[Quinali river.] On my second journey in Camarines, which I undertook
in February, I went by water from Polangui, past Batu, as far as
Naga. The Quinali, which runs into the south-eastern corner of the
lake of Batu, runs out again on the north side as the Bicol River,
and flows in a north-westerly direction as far as the Bay of San
Miguel. It forms the medium of a not inconsiderable trade between Albay
and Camarines, particularly in rice; of which the supply grown in the
former province does not suffice for the population, who consume the
superfluity of Camarines. The rice is conveyed in large boats up the
river as far as Quinali, and thence transported further on in carabao
carts; and the boats return empty. During the dry season of the year,
the breadth of the very tortuous Bicol, at its mouth, is a little over
sixty feet, and increases but very gradually. There is considerable
variety of vegetation upon its banks, and in animal life it is highly
attractive. I was particularly struck with its numerous monkeys and
water-fowl. [Plotus water-fowl.] Of the latter the Plotus variety
was most abundant, but difficult to shoot. They sit motionless on
the trees on the bank, only their thin heads and necks, like those
of tree-snakes, overtopping the leaves. On the approach of the boat
they precipitate themselves hastily into the water; and it is not
until after many minutes that the thin neck is seen rising up again
at some distance from the spot where the bird disappeared. The Plotus
appears to be as rapid on the wing as it is in swimming and diving.
[Naga.] In Naga, the chief city of South Camarines, I alighted at
the tribunal, from which, however, I was immediately invited by the
principal official of the district--who is famed for his hospitality
far beyond the limits of his province--to his house, where I was loaded
with civilities and favors. This universally beloved gentleman put
everybody under contribution in order to enrich my collections, and did
all in his power to render my stay agreeable and to further my designs.
[Nueva Caceres.] Naga is the seat of a bishopric and of the provincial
government. In official documents it is called Nueva Caceres, in
honor of the Captain-General, D. Fr. de Sande, a native of Caceres,
who about 1578 founded Naga (the Spanish town) close to the Filipino
village. At the beginning of the seventeenth century it numbered
nearly one hundred Spanish inhabitants; at the present time it hardly
boasts a dozen. Murillo Velarde remarks (xiii, 272), in contrast
to the state of things in America, that of all the towns founded in
the Philippines, with the exception of Manila, only the skeletons,
the names without the substance, have been preserved. The reason is,
as has been frequently shown, that up to the present time plantations,
and consequently proper settlers, have been wanting. Formerly Naga
was the principal town of the whole of that district of Luzon lying
to the east of Tayabas, which, on account of the increased population,
was divided into the three provinces of North and South Camarines and
Albay. The boundaries of these governmental districts, those between
Albay and South Camarines more especially, have been drawn very
arbitrarily; although, the whole of the territory, as is shown by the
map, geographically is very well defined. [Land of the Bicols.] The
country is named Camarines; but it might more suitably be called the
country of the Bicols, for the whole of it is inhabited by one race,
the Bicol-Filipinos, who are distinguished by their speech and many
other peculiarities from their neighbors, the Tagals on the west,
and the Bisayans on the islands to the south and east.
[The Bicols.] The Bicols are found only in this district and in a
few islands lying immediately in front of it. Of their coming hither
no information is to be obtained from the comprehensive but confused
histories of the Spanish monks. Morga considers them to be natives
of the island; on the other hand, it is asserted by tradition that
the inhabitants of Manila and its vicinity are descended from Malays
who have migrated thither, and from the inhabitants of other islands
and more distant provinces. [107] Their speech is midway between
that of the Tagalogs and the Bisayans, and they themselves appear,
in both their manners and customs, to be a half-breed between these
two races. Physically and mentally they are inferior to the Tagalogs,
and superior to the inhabitants of the eastern Bisayan Islands. [Bicol
language.] Bicol is spoken only in the two Camarines, Albay, Luzon,
the Islands of Masbate, Burias, Ticao, and Catanduanes, and in the
smaller adjoining islands. The inhabitants of the volcanic mountain
Isarog and its immediate neighborhood speak it in the greatest
purity. Thence towards the west the Bicol dialect becomes more and
more like Tagalog, and towards the east like Bisayan, until by degrees,
even before reaching the boundaries of their ethnographical districts,
it merges into these two kindred languages.
[Rice cultivation.] In South Camarines the sowing of the rice in
beds begins in June or July, always at the commencement of the rainy
season; but in fields artificially watered, earlier, because thus the
fruit ripens at a time when, the store in the country being small,
its price is high. Although the rice fields could very well give two
crops yearly, they are tilled only once. It is planted out in August,
with intervals of a hand's-breadth between each row and each individual
plant; and within four months the rice is ripe. The fields are never
fertilized, and but seldom ploughed; the weeds and the stubble being
generally trodden into the already soaked ground by a dozen carabaos,
and the soil afterwards simply rolled with a cylinder furnished
with sharp points, or loosened with the harrow (sorod). Besides the
agricultural implements named above, there are the Spanish hatchet
(azadon) and a rake of bamboo (kag-kag) in use. The harvest is
effected in a peculiar manner. The rice which is soonest ripe is
cut for ten per cent, that is, the laborer receives for his toil the
tenth bundle for himself. At this time of year rice is very scarce,
want is imminent, and labor reasonable. The more fields, however,
that ripen, the higher become the reapers' wages, rising to twenty,
thirty, forty, even fifty per cent; indeed, the executive sometimes
consider it to be necessary to force the people to do harvest by
corporal punishment and imprisonment, in order to prevent a large
portion of the crop from rotting on the stalk. Nevertheless, in very
fruitful years a part of the harvest is lost. The rice is cut halm by
halm (as in Java) with a peculiarly-formed knife, or, failing such,
with the sharp-edged flap of a mussel [108] found in the ditches of
the rice-fields, which one has only to stoop to pick up.
[Rice land production.] A quiñon of the best rice land is worth from
sixty to one hundred dollars ($5.50 to $9 per acre). Rice fields on
rising grounds are dearest, as they are not exposed to devastating
floods as are those in the plain, and may be treated so as to insure
the ripening of the fruit at the time when the highest price is to
be obtained.
[The harvest.] A ganta of rice is sufficient to plant four topones
(1 topon = 1 loan); from which 100 manojos (bundles) are gathered,
each of which yields half a ganta of rice. The old ganta of Naga,
however, being equal to a modern ganta and a half, the produce
may be calculated at 75 cavanes per quiñon, about 9 3/4 bushels per
acre. [109] In books 250 cavanes are usually stated to be the average
produce of a quiñon; but that is an exaggeration. The fertility of
the fields certainly varies very much; but, when it is considered
that the land in the Philippines is never fertilized, but depends,
for the maintenance of its vitality, exclusively upon the overflowing
of the mud which is washed down from the mountains, it may be believed
that the first numbers better express the true average. In Java the
harvest, in many provinces, amounts to only 50 cavanes per quiñon;
in some, indeed, to three times this amount; and in China, with the
most careful culture and abundant manure, to 180 cabanes. [110]
[Sweet potatoes.] Besides rice, they cultivate the camote (sweet
potato, Convolvulus batatas). This flourishes like a weed; indeed,
it is sometimes planted for the purpose of eradicating the weeds from
soil intended for coffee or cacao. It spreads out into a thick carpet,
and is an inexhaustible storehouse to its owner, who, the whole year
through, can supply his wants from his field. Gabi (Caladium), Ubi
(Dioscorea), maize, and other kinds of grain, are likewise cultivated.
