Queen [i.e., of the Virgin]

which a moderate number of persons attended. On the last day or the

vigil of the feast, a pleasing, although simple Belen [99] was made

at one side of the presbytery in which were placed the images of the

Child, Mary, and Joseph. Christmas eve came, and at eleven o'clock

the bells were rung loudly, and from half past eleven until twelve,

a continual ringing of bells two at a time announced to the people

that the mass called Gallo [100] was to be celebrated in memory of

that holy hour in which the eternal Son of God the Father, made man

in the most pure entrails of the Virgin Mary willed to be born on

that poor and abandoned manger threshold [portal de Belen]. Hence when

twelve o'clock had struck, the missa-cantata [101] was said, which was

followed by the adoration of the holy Child. That was made enjoyable

by the singing of some fine Christmas carols. The twenty-fifth dawned

bright and joyful. At eight o'clock in the morning solemn mass [102]

was celebrated, which was chanted according to custom by the choir

of singers of the church, with the accompaniment of two flutes and

a tambourine. About one hundred persons took communion at it. There

was a sermon, and at the end of the mass, there was another adoration

of the Child Jesus. At the end of the function, the authorities and

chiefs of the village came to visit us as they are wont to do during

all the great feasts of the year. After that the musicians and singers

congratulated us for the good Christmas from the hall of the convent,

with toccatas according to the custom of this country, and Christmas

carols. After them followed a crowd of people of all classes. What

arrested my attention most was the liberty with which they went up and

down stairs, hither and thither, and addressed the fathers and begged

for what they needed. I will say it: the convent appeared nothing

more nor less than a Casa-Pairal. [103] Since the ceremonies of the

morning were so long, nothing was done in the afternoon except to

have the adoration of the holy Child, a thing which those excellent

and simple people enjoy greatly and never tire of doing. With that

the feast of the nativity of our Lord ended.

Father Pastells and I passed that feast excellently, as also those of

the new year and twelfth night. So far as I am concerned, the three

days exercise for the renewal of the holy vows which I made on the

last named day, according to the custom of the Society, contributed

much to it. One thing only was lacking to us in order to complete in

some manner the joy of Christmas, namely, the traditional nougat which

had not reached us from Surigao. But the good Jesus did not neglect

to have it reach us, although late, in order that we might be regaled

with it on His glorious day of the feast of the Resurrection. May He

be forever blessed and may He give us His holy grace in order that

we may love and serve Him until death, et ultra. [104]

We two fathers stayed here in Caraga until Ash Wednesday. After that

we undertook the second journey of which I spoke at the beginning

of my letter. But, since I see that this letter is growing too long,

I shall keep the relation of the events of that journey for another

letter, which I shall endeavor to send by next post.

I commend myself to the holy prayers and sacrifices of your Reverence.

Your servant in Christ,

Pedro Rosell, S. J.

LETTERS FROM FATHER MATEO GISBERT TO THE REVEREND FATHERS AND BROTHERS

OF VERUELA

Davao, January 4, 1886.

Pax Christi.

My most beloved Fathers and Brothers in Christ:

Now I have to answer your fine letter, by telling you something of

these missions, which I do not doubt will interest you greatly. In

this and in the other letters which I plan to write you, I shall limit

myself to mentioning things which I have either seen myself or have

heard from eyewitnesses.

The matter of the Carolinas [105] has alarmed us a trifle hereabout;

for as those islands are so near these coasts, and these peoples are

so fearful, Christians and heathens have more than once believed

themselves enslaved by the Germans. Even yet they do not have all

the confidence that would be advisable to make them settle down

and quietly build their villages; for any evil information although

without foundation and improbable is enough to make them take to the

mountains. The reverend father superior of the mission sent us some

Spanish banners from Manila for the reductions of these coasts, and

we told them all that if they flung the Spanish banners, although a

foreign boat should approach, they ought not to fear anything.

You must already have had news of the numerous races of heathens that

people the mission of Davao. The heathens nearest to this capital

are the Guiangas, who are scattered among the rivers and rancherias

of Dulian; Guimalan, Tamugan, Ceril, and Biao, and number in all

six thousand four hundred souls. They talk a language difficult

to understand, for it does not resemble the languages of other

races. Those heathens sow rice, maize, sweet potatoes, bananas, and

sugarcane. In addition they gather a considerable quantity of wax in

their forests. There are some excellent smiths among them, and in

general they reveal a sufficient amount of intelligence. But since

they are still in a savage state, they commit many acts of barbarism,

among which are human sacrifices. As yet they have not heard a father

missionary who can talk to them in their language, and only a few of

those who come to Davao have been baptized. I have had something to

do at times with the nearest who understand and talk the language of

the Bagobos, their neighbors. This very week I am to visit those of

the Mala River where there are some Christians and catechumens who

are constructing a chapel for me when I go.

The Bagobos are another race of heathens, who, occupying the folds of

the volcano of Apo, [106] extend along the southwest part of Davao

between the Taomo and Bolotucan rivers. They number approximately

ten or twelve thousand souls. About eight hundred have as yet been

reduced, and only about four hundred have been baptized in the new

reductions of Santa Cruz, Astorga, Daliao, Bago, and Taomo. The

Bagobos differ scarcely from the Guiangas, except in the language

that is peculiar to the latter. They are reported, nevertheless, to

be great sacrificers [of human flesh], and are very much set in the

customs of their ancestors. They have two feasts annually: one before

the sowing of the rice, and the other after its harvest. This last is

of an innocent enough character and is called the feast of women. At

that feast all the people gather at the house of their chief or the

master of the feast, at the decline of the afternoon. That day they

feast like nobles, and drink until it is finished the sugarcane

wine which has been prepared for that purpose. There is music,

singing, and dancing almost all the night, and the party breaks up

at dawn of the following day. The feast which they hold before the

sowing is a criminal and repugnant trago-comedy. The tragical part

is the first thing that is done. When they have assembled in the

middle of the woods, after taking all the precautions necessary,

so that the matter may not reach the ears of the authority of the

district or of the father missionary, they tightly bind the slave

whom they are going to sacrifice. When once assured that they will

not be discovered, all armed with sharp knives, they leap and jump

about the victim striking him one after the other, or several at one

time amid infernal cries and shouts, until the body of the victim

sacrificed has been cut into bits. From the place of the sacrifice

they then go to the house of their chief or the master of the feast,

holding branches in their hands which they place in a large bamboo,

which is not only the chief adornment but the altar of the house in

which they meet. Here comes the comical part, for like one who has

done nothing, they all eat and drink, and some of the most joyful play

on musical instruments, and dance. The principal part is reserved for

the old man or master of the feast. He standing near the bamboo which

I have mentioned above, holding the vessel of wine in his hand, and

talking with his comrades, addresses the great demon called Darago,

whose feast they are celebrating, in the following words: "Darago,

we are making you this feast, with great good will and gladness,

offering you the blood of the sacrifice which we have made and this

wine which we drink so that you may be our friend, accompany us,

and be propitious in our wars." Afterward and as a continuation of

what I have said, he begins a kind of litany in which all the most

celebrated Daragos whom they know or believe that they know, and

whose names are repeated by all at the same time, enter.

The Bagobos recognize two beginnings: and say that they have each

two souls. God, or Tiquiama is very good they say and has created all

things, although he has been aided by other small gods who are under

his orders: such as Mamale, who made the earth; Macacoret, the air;

Domacolen, the mountains; and Macaponguis, the water. Of the two

souls, one goes to heaven and the other to hell. For they believe

that both in this life and in the other, they belong to the devil,

to whom they concede the same rights and almost the same power as to

God, only with the difference that the devil is very bad, and fond of

blood, and the beginning of all evil and confusion. On that account,

quite neglectful of God, the being whom they serve and adore in all

things is the devil. When they marry, if the lovers think that it

will be of any use, they make a human sacrifice so that they may

have a good marriage, so that the weather may be good, so that they

may have no storm, sickness, etc.: all, things which they attribute

to the devil. In the same way also when they learn that there is

any contagious disease, or fear death, several of them assemble and

make a human sacrifice, asking the devil to let them live, since they

generously offer him that victim. They also believe that the disease

can be conjured. But the time that it appears that it is necessary

to make a sacrifice according to the law of the Bagobos is at the

death of any one of the family, before they can remove the lalaoan

or mourning. In that case the sacrifice announced among them as a

feria or a pilgrimage is usually announced among the Christians. At

the point and on the day assigned, all the sacrificers assemble, or

possibly one member of each of the families who are in mourning, at

times fifty or more. The value of the slave sacrificed is paid among

them all, and he who pays most has the right to sacrifice first. The

victims cry out at such times as long as they can and ask pity of all;

but instead of pitying them, they drown the pitiful cries with the

most horrible and terrifying shouts that can be imagined. If they

perform the sacrifice near the Christians, then they strike without

any shouts, and even gag the mouth of the victim.

But let us leave for another letter the relation of not less horrible

barbarities. O Fathers and Brothers of my soul, pray for the conversion

of these wretched beings, and do not be forgetful of me in your holy

sacrifices and prayers.

The servant in Christ of you all,

Mateo Gisbert, S. J.

Davao, February 8, 1886.

My dearly beloved Fathers and Brothers in Christ:

On reading the horrible sacrifices that I described in my last

letter, you will have asked: "How has the father been able to learn

so minutely the inhuman customs which the savages conceal so carefully

in the midst of their forests?" Your Reverences will understand indeed

that I have not been able to be present at those sacrifices, but they

have been explained to me by the Bagobos, who, having been baptized,

recount those and other barbarities of heathenism. I have learned it

also from the mouth of some victims who, being at the very point of

being sacrificed, managed to escape by the aid and management of the

father missionary.

I am going to mention some of the customs of the Bagobos to you which

must, I believe, arrest the attention because of their ridiculousness

and superstition. When the Bagobos have an evil presentiment, for

which it is enough for them to see a snake in the house, or that

the jar breaks in the fire, etc., they hasten to their matanom,

in order to have him conjure the misfortune by means of his great

wisdom. The matanom, who preserves the customs and religions of

their ancestors, makes a doll with his knife, giving it the face of

a man, and then addressing God, says the following words: "O God,

Thou Who hast created men and trees, and all things, do not deprive

us of life, and receive in exchange this bit of wood, which has our

face." After that ceremony with or without the doll, they set in the

water a small bag containing a little morisqueta or rice, to which

they at times add a cock. By this means they think that they have

rid themselves of the disease. When they are sick, they perform the

diuata in their tambaro. That consists in a dish on top of a bamboo

which is fixed in the ground, on which they place buyo, bonga, lime,

and tobacco, while they say to their god: "We offer thee this. Give

us health." When they visit a sick person, they have the custom of

placing copper rings on their wrists or on their legs, in order that

the soul which they call limocod may not leave. When anyone dies,

they never bury him without placing for him his share of rice to be

eaten on the journey. When they harvest their rice or maize, they give

the first fruits to the diuata, and do not eat them, or sell a grain

without first having made their hatchets, bolos, and other tools which

they use in clearing their fields eat first. The song of the limocon is

for them the message from God. It is of good or evil augury according

to circumstances. Accordingly, when the limocon sings, every Bagobo

stops and looks about him. If he sees for instance, a fallen tree,

the limocon advises him not to advance farther for the fate of that

tree awaits him, and he turns back. If he sees no particular thing

which indicates or prognosticates any ill, he continues, for then the

song of the limocon is good. Sneezing is always a bad omen for them,

and accordingly if anyone sneezes by chance when they are about to

set out on a journey, the departure is deferred until next day.

There are not as a rule many thefts among the Bagobos, for they

believe that the thief can be discovered easily by means of their

famous bongat. That consists of two small joints of bamboo, which

contain certain mysterious powders. He who has been robbed and

wishes to determine the robber, takes a hen's egg, makes a hole in

it, puts a pinch of the abovesaid powder in it, and leaves it in the

fire. If he wish the robber to die he has nothing else to do than to

break the egg; but since the thief may sometimes be a relative or a

beloved person the egg is not usually broken, so that there may be or

may be able to be a remedy. For under all circumstances, when this

operation is performed, if the robber lives, wherever he may be,

he himself must inform on himself by crying out, "I am the thief;

I am the thief;" as he is compelled to do (they say) by the sharp

pain which he feels all through his body. When he is discovered, he

may be cured by putting powder from the other joint into the water

and bathing his body with it. This practice is very common here among

heathens and Moros. A Bagobo, named Anas, who was converted, gave me

the bongat, with which he had frightened many people when a heathen.

This would be the place to write you some very interesting Bagobo

stories and legends; but in order to be understood, I should have to

precede it by a long preamble, for which I have no time at present;

and hence I shall leave it for another time. I should like to tell

you something about the other races of heathens whom we have in this

mission. The Bilanes, [107] are beyond doubt, the most industrious

of all the heathens that inhabit these mountains. This race numbers

approximately about twenty thousand souls, who are divided among a

considerable number of rancherias between the Bulatucan River and

the bay of Sarangani, and occupying the beautiful plains of the

interior where they grow considerable rice. They have some of the

customs of the Bagobos their neighbors, but their language which is

very different separates them as does also the natural hostility that

always arms the heathen savage against the savage, and one race against

the other. The Bilanes are very intelligent, and some who have been

baptized, give good proof of themselves. But although it causes me

the greatest pain to say it, as they are a race which deserves that

we all interest ourselves in them, as they are very numerous, and

capable of receiving the evangelical light and civilization, I must

tell you that there is no reduction as yet among that race of heathens.

Enough for today. Another time I shall speak of the Tagacaolos,

Manobos, and Atas. Meanwhile, will you pray the sacred heart of

Jesus for them all and for your most affectionate brother and servant

in Christ.

Mateo Gisbert, S. J.

Davao, February 20, 1886.

My dearly beloved Fathers and Brothers in Christ:

In order that you may all be encouraged more and more to aid us with

your prayers in the great undertaking that we are engaged upon, I

am going to mention, as I promised, a few of the customs of several

races of this mission. The Tagacaolos belong to a numerous race

of heathens, who inhabit the mountains of Culaman from Sarangani

to Malalag. The whole mission contains approximately about twelve

or fourteen thousand. Their language is easy to understand to him

who knows Visayan. They are much divided among themselves and are

continually at war, the weak being the slave of the stronger, and

being frequently sold to the Moros. The Bagobos almost always supply

themselves from this race for their human sacrifices. Do not believe,

however, that they are a people inferior to those of other races. The

Tagacaolos are lighter complexioned and more docile than the other

known heathens. They also have human sacrifices at times, but they

easily abandon their barbarous customs.

The Manobos [108] are another numerous and savage race of heathens,

who live along various points of the coast, from Malalag to

Sarangani. These Manobos have little liking for work, and are warlike

and valiant, being usually on the hunt for slaves. They possess

firearms, which the Moros sell them in exchange for slaves. This is

a misfortune which we regret, but which has no remedy, until with

the progress of the reduction the action of authority may be more

effectual. The Moros hereabout are a race of thieves, the most shameful

that are known. They do not work and live ordinarily on the slave

trade which they are always able to procure. I know some Moros in this

mission who pass themselves off as friends, but are very evil. There

is a pandita named Gubat, who asserts that he likes me and respects me

more than he does his own father, and comes into my presence as if he

were the most friendly and obedient person in all the reductions of

the coast, telling me always that he is going to collect what they

owe him. As it will not take long, I shall recount one of his evil

deeds. Two years ago he went to Tubalan, where, uniting with Basino,

Alivao, Minquil, Batuga, Joac, and Agbay, he went to a rancheria of

Tagacaolos and enslaved them to the number of seven, namely, Bayo,

Eloy, Salio, Arac, Agueda, Caoy, and Dila, and brought them to the

coast. There they were apportioned as slaves, after the one called Eloy

had been knifed, because they feared that they would be exposed by him

if opportunity offered. Along the Culaman coast, when they knife one

or many, they generally set the head on a pole and keep them for days

and months. With that object in view they cut off the head of Eloy,

which Batuga carried, while the pandita Gubat, my friend, carried an

arm. But a short time ago, I have been able to rescue and baptize Bayo

and Dila, and the latter's wife and two daughters. From the last named,

I learned the history which I have briefly recounted. It is a sample of

many others which I could relate to you. Consequently, they are wont to

make slaves here treacherously and by violence. Although these Manobos,

as I have said, are savage and warlike, there are some rancherias

of them, which, having been reduced by the father missionary, have

abandoned their evil customs. In Piapi we have already one hundred

and ninety baptized persons, almost all Manobos. Their language is

somewhat difficult to understand, but one can conquer that difficulty

by living among them for a short time. The number of Manobos in this

mission is not less than one thousand two hundred.

The Atas are another race of wild and savage heathens who live in the

interior. Only the rancheria of Dato Lasia, which is the nearest,

has been visited as yet. It is the least known race, but it is

believed with foundation, to be the most numerous, aggregating not

less than twenty-five thousand souls. They speak their own tongue. I

have baptized a few Atas, by making myself understood in Visayan

or Bagobo. On that day that the Atas hear a father missionary speak

their language, I have no doubt of their conversion. The difficulty,

even supposing that there were father missionaries who could give

their work to the mission, will always be very great, because it is

in the interior, through mountains, rivers, and woods remote from

the coast, where there are no roads or any human aid. Nevertheless,

one must pray for them, confident that God will open the way through

His infinite mercy.

In the island of Samal I have also a Christian village, where the

heathen Samals are gradually becoming reduced and baptized. There

are now some hundred and thirty-seven baptized.

The other reductions in my care are all on the southern part of this

coast, extending from Davao to Malalag, inclusive. They are Malalag,

Piapi, Digos, Santa Cruz, Astorga, Daliao, Bago, and Taumo. Among them

all there are nine hundred who have been baptized. In general they

follow the instructions of the father missionary docilely. Almost all

of them possess their little homes on the suitable street, and many

of them are beginning to cultivate cacao and other plants which are

given to them here, and are highly esteemed. The majority of those

baptized as yet in these reductions belong to the Tagacaolo and Bagobo

races. Then follow successively the Manobos, Samals, and Calagars. I

shall also endeavor to open the door quite soon to the Guiangas,

Bilanes, and Atas. In order to begin, nevertheless, as is fitting,

and to carry on this work, some father missionaries are needed, not

only because of the great number of the heathens to be administered,

but also because they talk several languages, and have habits and

customs that differ considerably among themselves.

I conclude this letter by commending myself to the holy prayers and

sacrifices of all the Fathers and Brothers of that holy house. From

your most affectionate servant in Christ,

Mateo Gisbert, S. J.

Davao, July 26, 1886.

Pax Christi.

My dearly beloved Father Superior in Christ: [109]

I have just received your favor of the fourteenth inst. I am very

glad that you have returned from your long journey without having

experienced any misfortune. Welcome to the Fathers and Brothers of

the new mission! A fraternal embrace to them all!

I desired to write your Reverence a long letter, but since the post

has found me alone, in Davao, for Fathers Perello and More have not

returned from their excursion to Libuac, I shall not be able to write

at great length, as I must attend to the other duties necessary here

during the days for the steamboat. May God repay your Reverence for the

charity which you extend me in the good news that you give me. What

shall I tell you on this occasion? The circumstances of this mission

offer me some material, especially the consideration of the condition

of the various races of heathens who inhabit it, and especially the

race of the Bagobos. To what extremities do their ignorance and the

malice of the common enemy reduce them! This latter, being the prince

of darkness, rules them thoroughly, no longer by insinuating himself

and presenting himself under the forms of apparent goodness, in order

to take possession of their hearts and souls without intimidating them,

acting as a seductive deceiver, but in the midst of the shadows of

this heathenism, he does not fear to appear so frightfully horrible

and cruel as he is in reality.

I have considered, at times, as did our holy Father, Ignacio, Satan

on his throne of smoke and fire, with horrible and frightful face,

in the great field of Babilonia, and this formula, which is feigned

by means of the imagination to aid the understanding in consideration

of the truth that it claims, is here a reality. What is it but that

large field inhabited by so many heathen races, whose confusion of

tongues forms the labyrinth of the mission in which we work! What

signifies this volcanic mountain Apo, in which the great Mandarangan

lives as in his throne of smoke and fire, as is believed and related

by the Bagobos, who bathe themselves in the blood of thousands

upon thousands of human victims! Is not this truly the field of

Babilonia, where the prince of darkness reigns? And who can tell

the years of his dominion here? The Bagobos of Sibulan usually show

their antiquity by the following genealogies. Manip, the present

dato, had for father Panguilan; Panguilan was the son of Taopan;

Taopan, son of Maliadi; Maliadi, son of Banga; Banga, son of Lumbay;

Lumbay, son of Basian; Basian, son of Boas; Boas, son of Bato; Bato,

son of Salingolop. They say that of all their ancestors, Salingolop

was the most powerful, and his name was always preserved among all

his descendants. Before him there were already Bagobos with the same

customs as those of today, that is, they were heathens and slaves of

the great Mandarangan or Satan, to whom it appears that they always

sacrificed human victims. The father of Manip was the dato of Sibulan,

who died a few months ago at a very old age (perhaps he was as much as

a hundred), and whom they say had already attained to the condition

of immortality, which was due to the matuga guinaua, or good heart

of Mandarangan, because of the many victims that he had offered that

being. It is said that when he was yet a youth, he sought a wife,

but did not obtain her until he had cut off fifty human heads, as

was attested by the hundred ears which he carried in a sack from the

river Libaganon to Sibulan. How many victims must that single Bagobo

have offered up! Even after his death it was necessary to seal his

sepulcher with the blood of human victims. For his son Manip and

his other relatives did not remove the mourning or lalaoan, as they

call it, until after they had barbarously sacrificed seven slaves,

according to the relation of Itang. That man fearing to be one of

the victims, presented himself to the father missionary in order to

place his temporal and eternal life in safety, and that was quickly

done for he was baptized a while ago under the name of Juan.

Quite patent is the barbarity of these people and the complete dominion

of the prince of darkness in the field of the Bagobo heathenism. But

perhaps one will ask: "How can so paradoxical a barbarity exist,

since by sacrificing their slaves, [110] those people lose slave

and money? Leaving to one side even the inhumanity revealed by so

barbarous a custom, only by not attacking so directly their own

interests by depriving themselves of arms for their work, etc.,

it appears that they would have to refrain from sacrificing their

slaves; but necessarily they are very much given to human sacrifices,

not only in order to preserve a custom of their ancestors, but also

in order not to lose a kind of trade that is sufficiently lucrative,

and of which I made mention in one of my former letters.

Nevertheless, it will not be too much to relate the following case

in support of my assertion. Maglandao, a good lad, and yet single,

was the name of the victim. His master was not a Bagobo, but he was

married to a Bagobo woman, and far from following the customs of his

country which are more humane and civilized, he immediately committed

so evil a deed that he could well have been graduated as master

from the Bagobo school. Maglandao was the son of Apat, a Bagobo,

and from childhood had never been the slave of any person. But in

order to obtain some pamaran or pendents of ivory which were worth

eight or ten pesos, he gave his word to work for a certain length

of time for the owner of the pamaran. The latter, considering him as

his slave, or rather, as if he were a wild boar of the woods, having

grown angry at him one day because he did not do as he was ordered,

fired his gun point blank at him so that the ball entered his back

and came out in front just below the right breast, also going through

his arm. The wound was mortal, especially as he was left, just as

his master left him, totally abandoned. But, since in spite of all,

two days had passed, and Maglandao had not died, his master bethought

him that he could make use of him for the sacrifice which the Bagobos

of Cauit were about to make on the occasion of the death of the old

Balolo. The sacrificers, in number about twenty heathens, agreed

to kill or sacrifice the wounded youth, giving his master seventy

paves, [111] or about fourteen cavans of palay. That was a stroke

of business that was considered as profitable by both parties to the

contract. The sacrifices believed that they were the gainers in it,

for since the victim was nearly dead when he came into their hands,

they obtained him ipso facto at a lower price, and thus saved money

and stabbing. He who sold the victim also thought himself the gainer,

because by handing him over for the sacrifice, he saved the labor and

expenses of burial, and had enough palay to eat throughout the year.

I have been able to ascertain the facts about this and other horrible

sacrifices through the sacrificers themselves who have been converted

to the Catholic faith, who have not hesitated to relate them to me with

the above details and others which I omit. The above will suffice for

your Reverence to understand that human sacrifices are a real business

here, and are maintained not only by Bagobos, but also by Moros and

other heathen races. It is an infamous traffic which can only be wiped

out by means of the civilizing action which Espana is exercising over

Mindanao. Some heathens having been reprimanded on a certain occasion

by the governor of this district in regard to so barbarous a custom,

had the audacity to reply to him in the following manner: "Sir, is

not every one allowed to spend his money as he pleases? Slaves answer

the purposes of money among us, and we spend that money according to

our pleasure and custom."

Much more barbarous are they than the Ammonites, who sacrificed their

sons to Moloch, and those other idolaters who sacrificed to Saturn,

for both of them did it only several times a year, for the Bagobos

sacrifice very frequently. There is no rancheria in which they do not

annually make their feasts to the demon--Busao, Mandarangan, or Darago,

for they are wont to give him these and many other names. On the day of

the great assembly at the house of the dato or chief of the rancheria,

they only eat and drink, sing and dance with joy, and there is no

appearance of anything evil, except the scandals which reveling and the

worship of Darago generally occasion. There with cup of wine in hand,

they mutually pledge one another, and yielding the word to the old man

or chief of the feast, they drink toasts with him in honor of the great

Darago, whom they promise to follow and honor forever, offering to him,

as did their ancestors, the blood of many human victims, so that he

may be their friend and aid them in their wars. Curious persons who

are present at those feasts, do not understand the language of the

old men nor see anything that hints of a human sacrifice, but those

who are fully initiated in the Bagabo customs, will note immediately

the token of the human sacrifice which was made in the woods on the

preceding day among the branches placed in the bamboo or drum, before

which the old men above mentioned make their invocation to Darago.

When any contagious disease appears, or whenever any of their relatives

die, the Bagobos believe that the demon is asking them for victims, and

they immediately hasten to offer them to him so that he may not kill

them. They are accustomed generally to show their goodwill in the act

of sacrifice in the following words: Aoaton no ian dipanoc ini manobo,

timbac dipanoc co, so canac man sapi, [that is] "Receive the blood of

this slave, as if it were my blood, for I have paid for it to offer it

to thee." These words which they address to Busao, when they wound and

slash the victim, show clearly that they believe in and expect to have

the demon as their friend by killing people for him. For they hope to

assure their life in proportion to the number of their neighbors they

deliver to death, which they believe is always inflicted by Busao or

the demon who is devoured continually by hunger for human victims.

Now it is seen, your Reverence, my Father, whether I said with reason

that this place appears the kingdom of the prince of darkness as

horrible and cruel as it is in reality. His subjects, or better,

his slaves, although they easily comprehend the existence of a god,

creator and omnipotent, since they believe as they do, that sickness

and death come from Busao, and that the latter is only fond of

blood and revolution, dedicate their altars and sacrifices to him,

consenting to the impious and iniquitous pact of eternal servitude,

which their ancestors, deceived and reduced by the great Mandarangan,

made at the foot of the Apo Volcano. Let us beseech the intercession

of the angels and the saints, and especially that of the Queen and

Lady, our Mother, the most holy Virgin, before God our Lord, so that

by His grace, He may unite the hearts of all those who can aid us in

the material and spiritual conquest of these peoples.

Here I take leave of your Reverence, saluting all the Fathers and

Brothers of those colleges, to whose holy prayers and sacrifices I

commend myself.

Your Reverence's servant in Christ,

Mateo Gisbert, S. J.

Davao, December 24, 1886.

Pax Christi.

My dearly beloved Father Superior in Christ:

[Once] since the seven months in which I have been able to visit San

Jose of Samal, I went there lately to say mass and preach to those poor

people, at that time solemnizing eight baptisms and one marriage. It

is fitting for the Samals who were always visited and cared for by

the father missionaries of Davao, to be specially visited and cared

for now when some of those who formerly showed most opposition, offer

themselves for baptism. During this last visit I baptized Mal-luyan,

the headman, a son-in-law of Captain Baguisan. The latter has become

a fury, and refuses to allow any of those whom he calls his sacopes

to be baptized, and he threatens with his gun the one who does not

conform to him, and commits real outrages. He is a madman of a bad

kind, worse than Busao himself. For if the demon looses the chains

of heathenism on anyone and that person becomes baptized through the

mercy of God, Baguisan hastens to fasten them on again. That happened

lately to Cabais, who, one day going to get his wife in order that

they two might be baptized and live in San Jose with two daughters

already Christians, has been detained and rigorously forbidden to

present himself before the father.

On account of this war against baptism by Baguisan, which is both

obligatory and of long standing in Samal, it is advisable to pay heed

to that field of Christendom, so that it may increase, although that

increase be but gradual, and so that the entire island may finally

be converted. The appointment, by the governor, of the Christians

of San Jose as captain, lieutenant, etc., has produced an excellent

result. It might be said that those Christians are the real datos of

the island, and the only ones who obey the orders that they receive,

who cultivate cacao, and form a true village.

The village which your Reverence saw in the old Casalucan has remained

talis qualis. [112] These people if they are not baptized, live in

the manner of Baguisan. "A village--and on the beach--in order to live

under guard and subject--bah!" they say. "We don't want it! We don't

want it!" There is a race, however, or to speak more accurately, the

remnant of what was the Moro race, which was formerly predominant on

these coasts, whose datos and captains, for fear of being abandoned by

the few sacopes whom they still have, are the first ones to present

themselves and beg for a village. And since they know that that

petition is generally heeded by all the governors who succeed to

the district, they easily obtain the support that they ask, and form

something that resembles a village, if it be looked at especially from

the sea. Thus do they oblige the scattered sacopes to reunite under

their datos and panditas, and that is the very thing that they desire,

in order that they might maintain their customs and mode of living.

Since the Moros do not agree in any part, and much less here, where we

have so many other good and numerous races, it would be very politic,

in my opinion, to encourage the spirit of the Moros who are attempting

to separate from their datos and panditas, so that the latter may

become isolated and without any authority. If it is thought advisable

to assemble them into a settlement, since, counting all the Moros

of the gulf, their number does not reach five thousand, it would be

an excellent thing to assemble them in one village, at a point where

they can be better watched and governed. But if they were ordered to

assemble in one single village, it would always be necessary to permit

those Moros who wished, to separate from their datos and panditas

in order that they might take root in the villages and reductions as

do the other heathens. Being baptized like them, if they wish, they

may do it freely without the obstacle of datos and panditas. As they

are now, although there are but few here, they fill and dirty the

whole thing; for scarcely is there a river or a valley whose mouth

has not its dato and pandita, who, together with their sacopes, the

latter of whom do not number ten at times, say that they are making a

village by order of the governor. But what they are really doing is

to prevent other heathens from being reduced and making a village,

which would actually be of real advantage for the future.

I will close by asking your Reverence to commend me to God in your

holy prayers and sacrifices.

Mateo Gisbert, S. J.

LETTER FROM FATHER PABLO CAVALLERIA TO FATHER FRANCISCO SANCHEZ

Isabela de Basilan, December 31, 1886.

Pax Christi.

My very dearly beloved in Christ, Father Sanchez:

Replying to your favor, in which your Reverence asks for information

concerning the inhabitants of this island of Basilan, I have deemed

it best to write the following.

Races

The races of this island are the indigenous race and the Moros. The

indigenous is Christian and there is little or nothing to say of them,

since they are well known to your Reverence.

The Moro [113] race is infidel, and lives on the coast and in the

interior.

The indigenous race forms the settlement of Isabela de Basilan,

consisting of some eight hundred souls.

Further sixteen families of Christian Indians reside in the visita

called San Pedro de Guibauan distant six leguas from Isabela. Their

absolute lieutenant in chief is Pedro Cuevas.

The Moro race is now greatly degenerated, for many are coming down

from the Bisayas who were formerly captives.

The Moros of the interior of the island are called Yacanes, [114]

and are employed, although but little, in the cultivation of palay,

sweet-potatoes, cacao, etc.

The Moros of the coast are called Samales Laut. They are employed,

although little, in fishing. They are pirates, and whenever they

can do so with impunity, they capture the Christians, or the Moros

of the interior themselves, or those of distant Samal rancherias, or

those of other islands. On that account there is a certain hostility

between the Samales and the Yacanes. At present, Pedro Cuevas, so far

as he is able, executes justice upon those who exercise such boldness,

and applies the law to them.

Among the Samales Laut, there are Joloan Moros, and Malays.

The total number of the Moros of this island is ten or twelve

thousand. [115] Their skin is of a deep bronze color, and they have

black eyes, rather meager eyebrows, thin beard and their cranium is

flattened on the occipital part.

Religion

They are not very observant in their ceremonies.

They omit many of the rules of their false prophet Mahomet, add

others which are not prescribed, and observe some, but in the time

and manner that appears best to them. For example, they do not pray

even at least once a day, almost never observe Friday, and it is

never seen that any of them has gone to Meca. [116]

They practice baptism or gunting, which they have learned, although

badly, from the Christian captives.

For the administration of baptism, they prepare cocoanut oil, rice

flour, water from the cocoanut and natural water. When the child is

four or six months old, on that day that they think best, the imam

takes a little of each of those ingredients abovesaid, and places them

on the forehead of the child, at the same time uttering certain words

from the Koran. At the end of the ceremony the feast follows, and

the imam is the first to whom the large tray of food must be presented.

Marriage

The fathers or owners of the young girls rather sell than give them

for wives. Fees are assigned for the petitions made by the young men

to the fathers or masters of their sweethearts. Consequently, it is

seldom that the young woman is given to the suitor at his first or

second petition. The young woman is granted to the suitor, who pays

greater or less fees, according as the family is more or less principal

and as the young woman is more or less good-looking. Consequently,

thirty, fifty, or more pesos are demanded for her delivery, besides

the marriage feast.

The ceremonies observed by them, as I have seen them, are as

follows. The groom chews his buyo as he is required, then goes into

the midst of the guests, makes some wry faces, and passes his hands

along his face. By that means they say that he is asking pardon of

God by confessing his sins. This is called magtanbat. Then if the

groom has not paid because of poverty, for a suitable banquet, some

of the chiefs present strike him several blows on the back with a

rattan formed like a hand, more or less numerous, according to what

he has neglected to prepare for the banquet.

Then the groom goes to wash his feet and clothe himself in white

garments. On coming out he seats himself on a mat, and places his right

hand between the two hands of one chief, and his left upon the right

hands of the other chiefs. Then the imam covers his right hand and

that of the groom with a white handkerchief, and thus being united,

they utter some words from the Koran. The imam lifts his hands, and

extends them so that his palms are turned outwards and at a distance

of two cuartas, [117] and lifts them to his head. The groom does the

same, but the palms of his hands are turned toward his face. They

clasp hands again with the chiefs in the manner abovesaid, and then

the feast immediately follows. At the end of the feast, they go to

the home of the bride, and the same ceremonies are there repeated

with her as with the groom.

At intervals they play the culintingan, and if the groom is an

influential person, there is a discharge of musketry, and a cow or

carabao is killed, and innumerable Moros invited in. The richer one

is the more guests there are; and at intervals there is generally a

war dance.

Burial

When the sickness is severe, the imam performs the magtaual, by

sprinkling a little water on the sick person, and reciting some

prayers to their false prophet. They clothe the deceased in a white

garment which covers them from top to toe. Those who are present or

who visit the deceased, are invited to a feast. The grave that is made

is deep or shallow according to the rank of the person who is to be

buried, but it is always one and one-half or two varas deep, and in

the shape of a crescent. In one side of it they open a kind of cave,

where the body is to be buried. Once the body is deposited there,

they set upright stakes in the cave and then make a platform over

the hole while two persons scare away the flies with a white cloth

so that they may not come near. At the ends of the grave they place a

tabo [118] of water and food. The imam comes, recites some Mahometan

prayers, approaches the dish of food which they have placed there for

him, and there at the very grave, he stuffs himself with dexterity,

and retires. At the termination of that gastronomic operation, the

death-guards (or tunguquibul) who watch the dead for the space of a

few days and nights, enter. This is done by various families in turn,

according to the wealth or property of the family of the deceased,

for they are paid in food and cloth whenever they stand guard. When

the deceased, or rather his relatives have nothing more with which

to recompense them, the guards cease to watch the dead.

If any of the family of the deceased do not wish that guard to be

made, the imams and some others circulate the rumor that the dead

person has escaped and is running through the hills terrifying the

passers-by. That ghost they call panata, and until the guard has been

made, that rumor does not cease to be circulated.

Religious feasts

When they unite for public worship, which is when it pleases them, the

people are summoned by loud sounds produced by the blows of a stick

upon a sort of drum. The imam begins an invocation in a sad tone to

their impostor and reads a bit of the Koran. In the meantime the people

chew buyo, talk, lie down, laugh, scream, and then they retire without

either the imam or the people having understood what has been read.

The principal feast, and almost the only one that they celebrate is

the maulut or birth of Mahomet. Each rancheria, and at times each

family even, celebrates it on whatever day they choose. They ought

to hold it on the tenth night of the month called Rabie aual, which

corresponds to the month of September. But they generally celebrate it

after the harvest. This year the Moros of this place have celebrated

it in December. I asked them once why they did not celebrate it on a

fixed day. They replied that they celebrated it when they had food for

a good feast. On the said occasions several chiefs are accustomed to

meet with the imam and sing in so doleful a voice that the song appears

to come from a cavern, the while the women prepare the feast. This

year I have noted that the imam of Panigayan has gone on separate

days to celebrate the feast at different rancherias.

They are very superstitious, and greatly fear Saitan (the devil)

whom they endeavor to placate. When the epidemic of 1882 was here,

the Moros of Panigayan, among whom the cholera made especially severe

ravages (for one-half of them died), threw boatloads of food into the

sea, so that on encountering them, the devil might be satisfied with

the food and leave them in peace. They also hung food to the trees

with the same end in view.

On that occasion, the sherif reaped a fine harvest by selling clear

water, which had curative properties, as he asserted. In return for

the cure they had to recite some Moro prayers. If they were cured,

it was by the water; but if they were not cured, it was because they

had not recited well the prayers of Mahomet. The affair did not result

ill for him.

In January 1883, I had occasion to observe another superstition in

Lucbutun, a Moro rancheria one legua distant from this place by sea. A

sailing fragata, which they called an enchantress, because they did not

descry at a distance more than its sails passed not far from the said

rancheria. Then because they did not salute it, they believed that they

had irritated the devil, and in order to repair the fault they made two

closets, and placed in the midst of them burning brasiers and lamps.

Some Moros believe also that the sherif can by his mere will send a

sickness on whom he pleases. All is for the purpose of terrifying them

and so that the sherif can get whatever he wishes from them. Whenever

I have opposed this error, I have asked them why, if the sherif had

this power, he did not send diseases upon the Christian village,

since he is hostile to the Christians, but they do not reply to the

question, but remain in their obstinacy.

Once when there was an eclipse of the moon, the Moros of Pasanjan began

to make a great racket with their culintingans and other things. When

they were asked why they made so much noise, they answered that it

was in order to scare the serpent which was eating the moon. [119]

For their long voyages they look at the cuticaan, which is a book

containing certain figures. By means of that they try to discover

whether they have fortunate voyages or not.

Follies

He who knows most among them is the sherif yet his learning does not

go beyond the ability to write a few words in Arabian characters. In

regard to heaven and hell they know nothing more than their

existence. In regard to the soul they know almost nothing.

The following is what a sherif asserted regarding heaven and

hell. There are seven heavens and seven hells to express the various

rewards or punishments:

1. A heaven called Yattu Atuan. Here there is only rest.

2. A heaven, [called] Firdeos. Here there are good things to eat.

3. A heaven [called] Naim. If one wishes to eat, there is plenty of

food [here].

4. A heaven [called] Naua. The water [here] has the taste that one

desires.

5. Ainum naim. Here [there is] great wealth.

6. Salsabila. Here [there are] golden vessels from which to drink.

7. Jatard al Cots. Here [there are] pearls and diamonds.

Hells

1. Naruk Yahanna. Here [there is] confusion.

2. Naruk Sacar. [Here there are] contrivances and animals for

inflicting torture.

3. Naruk Sigmilti. [Here there are] tortures in language.

4. Naruk abus. [Here there are] most ugly things.

5. Naruk Jauya. Here one is run through with spears.

6. Naruk Zaalt. Here one suffers thirst.

7. Naruk Jamia. Here one is tortured with fire.

So did one Tuan Sarib describe heaven and hell. On a certain occasion

several chiefs and imams gathered together; and when speaking of Adam

and Eve, they did not succeed in telling who were their parents, and

they had recourse to the missionary in order that he might instruct

them on that point. They do not know either, the day on which their

Mahomet was born, or much less any of his history.

They scarcely know their era, nor do they know how old they are. Once

a man asked me to tell him how old he was. They count by moons, saying

"Only two moons have passed;" "Three moons from now we shall do this;"

etc., etc.

Much more might be said of their errors and foolishness, but I consider

this sufficient, and it would be a prolixity to adduce more facts to

prove those errors and follies.

Dress

The dress consists of pantaloons narrow at the bottom and wide at the

top and a tight shirt. The women dress like the men except that they

cover themselves with a loosely sewed mantle (jabul) which covers them

from top to toe and is fastened under the armpit thus forming folds.

They cut their hair to a little fringe on the forehead, and shave

themselves. Their teeth are dyed black in order to distinguish them

from the Christians.

The Samal Moros dress in pantaloons that are tight from top to bottom.

