POPULATION--RACES.
Though the far greater number of the pagan Indians, as they are called
by the Spaniards, belong to the same races as those who inhabit the
towns, there are many exceptional cases. Independent and separated
from the pagans, there are numerous Mahomedans, especially in the
island of Mindanao, of which only a small tract along the coast has
been subjected by the Spaniards; these, whom the Spaniards designate
as Moros, a name to which traditional and national associations attach
great abhorrence, are probably of Malayan descent. There, as in every
region where missionaries have sought to undermine or depreciate the
authority of the Koran, the attempt has wholly failed. I saw some of
these people at Zamboanga, and found them familiar with the Arabic
formula of Islamism, and that many of their names, such as Abdallah,
Fatima, and others, were such as are common to the Mussulmans. They
are understood to be in amity with the Spaniards, who have treaties
with the reigning Sultan; but I found no evidence of their recognition
of Spanish authority.
The enmity between the Mahomedan races (Moros) and the Spaniards may
be deemed hereditary. The answer given by the Rajah Soliman of Tondo
to Legaspi, the first governor of the Philippines, who solicited his
friendship, is characteristic:--"Not until the sun is cut in two,
not until I seek the hatred instead of the love of woman, will I be
the friend of a Castila" (Spaniard).
Living in the remotest mountainous regions of Mindanao, never, I
believe, explored by European adventurers, there is a race in the
very lowest stages of barbarism, I cannot say of civilization, for
of that they present no trace. They are said to wear no garments,
to build no houses, to dress no food. They wander in the forest,
whose wild fruits they gather by day, and sleep among the branches
of the trees by night. They have no form of government, no chief,
no religious rites or usages. I saw one of the race who was brought
for sale as any wild animal might have been to the governor of
Zamboanga. He refused to purchase, but retained the lad, who was
apparently of about eight or nine years of age. At Iloilo, he was
waiting, with other native servants, at table, and he appeared to
me the most sprightly and intelligent of the whole--bright-eyed,
and watching eagerly every sign and mandate of his master. He was
very dark-coloured, almost black; his hair disposed to be woolly; he
had neither the high cheeks nor the thick lips of the African negro,
but resembled many specimens I have seen of the Madagascar people. I
was informed that the whole tribe--but the word is not appropriate,
for they are not gregarious--are of very small stature; that they avoid
all intercourse with other races, collect nothing, barter nothing, and,
in fact, want nothing. I had once occasion to examine in the prison of
Kandy (Ceylon) one of the real "wild men of the woods" of that island,
who had been convicted for murder; the moral sense was so unawakened,
that it was obvious no idea of wrong was associated with the act,
and the judge most properly did not consider, him a responsible being
on whom he could inflict the penalties of the law. There was little
resemblance between the Filipino and the Cingalese in any external
characteristic. Ethnological science would be greatly advanced if
directed to the special study of the barbarous aboriginal races of whom
specimens yet remain, but of which so many have wholly disappeared,
who can have had no intercourse with each other. I believe there
are more varieties of the human family than have hitherto been
recognized by physiologists, amongst whom no affinity of language
will be found. The theories current as to the derivation of the many
varieties of the human race from a few primitive types will not bear
examination. Civilization and education will modify the character
of the skull, and the differences between the crania of the same
people are so great as to defy any general law of classification. The
farther back we are enabled to go, the greater will be the distinction
of types and tongues; and it will be seen that the progress of time
and commerce and knowledge and colonization, has annihilated many an
independent idiom, as it has destroyed many an aboriginal race.
Against the wilder savages who inhabit the forests and mountains
of the interior, expeditions are not unfrequently directed by the
government, especially when there has been any molestation to the
native Christian population. Their chiefs are subjected to various
punishments, and possession is taken of their villages and strongholds;
but these are not always permanently held, from the insufficiency of
military force to retain them. But it is clear that these rude tribes
must ultimately be extinguished by the extension of cultivation and
the pressure of a higher civilization.
De Mas lays down as a principle that the Igorrotes of Luzon are
heathens of the same race as the converted Indians, but in a savage
state. The Aetas, or Negritos, are a separate race, not indigenous, but
the descendants of invaders and conquerors. He had many opportunities
of intercourse with them, and speaks favourably of his reception among
them. The men had no other covering than a belt of bark fibres, the
women a sort of petticoat of the same texture. Unmarried girls wore
a species of collar made from the leaves of a mountain palm, whose
ends met between their naked breasts. The females played on a rude
guitar, the case being a piece of bamboo, with three strings from the
roots of a tree, and which they tuned by tightening or loosening with
their left hand. When it rained, they covered themselves with large
palm-leaves, which they also used as shelter from the sun. He says
they resisted all attempts upon their chastity. They brought wax,
honey and deer, and sought for tobacco and rice in exchange. For
money they cared not. The mode of showing respect is to offer water
to the superior--no son can accept it from, but must hand it to, his
father. They exhibit much fear of the evil spirits that are in the
forests, but all information they gave was at secondhand. They had
not seen the spirits, but others had, and there was no doubt about
that. The friars report them to be short lived--their age seldom
exceeding forty years. Father Mozo says: "They have their localities,
in which they group themselves and which they unwillingly leave:
fixed abodes they have none, but shift from place to place within a
circumference of four to five leagues. They drive four rough sticks
into the ground, surround them with the flexible branches of the ylib,
fling down some palm-leaves, bring in a piece of wood for a pillow,
and have their house and bed ready. The game killed by one belongs
to all--the head and neck being thrown to the dogs. The community
ordinarily consists of twenty to twenty-five persons, who select the
most courageous of their number as chief. In the summer they locate
themselves on the banks of rivers, but during the rainy and windy
seasons they confine themselves to their rude huts. If a death take
place, they bury the corpse, but flee from the locality, lest others be
summoned away. When they seek wild honey in the woods, the finder of
a swarm marks the tree where the bees are, and the property is deemed
his own until he has time to return and remove the comb. A fire is
lighted at the foot of the tree--the smoke drives away the bees--the
Indian mounts, bearing a broad palm-leaf folded in the shape of a vase,
into which he turns the honey-comb, ties it over, and descends. All
his wants are supplied when, in addition to his matches for fire,
his bow and arrows, and his rude cutlass, he has a small supply of
tobacco for his luxury. If food be scarce, he drinks hot water and ties
a cord tightly round his body; he eats also of a root called sucbao,
but in the warm weather indigenous fruits are never wanting." After
a string of quotations from the classics, illustrating the pains,
penalties and passions of civilized existence, with the serenity,
stupidity and satisfaction of these children of nature, the padre says:
"Finally, in admiration of their manner of life, if they were but
enlightened by our holy faith--if they only suffered what they suffer
for the sake of God--I verily believe they would not be paralleled by
the austerest monk of the Thebaïd. True it is they commit the sin of
divorce--true it is that a slip before marriage is seldom heard of;
but they are cruel, they are murderers!" Such is the consistency of
ecclesiastical judgment.
There are many speculations as to the origin of the darker, or
black races, who now occupy the northern and central mountainous and
little visited regions, and from whom one of the islands, Negros,
takes its name. They principally dwell in the wilder part of the
provinces of Ilocos South, Pangasinan, Cagayan, and Nueva Ecija. They
are of small stature, have somewhat flattened noses, curled hair,
are agile, have no other dress than a covering of bark over their
genitals, are dexterous hunters, have no fixed dwellings, but sleep
wherever sunset finds them. Their whole property consists of their
bow, a bamboo quiver and arrows, a strip of skin of the wild boar, and
the girdle, which the Spaniards call the tapa rabo (tail cover). The
Negritos are held to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the islands,
which were invaded by those now called Indios, who much resemble,
though they are a great improvement on, the Malayan race. The Negritos
retired into the wilder districts as the Tagáls advanced, but between
the two races there exists a great intensity of hatred. The Negritos
are the savages of the Philippines, and are divided into many tribes,
and it is said every grade between cannibalism and the civilization of
the Indian is found among them. They generally live on the wild fruits
and vegetables which grow spontaneously, though some cultivate rice,
and attend to the irrigation of their fields. Some make iron weapons,
and the Itaneg, according to the friars, only want conversion to be in
all respects equal to the Indios. This race has a mixture of Chinese
blood, the Ifugaos of that of the Japanese. The ruder savages ornament
their cabins with the skulls of their enemies. The Apayos live in
comfortable houses, and employ for floors polished planks instead of
the interwoven bamboos of the Tagáls. They carry on a trade in wax,
cocoa and tobacco, and deck their dwellings with China earthenware. The
Isinay Negritos profess Christianity. In the island of Luzon there are
estimated to be 200,000 heathens, in that of Mindanao 800,000 idolators
and Mussulmans. But it is impossible to follow out the mixed races in
all their ramifications and peculiarities. Among the characteristics
of the wilder races is the separation of the toes, which enables them
to pick up even minute objects, so if they let anything fall they use
foot or hand with equal facility; they will descend head downwards
the rigging of a ship, holding on with their feet; the great toe is
much more separated from the others than in the white races. Their
sense of smelling is exquisite, and they profess, without the aid of
language, to discover the state of the affections from the breath.
Though they have a pantheon of gods and goddesses (for most of their
divinities have wives), they have no temples, and no rites of public
worship. They consult soothsayers (usually old women) in their diseases
and difficulties; and there are sacrifices, outpouring and mingling
of blood, libations of fermented liquors, violent gesticulations,
and invocations to Cambunian (God), the moon, and the stars, and the
ceremonials end with eating and drinking to excess. They sacrifice a
pig to pacify the Deity when it thunders, and adore the rainbow after
the storm. Before a journey they kindle a fire, and if the smoke do not
blow in the direction they intend to take they delay their project. The
flight of birds is watched as an important augury, and the appearance
of a snake as a warning against some approaching calamity.
The mountain tribes are subject to no common ruler, but have their
separate chieftains, called barnaas, to whom a certain number of
dependants is assigned. On the death of a barnaas, the intestines are
extracted, examined and burnt, for the purpose of ascertaining by the
arts of divination the future destiny of the tribe. The body is placed
in a chair, relations and friends are invited, and a great festivity
of eating and drinking provided from the flocks and rice-fields
of the deceased, with shouts and songs celebrating the virtues of
departed barnaas. The banquet closes with all species of excesses,
and both sexes remain drunk, exhausted or asleep on the ground about
the corpse. It is said that the flesh of the departed is distributed
among the guests, and Buzeta avers that such a case lately occurred
at Tagudin (Ilocos South); but as he attributes it to the poverty
of the deceased who had not left behind wherewithal to provide for
the festival, the carnal distribution could hardly have been deemed
an honour. The stories of the cannibalism of the natives must be
received with distrust, there being a great disposition to represent
them as worse savages than they really are. The arms of a warrior are
gathered together after his death, and his family will not part with
them. A vessel into which wine has been poured is placed at the foot
of the trophies, in order that it may imbibe the virtue and valour
of the departed, and obtain his auspices.
In case of the murder of an individual, the whole of the tribe unite
to revenge his death. Prisoners taken in war are made slaves, and sell
for from ten to twenty-five dollars each. Old men are bought, upon whom
to try the poisonous powers or sharpness of their weapons. Adultery
and the third offence of robbery are punished with death. Polygamy
is not allowed, but there is no difficulty about divorce.
A great variety of languages is to be found among the wild people
of the interior; not only are dialects of the various tribes
unintelligible to each other, but sometimes a language is confined to
a single family group. Where there has been no intercourse there is
no similitude. Words are necessary to man, and language is created by
that necessity. Hence the farther the study of idioms is pursued back
into antiquity, the greater will their number be found. Civilization
has destroyed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of idioms, and is still
carrying on the work by diminishing the number of languages in which
man holds intercourse with man. It is no bold prophecy to aver that
in the course of centuries the number of separate tongues will be
reduced to a small amount. In France, the French; in Italy, the Tuscan;
in Spain, the Castilian; in Germany, the Saxon; in Great Britain,
the English;--are becoming the predominant languages of the people,
and have been gradually superseding the multitude of idioms which
were used only a few generations ago. Adelung recorded the names of
nearly 4,000 spoken and existing languages, but a list of those which
time has extinguished would be far more extensive.
That such large portions of the islands should be held by independent
tribes, whether heathen or Mahomedan, is not to be wondered at when
the geographical character of the country is considered. Many of
their retreats are inaccessible to beasts of burden; the valleys are
intolerably hot; the mountains unsheltered and cold. There is also
much ignorance as to the localities, and the Spaniards are subject to
be surprised from unknown ambushes in passes and ravines. The forests,
through which the natives glide like rabbits, are often impenetrable
to Europeans. No attempts have succeeded in enticing the "idolaters"
down to the plains from these woods and mountains, to be tutored, taxed
and tormented. Yet it is a subject of complaint that these barbarians
interfere, as no doubt they do, with the royal monopoly of tobacco,
which they manage to smuggle into the provinces. "Fiscal officers
and troops," says De Mas, "are stationed to prevent these abuses,
but these protectors practise so many extortions on the Indians,
and cause so much of discontent, that commissions of inquiry become
needful, and the difficulties remain unsolved." In some places the
idolaters molest "the peaceful Christian population," and make the
roads dangerous to travellers. De Mas has gathered information from
various sources, and from him I shall select a few particulars; but it
appears to me there is too much generalization as to the unsubjugated
tribes, who are to be found in various stages of civilization and
barbarism. The Tinguianes of Ilocos cultivate extensive rice-fields,
have large herds of cattle and horses, and carry on a considerable
trade with the adjacent Christian population. The Chinese type is said
to be traceable in this race. The women wear a number of bracelets,
covering the arm from the wrist to the elbow. The heaviest Tinguian
curse is, "May you die while asleep," which is equivalent to saying,
"May your death-bed be uncelebrated." It is a term of contempt for
an Indian to say to another, "Malubha ang Caitiman mo"--Great is thy
blackness (negregura, Sp.). The Indians call Africans Pogot.
There are many Albinos in the Philippines. They are called by the
natives Sons of the Sun; some are white, some are spotted, and others
have stripes on their skins. They are generally of small intellectual
capacity.
Buzeta gives the following ethnological table, descriptive of the
physical characteristics of the various races of the Philippines:--
PURE INDIANS. MESTIZOS. NEGRITOS.
Size Handsome, middle, The same. Handsome, small
sometimes tall. and thin.
Skin Copper or quince Lighter, Dark copper.
colour, fine. somewhat
yellow.
Body Slight, Heavy. Slight and agile.
well-formed,
strong.
Hair Black, even, thick, Less thick. Black, curly, but
harsh. less so than the
Africans.
Head Medium or small, Generally Small and
round, and flat large. rounder.
behind.
Forehead Open, often narrow. Open. Narrow.
Eyes Black, brilliant. Less uniform. Large,
penetrating,
brilliant.
Eyebrows Thick and arched. Less arched.
Eyelids Long. Very long.
Nose Medium, generally Thicker. Medium, slightly
flat. flat.
Mouth Large, medium Larger. Medium.
sometimes.
Lips Medium. Thicker. Medium, rounder.
Teeth White, regular, