STRANGE NEIGHBOURS.
YOU can imagine how glad Alila's mother was to see him back once more,
safe and sound. She kissed him tenderly in the odd fashion of her
people. When he had told her all his adventures, he said:
"Oh, mother, I want to go again. I haven't seen half of the strange
things in those forests. And, besides, hunters have told me of queer
people who live high up in the mountains beyond us. They are very wild,
and have such strange customs. It is said that they lived in these
islands before our people came here, hundreds and hundreds of years
ago. They must have been driven up into the thick forests to save
themselves from being captured.
"The men call them Negritos. They are very black, and do not look at
all like us. Their hair is a great ball of curls. They do not know much
more than animals."
"Yes, my child, I have not only heard about these savages, I have seen
one of them," replied his mother. "Your father has been among them, and
will tell you about their queer ways of living. They have no homes, but
sleep at night under the trees. If you heard them talking, you would
think at first it was the chattering of monkeys. They have very few
words in their language.
"When they plant their gardens, they do not plough them as we do. They
only scrape away the top of the earth, and then scatter their seed.
They do not even clear places in the forests."
While she was telling Alila these things, his father was not there. As
soon as he got back from the hunt, he went off to look over the farm to
see if the hemp was growing well. When he returned from this work Alila
went up to him, and said:
"Why is it, father, you have never told me about the Negritos? I never
even heard of them till I went on the hunt with you and your friends."
"I knew how you like daring deeds, my boy, and felt you would be
anxious to go among these savages and see them for yourself. So I
waited till you should be older. Now you have shown how much you can
bear, I will take you into strange places, and you shall see things for
yourself. The Negritos are a cowardly race, yet they are dangerous;
they always use poisoned arrows, and, from their safe hiding-places in
the mountains, often succeed in killing any people who dare to come
near them."
Then he told Alila how the Negrito children are taught to use their
bows and arrows when very young. They learn to shoot so well they can
hit the fish swimming in the water. They seldom fail to hit what they
aim at.
These savages live mostly on roots and fruits. Still, they do know how
to make a fire and cook some of their game. But they have no dishes,
and the bird or animal to be eaten is thrown among the embers and
allowed to stay there till the outside is burned to a crisp. When any
one among them is very ill, they do not wait for him to die, but bury
him alive.
One of the most laughable things Alila's father ever saw was a Negrito
wedding. The young bride pretended to run away from her future husband.
After he had caught her, they were carried up a bamboo ladder by their
friends, and sprinkled with water out of a cocoanut shell. Then they
came down and knelt on the ground, and an old man touched their heads
together. That made them man and wife.
Alila was much interested, and begged his father to tell more stories
of the Negritos and other savage tribes living in the depths of the
island forests.
He listened to tales of the Igorrotes, who live in huts like beehives
and creep into them like insects. They are people whom the white men
have tried again and again to conquer and to teach of God, but they
prefer to go naked and lead their own savage life.
And then his father described to him some of the sights he had seen. He
told him of a wonderful cave right there in his own island of Luzon. It
was equal in beauty to the cave Aladdin himself had entered.
Wonderful pendants of crystallised lime reached down from the lofty
roof, shining like diamonds. There were pillars of the snowy lime
a hundred feet in height, glittering in dazzling beauty. There were
spacious halls leading one from another in this underground palace. It
was a dangerous journey into this wonderful cave, but sometime Alila
must go there, his father said.
He should visit the volcano island, too,--an island in the middle of a
lake, from which terrible floods of lava and boiling water have poured
forth many times. What sorrow and destruction it has caused!
A long, long time ago, the boy's father cannot tell how many years have
passed, there was a terrible eruption. It lasted for many days. There
were quakings of the earth and horrible sounds under ground. The air
was filled with darkness save for flashes of lightning. Great columns
of mud and sand arose from out the lake. Torrents of lava poured over
the sides of the volcano and destroyed whole villages on the shores of
the lake.
Ah! it was a fearful time for the people, and few of those who were
there lived to tell the story to their children.
Alila's eyes grew larger as he listened to the wonders of the world
around him. Yes, he would travel and see these things for himself. He
was growing impatient. He could not wait much longer, for now he was
nearly a man grown.
Sometime, let us hope, we shall meet our little Alila. We will ask him
what he himself has learned that no one else can tell us.