The Moro will not eat flesh, [120] unless the imam sacrifices the

animal, and performs the Sumbalig.

The Moros are dirty, lazy, fickle, importunate, stingy in giving,

and fond of conversation and amusements.

They fight without giving quarter, and in the attack, advance, stop,

give ground, leap, creep among the cogon, [121] cover themselves with

their shields, etc.

In their wars against the Spaniards or Christians, they build forts

defended by ditches, and invested with thick earthen walls. They are

fierce and bold, and when dripping with blood they fight until death

on the field of battle, impelled by their hatred toward the Christian

or Spaniard.

Below are some verses of a song of theirs which was dictated to me

by a Moro chief, so that your Reverence may better see the hatred

with which they fight. [122]

Pagcalanta aco isa Un canto entonare

Saliban Sauan da sa Que es del Saliban Sauan

Sabab aun sucut dasa. Para tener suerte

Tumulak aco salasa. Al embarcarme el martes.

Maluag can sanchata Busca las lantacas

Bacucus in sacay in sa Las armas en la embarcacion

Bisan uay bantata Y aunque no haya enemigos

Marayao panab quita. Bueno es estar prevenidos.

Yari Saliban Sauan Este Saliban Sauan

Mallo pa Zamboangan Va para Zamboanga

Bisan uay dangat Aunque no haya comercio

Midda pa subangan. Volvera pronto.

Castila piangayu Al castila pidio

Simacat na tinuyo Subio con traicion

Catacus niangayu Sus armas pidio

Ynacujan sa nag buno. Se las cogio con la muerte.

Aco catcal magbuno na Yo siempre peleare

Ampa lasa aun co na Y hasta gusto tendre si caigo

Bauk aco dumungu na Arrostrare el peligro

Sagui na Bismil-la. En nombre de Dios.

Jida manung lasap Tengo gusto en hablar

Magcalis samsil dasak Esgrimire con valor el cris afilado

Minsan co dugu nasak Y aunque mi sangre corra por el suelo

Limagut parran lisak. Tajeare al oir tocar.

A song I will chant,

Which is that of the Saliban [123] Sauan,

In order that I may have luck

At my sailing on Tuesday.

Look after the lantacas,

The weapons at embarking;

And though there are no enemies

It is wise to be prepared.

This Saliban Sauan

Is going to Zamboanga;

Although there is no trade,

He will return quickly.

He begged from the Castilian;

He mounted treacherously;

The Castilian demanded his arms;

He got them with his death.

Ever will I fight,

And even glad will I be if I fall;

I will encounter danger

In the name of God.

I take pleasure in talking;

I will fight valiantly with my keen kris;

And although my blood is poured on the ground,

I will slash on hearing it fall.

The language that they speak consists of Tagalog, Visayan, and

Malayan words. But they make no difficulty about changing, omitting,

and adding letters and syllables.

This is as much as I have to tell your Reverence. Pray excuse me for

not having written before, for I have already stated the reason. I

beg you to overlook the faults of this document.

I have no time to copy it, for I have to go to Jolo.

Your Reverence's most affectionate servant in Christ,

Pablo Cavalleria, S. J.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY FATHER PABLO PASTELLS TO THE FATHER

PROVINCIAL, JUAN CAPELL, S. J. [124]

Manila, April 20, 1887.

... Now considering Mindanao under its social and political aspect,

its population is divided into Christians, heathens, and Moros, all

of whom proceed in general from the Malay, Indonesian races, [125]

and the indigenous or Negrito race, and from crosses of the same

races among themselves and with other superior races, especially

the Chinese and Spaniards. The Christians are divided into old

and new. The old Christians number about 186,000, and occupy in the

ethnographical map accompanying our letters, the place represented by

color no. 1. Their customs smell of the greater or less familiarity

that they have or have had with the heathens from whose races they

proceed. Without the powerful and efficacious influence of religion

one would note in them a marked tendency to idleness, drunkenness,

gambling, and lust. On the other side they are naturally hospitable,

docile, and generous. They are pious in the performance of their

religion. In their family and married life considerable morality is

observed when there exist no rocks of scandal in the villages. I have

observed in certain parish books which register more than two hundred

baptisms per year, that two or three years pass without the notice of a

single natural child. [126] They are given to the cultivation of rice,

abaca, sugar-cane, coffee, tobacco, bananas, lumbias, cocoa-palms,

and other fruit trees, and to that of tubers such as sweet potatoes,

gabe, and aroru, which are an article of prime necessity for them in

times of famine. They extract mastic and other resins, as for example

piao and guisog, and refine the oil of cocoanuts, biao, and balao,

but do not extract castor or peanut oil as they are ignorant of their

use. [127] Wax and honey are very abundant. From the latter, and from

sugar-cane, nipa, cocoanuts, rice and cabo negro they prepare their

drinks, and their vinegars from the last named and from camagon. [128]

They also get salt from sea-water by means of rapid evaporation. [129]

In general, the men are farmers, but among them there are carpenters,

smiths, metal workers, masons, tailors, and even some who devote

themselves to the making of weapons. The women weave the filaments

of pina, tindog, [130] abaca, cotton, and silk. They embroider and

sew most delicately and tastefully. In certain seasons of the year,

many Indians of the coasts, travel and fish especially for sea-turtles,

whether they have any shell or not. [131]

They live in humble houses of nipa, bamboo, and even of wood, which

are quite luxurious among the most powerful. The animals that they

use for their work, conveyance, and travel are the carabao, the

ox, and the horse. Their implements for farming are reduced to the

plow and the bolo. Their domestic animals are the dog, cat, cock,

and swine. Their games are cockfighting, cards, and sipa, a hollow

ball of split bamboo, which they move with the feet. They also use

dancing as a means of diversion, especially the moro-moro dance and the

tapairon. During their principal feasts, they adorn their houses with

hangings and hold modest banquets. They are very fond of excitement

and noise, especially that caused by fireworks. Their usual cutting

weapons are the hatchet, sundan, ligdao, kris, campilan, tabas, and the

badi for the women. The missile weapons are the spear which may be of

four kinds, namely, puyus, budiac, linayas, and pinuipui; arrows of

bamboo, palma brava, [132] iron, and steel. Those weapons used both

for cutting and thrusting are balaraos or two edged daggers, whose

hilts and scabbards are usually adorned with various designs in silver

engraved by themselves. The boats used by them are vintas, barotos,

bancas, bilus, pancos, faluas, paraos, and lancanes. For fishing

they make use of the harpoon, arrows, bolos, corrals, and nets. For

the same object they also use the bark of the tree called tuble and

the fruits of the tuba-tuba, and lagtan. [133] There trade is, as

a rule, reduced to the articles of prime necessity in food, drink,

clothing, and work utensils. Among the old Christians of Mindanao,

tulisanes by profession are not known, and if there are any in the

south, they are deported.

The new Christians, from 1876 to the present time, reach some

25,000. In their general characteristics and customs, they

are not distinguished from the races to which they owe their

origin. Nevertheless, after they receive holy baptism, and while

they live as Christians under the civil and religious organization

to which they are subjected by the father missionaries, a very marked

difference is noted, for by the habit of subjection to law which they

acquire by means of the mild means of Christian education which the

missionary who has been able to merit their confidence, strikes, the

change of their customs is facilitated in a remarkable manner, and in

a short time the moral condition of their families and individuals

is changed. I mean [that the above is true] when they persevere [in

the Christian life] for in regard to this, there are some tribes who

are more fickle than others. Thus for example, the converted Mandaya

is much less inconstant than the Manobo, for the importance of being

subject to a beginning of authority is more impressed on his mind.

The heathen to the number of about 300,000, are divided into different

nations or families of three races properly so called: the Malay,

the Indonesian, and the Negrito. They have many crosses with other

superior races, as the Chinese, Japanese, and even according to some,

the European. [134]

The Mamanuas (man-banua, "inhabitant of the country") are the true

indigenous aborigines of the country. [135] Their color is dark,

and their hair is oily, woolly, and curly. They are nomadic and go

naked. They pass the night where it overtakes them, taking shelter

under an improvised hut of palasan [136] or of any tree branch. Their

food is the fruit and the roots of the forest and the flesh of

deer, boars, monkeys, snakes, and reptiles. Their weapons are the

bow and arrow, spear, and knife. They have an idea of God and of

a worship, as well as some maxims of natural law. They are timid,

and miserable creatures, moved by necessity, and loving of ease. They

inhabit the small peninsula of Surigao and extend to Tago through the

mountains. Their chiefs generally contract marriage with the Manobo

women. This race is almost extinct in consequence of the privations

incident to their wandering life. Four small villages of Mamanuas exist

in the parish of Mainit and another in that of Gigaquit. The total

number of this tribe does not exceed two or three thousand. Those

baptized number about five hundred. In the map they occupy color

number 2.

The Manobos or Manuba (man-suba, [137] "river dweller") as is indicated

by their name itself live near the rivers. They inhabit the valley

of the Agusan, which extends from Butuan to Oloagusan. They live

besides on the point of San Agustin on the southern shore of the bay

of Malalag, and in the district of Cottabato, as may be seen in the

ethnographical map, accompanying these letters, color no. 3.

This tribe is numerous, wild, fickle, easy to reduce, [138]

somewhat difficult to preserve, and suspicious and treacherous in

their attacks. They build their houses near the rivers and often

in the forks of trees. Their religion is very like that of the

Mandayas. They annually change their abode in order to make new

fields, being compelled to do so because of the grass and briars

which spring up. As they have no means for the deep working of the

soil, consequently permanent possession has no charm for them. They

abandon their houses as soon as anyone dies in them, and if the

deceased is an outsider, they demand the worth of the abandoned house

from his relatives. Their system of life is the patriarchal, under

the protection of their respective bagani. The Manobo, according

to Dr. Montano, [139] presents two extreme types: one athletic,

and of much slighter build than the other. Those two types combined

in the majority of the individuals constitute another medium type

whose characters are more plainly marked in the Manobos of Davao,

than in those of the Agusan. Their clothing, weapons, and ornaments

closely resemble those of the Mandayas, with the exception of the

strings of glass beads, which are black rather than red among the

Manobos. Tattooing is practiced among the Manobos, and is done by means

of a needle and powdered charcoal. The number of the Manobos in the

valley of Agusan is about 20,000, half of whom are now reduced. The

number of those of the district of Davao and Cottabato is unknown.

The Mandayas (man-daya, "people of the upland"--ilaya) is a tribe

extending from Tago to Mati, and from Gandia to the source of the

Agusan, and in the district below the Salug, as may be seen at color

no. 34, of the adjoined ethnographical map. The manners and customs

of the Mandayas are described in a letter written by Father Heras,

June 8, 1878. The Mandayas number about 30,000 of whom 8,000 are

already reduced and baptized.

The Manguangas [140] (man-gulangas, "people of the woods") live on the

upper part of the Salug. They are warlike and have continual quarrels

with the Manobos and Mandayas of the Agusan, the Moros of the Hijo,

and the Atas. They are easy to reduce. In the map, they occupy the

place corresponding to color no. 5.

The Monteses (Buquid-non) [141] of the second district of Mindanao

are divided into two groups: those adjacent to the Manobos of the

Agusan between Gingoog and Nasipit, who approach to the habits, and

the social and religious life of the latter; and those who people

the mountains and valleys of the Tagaloan River. Comprehended in the

parish of Balingasag, there are several reductions of them. Their

number is about 4,000. They are shown in the map at color no. 6.

The Atas (from itaas, ataas, atas, "those who live on the heights") are

the indigenous natives who generally live about the western districts

of Mount Apo. [142] They are warlike and fight against the Moros and

the Bagobos. The Atas extend to the northwest of Davao, and in their

ramifications finally reach to the borders of the Bagobos, Guiangas,

Mandayas, and even to the Subanos and the Monteses of Cagayan and

Maguindanao. The number of this tribe is unknown, even approximately,

but it is conjectured with foundation that it must be very numerous. In

the map they occupy the place corresponding to color no. 7.

The Guiangas [143] (guanga, gulanga "inhabitant of the woods")

live, according to Father Gisbert, scattered between the rivers and

rancherias of Dulian, Guimalan, Tamugan, Ceril, and Biao near Davao,

and they number about 6,400. Their dialect is entirely different

from those of the others, and they show sufficient intelligence,

but they are very barbarous, and human sacrifices are still held

among them. In the map they occupy color no. 8.

The Bagobos [144] inhabit the eastern slopes of the Apo. They are

of moderate stature, and well built, for the deformed children

are smothered at birth. They are fond of work. They perform human

sacrifices in order to placate Darago (Da-dago, Du-dugo, Mu-dugo,

"he who sheds blood," or "the shedder of blood") or Mandarangan. They

believe in two beginnings, are difficult to reduce, and easy to keep

after reduction. They are warlike and cruel, excellent horsemen, and

daring fishermen. They dress luxuriantly, and at times wear shirts

which cost them two or three slaves. They drink intus (the sap of

the fermented sugar-cane) and offer it when they make visits to all

those in the assembly beginning with the most worthy. The number of the

Bagobos, according to Father Gisbert, is about 12,000, of whom 800 have

been reduced and baptized. In the map they are found at color no. 9.

The Calaganes [145] are not Moros. Their captain and all his family

have been baptized, and, in consequence of that, a new reduction

has been formed from the individuals of this tribe in Digos, between

Piapi and Santa Cruz. They are fine fellows and very tractable. In

the map they occupy the color corresponding to no. 10.

The Tagacaolos [146] (taga-ca-olo, "inhabitant of the head," or

"source of rivers") are as capable as the Bagobos, without being

as cruel and superstitious as they. In their contests they are

generally very valiant especially those who are widowed; for to

become a murderer is a good recommendation for the contraction of

second nuptials. The Tagacaolos are of good figure and of a somewhat

clearer complexion than those of the other tribes with the exception

of the Mandayas. The Tagacaolos occupy the mountains of Haguimitan

in the small peninsula or the cape of San Agustin. Between Malalag,

Malita, and Lais, are found 7,000 and about 2,000 in the peninsula

of San Agustin. There is a small village of this tribe in Malalag of

those newly reduced, which has already 186 Christians. The Loac are

wild Tagacaolos still more degraded than the Mamanuas who live on the

heights of Haguimitan. In the map they will be found at color no. 11.

The Dulanganes (Gulanganes) called also Bangal-bangal, like the

Manguangas, are people of the woods, and live in the mountains, about

fifteen leguas from the Rio Grande, toward the southern coast. They

are savage and fierce, and the Moros themselves who do not dare

to meddle with them call them a bad race. It could be that the so

cried-up ferocity of the Dulanganes bugaboo was invented by the

Moros for their own ends, according to a note in one of the letters

of Father More. Their number is unknown. They go completely naked,

and for the most indispensable covering they use a kind of small apron

made of bark or the leaves of trees. Their food is the same as that

of the Mamanuas. They do not have houses either, and live in caves

or inside the trunks of trees, or like the Mamanuas. Their weapons

are usually arrows poisoned as I have heard with the curare. Is this

perchance the same curare that is discussed by Father Gumilla in his

Orinoco ilustrado? [147] They will be found at color no. 12 in the map.

The Tedurayes or Tirurayes [148] live on the slopes at the left

of the lower Pulangui. They number from 8,000 to 10,000 at the

most. They occupy on the map the place corresponding to color

no. 13. They are amiable, friendly to the Spaniards, but oppressed

by the Moros. Their fear of molestation from the Moros together

with their nomadic tendencies, due to the lack of carabaos and farm

implements, make their complete reduction difficult at present. Their

system of government is patriarchal, and the chief of the tribe is

called bandarra. They pay their tributes to the Moro datos as an

annual rent for the lands which they cultivate. The women adorn

their hands and legs in an insupportable manner, with huge brass

rings; and they pierce their ears in which they place pendants more

than one centimeter in diameter. The men allow their hair to grow

like the heathens of other tribes, but do not tie it up like those

tribes. Their weapons and industry show the influence that they have

received from the Moros. They gird the body with belts interwoven from

brass wire a decimeter or so in width. Their religion is a shapeless

aggregation of superstitious ideas. It is not accurate to say that the

Tirurayes have so low an idea of their self respect that they believe

themselves to be honored in prostituting their wives and daughters

with the Spaniards. Given the supposition of some isolated deed which

might seem to prove the abovesaid, a general rule could not be deduced

therefrom against the integrity of the customs of the Tirurayes in

this matter, against which the nature itself, not only of man but

also of the brute animals themselves, cries out with a loud voice.

The Tagabili or Taga-bulu are, together with the Bilanes, the owners of

the lake of Bulu-an, and live on the southern shore of that lake. This

tribe is warlike and friendly to the Moros, Tirurayes, and Manobos,

who live near them. The Moros of Sarangani are wont to ally themselves

with the Bilanes of Balud and Tumanao in order to fight against the

Tagabilies. I believe that their reduction will be as easy as is

that of the Bilanes. In the map they occupy the place corresponding

to no. 14.

The Samales [149] of the island of Samal near Davao are Moro

and Mandaya mestizos. They are brave and well inclined to the

Spaniards. Their population reaches about 2,000. There is a new

reduction of Christians in Samal. They are not so difficult to reduce

as are the Moros. They occupy color no. 15 in the map.

The Bilanes or Buluanes (Bil-an, Bul-u-an, Bulu-an) [150] reside in

the vicinity about the lake of Buluan and in the mountains between

the said lake and the bay of Sarangani. They are the most exploited

tribe and the most degraded physically except the Mamanuas. They are

fugitive, timid, docile, amiable, and easy to reduce. In two of the

islands of Sarangani, Balud and Tumanao, live also about 1,500 Bilanes

who maintain good relations with those of their race in Mindanao,

and with the Manobos of Culaman. They occupy color no. 16 on the map.

The Subanon ("people of the river") [151] are a tribe that has

become degenerate because of the persecutions which they have had to

endure from the Moros who collect large tributes from them. They are

husbandmen, but the Moros gain the benefit of their sweat. They are

long-suffering and pacific for they are not accustomed to the handling

of arms; and they are superstitious and ignorant. Their docility would

render their complete reduction very easy. They occupy almost all the

peninsula of Sibuguey, and are contiguous to the Moros of Lanao and of

the bay of Illana. The latter make use of them, for they enslave them

in order to make them work their fields. The military road from Tucuran

to Maranding which has been ordered to be built by his Excellency,

Captain-general Terrero, [152] will destroy the dominion exercised by

the Illanos Moros and those of Lanao over the Subanos, for it will

destroy the piracy and captivity because of the impossibility of

communication. At the same time it will facilitate the action of the

missionaries in the reduction of the said heathens. At the present time

there are five reductions of Subanos in the Dapitan district, which

have about 2,000 new Christians; another in the Zamboanga district in

the jurisdiction of Ayala; while three reductions have already been

begun successfully on the bay of Sibuguey, namely, Tupilak, Buluan,

and Bancalan. The Subanos are designated on the map at color no. 17.

The Lutangos Moros are Calibuganes. They are of a timid and peaceful

nature and live in Silanga de la Olutanga. They engage in fishing,

and have no other dwelling, according to Figueroa, than their vintas in

which they live. Each family carries with it its miserable possessions,

and they pass years without setting foot on the land for even the

fuel that they need is furnished by the mangrove trees. They generally

go naked. Their number does not exceed three or four hundred. On the

map they occupy color no. 20.

The Calibuganes are Moro and Subano mestizos, who are peaceful and

but little warlike. They share in the religion of the Moros which

is altered by the superstitions of the Subanos. They are considered

by the Moros as a free people, and hence the latter only exact from

them personal service with their vintas. That runs at the account of

the datos, on whom depend the maintenance of the same people. They

live in small groups on the coasts of the peninsula of Sibuguey and

occupy color number 21 on the map.

Moros. The Moros compared to the Christians of Filipinas, are what

the Jebusites are to the village of God. Consecrated to piracy and

the taking of captives since the beginning of their installation in

Jolo and Mindanao that profession has always been for them the most

solid support of their formidable power. Until 1860 when eighteen

steamboats came to this archipelago it was impossible to break

their indomitable pride, and assure communication with the sea of

Mindoro. Later with the increase of the navy and the installation of

the steamship post it has become impossible for those people to leave

their lurking places in order to practice their infamous raids. The

expeditions of General Claveria against the Moros of Balanguingui;

those of Urbistondo and Malcampo, against the Moros of Jolo; [153]

and the definitive establishment of our forts in Davao, Rio Grande,

and Jolo, have given the deathblow to Mahometanism in the archipelago,

[154] and it is now become shrunken to the reducible circle of the

territory that they overlook, and in that of the heathen rancherias

which surround them, where the beneficent influence of the Spanish

domination has not yet been able to penetrate in an efficacious

and immediate manner. Nevertheless the Moros will be from today and

forever under the vigilant eye of the victorious Lion of Castilla,

so that they may not commit any offenses outside. The day on which

the missionaries shall have succeeded in planting the cross among

the heathens who surround the Moros, then the latter deprived of the

slaves who cultivate the earth for them and clothe them, erect their

houses, and serve them as an object of luxury and trade, will on that

day see their necessity to change the campilan and the kris for the

ploughshare and the plough, the fierce arrogance of the warrior or

pirate, for the pacific gentleness of the man who is forced to gain

his bread by the sweat of his brow.

The worst Moros are those of Jolo and some rancherias of the coasts

of Basilan called Samal Laut (see color no. 23); the Illanos (no. 18),

who occupy the bay of Illana which gives them their name, and who form

a few groups on the coasts of Sibuguey; those of the lake of Lanao;

those of the valley of the Rio Grande; and those of the coast between

Cottabato and the gulf of Sarangani.

The most pacific are the Yacanes Moros (no. 22) of the interior of

Basilan; the Sanguiles (number 19); and those of Sarangani, except

some who have come from the Rio Grande. The Moros of the gulf of

Davao and Mayo are not feared both because of their isolation and

their small number.

[Continuing Father Pastells speaks of the ethnographical map that

accompanies this volume of the Letters. He mentions the fact that

Blumentritt published a map of like character in 1884. The present

map is made from information obtained directly by the Jesuit

missionaries. Concrete information as to the various dialects is

still in so incipient a condition that nothing can as yet be written

definitely on the subject, but Father Pastells holds out the hope

that such information may be given in the near future.]

LETTER FROM FATHER JOSE MARIA CLOTET TO THE REVEREND FATHER RECTOR

OF THE ATENEO MUNICIPAL

Talisayan, May 11, 1889.

Pax Christi.

My dearly beloved Father Rector in Christ:

In my last letter to your Reverence, I indicated to you that I was

gathering some data in regard to the religion, manners, and customs

of the mountain race. Now during the days of our stay in Talisayan,

I shall make use of my spare moments to write your Reverence what

I have been able to learn in the various reductions and visitas of

said heathens. In the present letter, however, I shall only give

information of some interesting matters which are worth knowing,

and are not unsuitable for a familiar letter.

In order to give the fullest information of the mountain race, I shall

take in general the water farthest up, beginning with their name and

with the territory which they occupy. I shall tell something of their

religion, false beliefs, and peculiar customs, and, not forgetting

their progress and their industries, I shall end by setting down,

although in passing, the fruit which our missionaries have gathered in

a short time among those heathens. I shall not bind myself, however,

to tell everything, but only some of the most remarkable things which

have come to my notice.

The Monteses, recognized in Mindanao under the name of Buquidnons

(inhabitants of the thicket), are found in the district of Misamis,

and can be considered as divided into three main groups. The first

embraces those who extend through the mountains and fertile plains

bathed by the Tagoloan, Cagayan, and Iponan rivers. The second

comprises the Colindantes with the Manobos of the Agusan between

Gingoog and Nasipit. Those living on the right bank of the Pulangui

River and along some of its affluents form the third group. They are

shown at number 6 on the ethnographical map. [155] From what I have

just explained, it can be easily seen that, although the Buquidnons

have some peculiarities which distinguish them from the other races,

as is natural, yet they approach in the manner of their habitual

social and religious existence, to the other races of this territory,

as I shall note in the course of this brief relation. Their exact

number is not known, but it can be calculated that they at present

exceed 13,000. They are of good stature and graceful build, and even

handsome. Their character is affable and frank, and some of them seem

to me so clever and polished that they are not one whit behind the

most civilized Visayans, and to judge by the frankness with which they

speak to the father missionary, and by the naturalness with which they

handle their affairs with the old Christians, no one would say that

they were heathens. By the capacity of their minds (as Father Urios

very well remarked) they would be elevated as the kings of all the

Manobos, since they surpass the latter so greatly. However, to tell

the truth, one always recognized in heathens, whoever they may be,

that their understanding is obscured and confused by false ideas which

penetrate into all the acts of their life. In the race of which I am

treating they are shown to be heathens by certain vices of egoism,

their self-interest, and the satisfaction that they take. Blessed

forever be the light of our holy faith which enlightens us with

the true knowledge of God and of ourselves, and infuses us with

self-abnegation and supernatural love for God and our neighbors!

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 43, 1670-1700 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century · 第 9 / 10 章

At the date on which we went to Santa Fe, it had been quite a long