[Cattle and horses.] After the rice harvest the carabaos, horses, and
bullocks, are allowed to graze in the fields. During the rice culture
they remain in the gogonales, cane-fields which arise in places once
cultivated for mountain-rice and afterwards abandoned. (Gogo is the
name of a cane 7 to 8 feet high, Saccharum sp.). Transport then is
almost impossible, because during the rainy season the roads are
impassable, and the cattle find nothing to eat. The native does
not feed his beast, but allows it to die when it cannot support
itself. In the wet season of the year it frequently happens that a
carabao falls down from starvation whilst drawing a cart. A carabao
costs from $7 to $10; a horse $10 to $20; and a cow $6 to $8. Very fine
horses are valued at from $30 to $50, and occasionally as much as $80;
but the native horses are not esteemed in Manila, because they have no
stamina. The bad water, the bad hay, and the great heat of the place at
once point out the reason; otherwise it would be profitable to export
horses in favorable seasons to Manila, where they would fetch twice
their value. According to Morga, there were neither horses nor asses
on the Island until the Spaniards imported them from China and New
Spain. [111] They were at first small and vicious. Horses were imported
also from Japan, "not swift but powerful, with large heads and thick
manes, looking like Friesland horses;" [112] and the breed improved
rapidly. Those born in the country, mostly cross-breeds, drive well.
[Black cattle.] Black cattle are generally in the hands of a few
individuals; some of whom in Camarines possess from 1000 to 3000 head;
but they are hardly saleable in the province, although they have been
exported profitably for some years past to Manila. The black cattle
of the province are small but make good beef. They are never employed
for labor, and the cows are not milked. The Filipinos, who generally
feed on fish, crabs, mussels, and wild herbs together with rice,
prefer the flesh of the carabao to that of the ox; but they eat it
only on feastdays.
[Sheep.] The old race of sheep, imported by the Spaniards previous
to this century, still flourishes and is easily propagated. Those
occasionally brought from Shanghai and Australia are considered to be
deficient in endurance, unfruitful, and generally short-lived. Mutton
is procurable every day in Manila; in the interior, however, at
least in the eastern provinces, very rarely; although the rearing
of sheep might there be carried on without difficulty, and in many
places most profitably; the people being too idle to take care of the
young lambs, which they complain are torn to pieces by the dogs when
they wander about free. The sheep appear to have been acclimatized
with difficulty. Morga says that they were brought several times
from New Spain, but did not multiply; so that in his time this kind
of domestic animal did not exist. [Swine.] Pork is eaten by wealthy
Europeans only when the hog has been brought up from the litter at
home. In order to prevent its wandering away, it is usually enclosed
in a wide meshed cylindrical hamper of bamboo, upon filling which
it is slaughtered. The native hogs are too nauseous for food, the
animals maintaining themselves almost entirely on ordure.
[Guesses at history from language.] Crawfurd observes that the names
of all the domestic animals in the Philippines belong to foreign
languages, Those of the dog, swine, goat, carabao, cat, even of
the fowl and the duck, are Malay or Javanese; while those of the
horse, ox, and sheep, are Spanish. Until these animals were first
imported from Malaysia, the aborigines were less fortunate in this
respect than the Americans, who at least had the alpaca, llamanda,
vicuña. The names likewise of most of the cultivated plants, such as
rice, yams, sugar-cane, cacao and indigo, are said to be Malay, as
well as those for silver, copper, and tin. Of the words relating to
commerce, one-third are Malay; to which belong most of the terms used
in trades, as well as the denominations for weights and measures, for
the calendar--so far as it exists--and for numbers, besides the words
for writing, reading, speaking, and narrative. On the other hand, only
a small number of terms which refer to war are borrowed from the Malay.
[Ancient Filipino civilization.] Referring to the degree of
civilization which the Philippines possessed previous to their
intercourse with the Malays, Crawfurd concludes from the purely
domestic words that they cultivated no corn, their vegetable food
consisting of batata(?) and banana. They had not a single domestic
animal; they were acquainted with iron and gold, but with no other
metal, and were clothed in stuffs of cotton and alpaca, woven by
themselves. They had invented a peculiar phonetic alphabet; and their
religion consisted in the belief in good and evil spirits and witches,
in circumcision, and in somewhat of divination by the stars. They
therefore were superior to the inhabitants of the South Sea, inasmuch
as they possessed gold, iron, and woven fabrics, and inferior to them
in that they had neither dog, pig, nor fowl.
[Progress under Spain.] Assuming the truth of the above sketch of
pre-Christian culture, which has been put together only with the help
of defective linguistic sources, and comparing it with the present, we
find, as the result, a considerable progress, for which the Philippines
are indebted to the Spaniards. The influence of social relations has
been already exhibited in the text. The Spaniards have imported the
horse, the bullock, and the sheep; maize, coffee, sugar-cane, cacao,
sesame, tobacco, indigo, many fruits, and probably the batata, which
they met with in Mexico under the name of camotli. [113] From this
circumstance the term camote, universal in the Philippines, appears
to have had its origin, Crawfurd, indeed, erroneously considering
it a native term. According to a communication from Dr. Witmack, the
opinion has lately been conceived that the batata is indigenous not
only to America, but also to the East Indies, as it has two names in
Sanscrit, sharkarakanda and ruktaloo.
[Slight industrial progress.] With the exception of embroidery, the
natives have made but little progress in industries, in the weaving
and the plaiting of mats; and the handicrafts are entirely carried
on by the Chinese.
[Rice and abaca exported.] The exports consist of rice and abaca. The
province exports about twice as much rice as it consumes; a large
quantity to Albay, which, less adapted for the cultivation of rice,
produces only abaca; and a fair share to North Camarines, which is
very mountainous, and little fertile. The rice can hardly be shipped
to Manila, as there is no high road to the south side of the province,
near to the principal town, and the transport by water from the north
side, and from the whole of the eastern portion of Luzon, would
immediately enhance the price of the product. [Chinese monopolize
trade.] The imports are confined to the little that is imported by
Chinese traders. The traders are almost all Chinese who alone possess
shops in which clothing materials and woolen stuffs, partly of native
and partly of European manufacture, women's embroidered slippers,
and imitation jewelry, may be obtained. The whole amount of capital
invested in these shops certainly does not exceed $200,000. In the
remaining pueblos of Camarines there are no Chinese merchants; and the
inhabitants are consequently obliged to get their supplies from Naga.
[Land for everybody.] The land belongs to the State, but is let to
any one who will build upon it. The usufruct passes to the children,
and ceases only when the land remains unemployed for two whole years;
after which it is competent for the executive to dispose of it to
another person.
[Homes.] Every family possesses its own house; and the young husband
generally builds with the assistance of his friends. In many places
it does not cost more than four or five dollars, as he can, if
necessary, build it himself free of expense, with the simple aid of
the forest-knife (bolo), and of the materials to his hand, bamboo,
Spanish cane, and palm-leaves. These houses, which are always built
on piles on account of the humidity of the soil, often consist of a
single shed, which serves for all the uses of a dwelling, and are the
cause of great laxity and of filthy habits, the whole family sleeping
therein in common, and every passer-by being a welcome guest. A fine
house of boards for the family of a cabeza perhaps costs nearly $100;
and the possessions of such a family in stock, furniture, ornaments,
etc. (of which they are obliged to furnish an annual inventory),
would range in value between $100 and $1,000. Some reach even as
much as $10,000, while the richest family of the whole province is
assessed at $40,000.
[People not travellers.] In general it may be said that every pueblo
supplies travellers, its own necessaries, and produces little more. To
the indolent native, especially to him of the eastern provinces,
the village in which he was born is the world; and he leaves it only
under the most pressing circumstances. Were it otherwise even, the
strictness of the poll-tax would place great obstacles in the way of
gratifying the desire for travel, generated by that oppressive impost.
[Meals.] The Filipino eats three times a day--about 7 a.m., 12, and at
7 or 8 in the evening. Those engaged in severe labor consume at each
meal a chupa of rice; the common people, half a chupa at breakfast, one
at mid-day, and half again in the evening, altogether two chupas. Each
family reaps its own supply of rice, and preserves it in barns, or
buys it winnowed at the market; in the latter case purchasing only
the quantity for one day or for the individual meals. The average
retail price is 3 cuartos for 2 chupas (14 chupas for 1 real). To
free it from the husk, the quantity for each single meal is rubbed in
a mortar by the women. This is in accordance with an ancient custom;
but it is also due to the fear lest, otherwise, the store should be
too quickly consumed. The rice, however, is but half cooked; and
it would seem that this occurs in all places where it constitutes
an essential part of the sustenance of the people, as may be seen,
indeed, in Spain and Italy. Salt and much Spanish pepper (capsicum)
are eaten as condiments; the latter, originally imported from America,
growing all round the houses. To the common cooking-salt the natives
prefer a so-called rock-salt, which they obtain by evaporation from
sea-water previously filtered through ashes; and of which one chinanta
(12 lbs. German) costs from one and one-half to two reals. The
consumption of salt is extremely small.
[Buyo and cigars.] The luxuries of the Filipinos are buyo [114] and
cigars--a cigar costing half a centavo, and a buyo much less. Cigars
are rarely smoked, but are cut up into pieces, and chewed with the
buyo. The women also chew buyo and tobacco, but, as a rule, very
moderately; but they do not also stain their teeth black, like the
Malays; and the young and pretty adorn themselves assiduously with
veils made of the areca-nut tree, whose stiff and closely packed
parallel fibers, when cut crosswise, form excellent tooth-brushes. They
bathe several times daily, and surpass the majority of Europeans in
cleanliness. Every native, above all things, keeps a fighting-cock;
even when he has nothing to eat, he finds money for cock-fighting.
[Household affairs.] The details of domestic economy may be summarized
as follows:
For cooking purposes an earthen pot is used, costing between 3 and 10
cuartos; which, in cooking rice, is closed firmly with a banana-leaf,
so that the steam of a very small quantity of water is sufficient. No
other cooking utensils are used by the poorer classes; but those better
off have a few cast-iron pans and dishes. In the smaller houses, the
hearth consists of a portable earthen pan or a flat chest, frequently
of an old cigar-* chest full of sand, with three stones which serve
as a tripod. In the larger houses it is in the form of a bedstead,
filled with sand or ashes, instead of a mattress. The water in small
households is carried and preserved in thick bamboos. In his bolo
(forest-knife), moreover, every one has an universal instrument,
which he carries in a wooden sheath made by himself, suspended by a
cord of loosely-twisted bast fibers tied round his body. This, and
the rice-mortar (a block of wood with a suitable cavity), together
with pestles and a few baskets, constitute the whole of the household
[Furniture.] furniture of a poor family; sometimes a large snail,
with a rush wick, is also to be found as a lamp. They sleep on a
mat of pandanus (fan-palm, Corypha), when they possess one; if not,
on the splittings of bamboo, with which the house is floored. By the
poor oil for lighting is rarely used; but torches of resin, which
last a couple of days, are bought in the market for half a cuarto.
[Clothing.] Their clothing requirements I ascertained to be these:
A woman wears a camisa de guinára (a short shift of abacá fiber),
a patadíon (a gown reaching from the hip to the ancles), a cloth,
and a comb. A piece of guinára, costing 1 real, gives two shifts;
the coarsest patadíon costs 3 reals; a cloth, at the highest, 1 real;
and a comb, 2 cuartos; making altogether 4 reals, 12 cuartos. Women of
the better class wear a camisa, costing between 1 and 2 r., a patadíon
6 r., cloth between 2 and 3 r., and a comb 2 cu. The men wear a shirt,
1 r., hose, 3 r., hat (tararura) of Spanish cane, 10 cu., or a salacot
(a large rain-hat, frequently decorated), at least 2 r.--often,
when ornamented with silver, as much as $50. At least three, but more
commonly four, suits are worn out yearly; the women, however, taking
care to weave almost the whole quantity for the family themselves.
[Wages.] The daily wages of the common laborer are 1 real, without
food; and his hours of work are from 6 to 12, and from 2 to 6
o'clock. The women, as a rule, perform no field labor, but plant out
the rice and assist in the reaping; their wages on both occasions
being equal to those of the men. Wood and stone-cutters receive 1.5
r. per day, and calkers 1.75 r.
[Land leases.] The Tercio is a pretty general contract in the
cultivation of the land. The owner simply lets arable land for the
third part of the crop. Some mestizos possess several pieces of ground;
but they are seldom connected together, as they generally acquire
them as mortgages for sums bearing but a small proportion to their
real value.
[Family income.] Under the head of earnings I give the income of a
small family. The man earns daily one real, and the woman, if she
weaves coarse stuff, one-fourth real, and her food (thus a piece
of guinára, occupying the labor of two days, costs half a real in
weavers' wages). The most skilful female weaver of the finer stuffs
obtains twelve reals per piece; but it takes a month to weave; and
the month, on account of the numerous holy-days, must be calculated
at the most as equal to twenty-four working days; she consequently
earns one-fourth real per day and her food. For the knitting of the
fibers of the ananas for the piña web (called sugot) she gets only
an eighth of a real and her food.
[Schools.] In all the pueblos there are schools. The schoolmaster
is paid by the Government, and generally obtains two dollars per
month, without board or lodging. In large pueblos the salary amounts
to three dollars and a half; out of which an assistant must be
paid. The schools are under the supervision of the ecclesiastics
of the place. Reading and writing are taught, the writing copies
being Spanish. The teacher, who has to teach his scholars Spanish
exactly, does not understand it himself, while the Spanish officers,
on the other hand, do not understand the language of the country;
and the priests have no inclination to alter this state of things,
which is very useful to them as a means of influence. Almost the only
Filipinos who speak Spanish are those who have been in the service
of Europeans. A kind of religious horn-book is the first that is
read in the language of the country (Bicol); and after that comes the
Christian Doctrine, the reading-book called Casayayan. On an average,
half of all the children go to school, generally from the seventh
to the tenth year. They learn to read a little; a few even write a
little: but they soon forget it again. Only those who are afterwards
employed as clerks write fluently; and of these most write well.
Some priests do not permit boys and girls to attend the same school;
and in this case they pay a second teacher, a female, a dollar a
month. The Filipinos learn arithmetic very quickly, generally aiding
themselves by the use of mussels or stones, which they pile in little
heaps before them and then count through.
[Marriage age.] The women seldom marry before the fourteenth year,
twelve years being the legal limit. In the church-register of Polángui
I found a marriage recorded (January, 1837) between a Filipino and a
Filipina having the ominous name of Hilaria Concepción, who at the
time of the performance of the marriage ceremony was, according to
a note in the margin, only nine years and ten months old. Frequently
people live together unmarried, because they cannot pay the expenses
of the ceremony. [115]
[Woman's work.] European females, and even mestizas, never seek
husbands amongst the natives. The women generally are well treated,
doing only light work, such as sewing, weaving, embroidery, and
managing the household; while all the heavy labor, with the exception
of the beating of the rice, falls to the men. [116]
[A patriarch.] Instances of longevity are frequent amongst the
Filipinos, particularly in Camarines. The Diario de Manila, of
March 13th, 1866, mentions an old man in Darága (Albay) whom I knew
well--Juan Jacob, born in 1744, married in 1764, and a widower
in 1845. He held many public posts up to 1840, and had thirteen
children, of whom five are living. He has one hundred and seventy
direct descendants, and now, at one hundred and twenty-two years of
age, is still vigorous, with good eyes and teeth. Extreme unction
was administered to him seven times!
[Snake bite and rabies remedy.] The first excretion of a new-born
child is carefully preserved, and under the name of triaca (theriacum)
is held to be a highly efficacious and universal remedy for the bites
of snakes and mad dogs. It is applied to the wound externally, and
at the same time is taken internally.
[Infant mortality.] A large number of children die in the first two
weeks after birth. Statistical data are wanting; but, according to the
opinion of one of the first physicians in Manila, at least one-fourth
die. This mortality must arise from great uncleanliness and impure air;
since in the chambers of the sick, and of women lying-in, the doors
and windows are so closely shut that the healthy become sick from
the stench and heat, and the sick recover with difficulty. Every
aperture of the house is closed up by the husband early during
travail, in order that Patianac may not break in--an evil spirit
who brings mischief to lying-in women, and endeavors to hinder the
birth. The custom has been further maintained even amongst many
who attach no belief to the superstition, but who, from fear of a
draught of air through a hole, have discovered a new explanation for
an old custom--namely, that instances of such practices occur amongst
all people. [The itch.] One very widely-spread malady is the itch,
although, according to the assurance of the physician above referred
to, it may be easily subdued; and, according to the judgment of those
who are not physicians and who employ that term for any eruptions
of the skin, the natives generally live on much too low a diet; the
Bicols even more than the Tagalogs. [117] Under certain conditions,
which the physicians, on being questioned, could not define more
precisely, the natives can support neither hunger nor thirst; of which
fact I have on many occasions been a witness. It is reported of them,
when forced into such a situation as to suffer from unappeased wants,
that they become critically ill; and thus they often die.
[Imitation mania.] Hence arises the morbid mania for imitation,
which is called in Java Sakit-latar, and here Mali-mali. In Java many
believe that the sickness is only assumed, because those who pretend
to be afflicted with it find it to their advantage to be seen by newly
arrived Europeans. Here, however, I saw one instance where indeed no
simulation could be suspected. My companions availed themselves of
the diseased condition of a poor old woman who met us in the highway,
to practice some rough jokes upon her. The old woman imitated every
motion as if impelled by an irresistible impulse, and expressed at
the same time the most extreme indignation against those who abused
her infirmity.
[The sickness in Siberia.] In R. Maak's "Journey to the Amour," it is
recorded:--"It is not unusual for the Maniagri to suffer also from a
nervous malady of the most peculiar kind, with which we had already
been made acquainted by the descriptions of several travellers. [118]
This malady is met with, for the most part, amongst the wild people
of Siberia, as well as amongst the Russians settled there. In the
district of the Jakutes, where this affliction very frequently occurs,
those affected by it, both Russians and Jakutes, are known by the
name of 'Emiura;' but here (that is, in that part of Siberia where
the Maniagri live) the same malady is called by the Maniagri 'Olon,'
and by the Argurian Cossacks 'Olgandshi.' The attacks of the malady
which I am now mentioning consist in this, that a man suffering
from it will, if under the influence of terror or consternation,
unconsciously, and often without the smallest sense of shame, imitate
everything that passes before him. Should he be offended, he falls
into a rage, which manifests itself by wild shrieks and raving;
and he precipitates himself at the same time, with a knife or any
other object which may fall to his hand, upon those who have placed
him in this predicament. Amongst the Maniagri, women, especially the
very aged, are the chief sufferers from this malady; and instances,
moreover, of men who were affected by it are likewise known to me. It
is worthy of remark that those women who returned home on account of
this sickness were notwithstanding strong, and in all other respects
enjoyed good health."
[Running amuck.] Probably it is only an accidental coincidence that
in the Malay countries Sakit-latar and Amok exist together, if not in
the same individual, yet amongst the same people. Instances of Amok
seem to occur also in the Philippines. [119] I find the following
account in the Diario de Manila of February 21, 1866: In Cavite,
on February 18, a soldier rushed into the house of a school-teacher,
and, struggling with him, stabbed him with a dagger, and then killed
the teacher's son with a second stab. Plunging into the street, he
stabbed two young girls of ten and twelve years of age and wounded a
woman in the side, a boy aged nine in the arm, a coachman (mortally) in
the abdomen, and, besides another woman, a sailor and three soldiers;
and arriving at his barracks, where he was stopped by the sentry,
he plunged the dagger into his own breast.
[Regard for the sleeping.] It is one of the greatest insults to stride
over a sleeping native, or to awaken him suddenly. They rouse one
another, when necessity requires, with the greatest circumspection
and by the slowest degrees. [120]
[Sense of smell.] The sense of smell is developed amongst the
natives to so great a degree that they are able, by smelling at the
pocket-handkerchiefs, to tell to which persons they belong ("Reisesk.,"
p. 39); and lovers at parting exchange pieces of the linen they may
be wearing, and during their separation inhale the odor of the beloved
being, besides smothering the relics with kisses. [121]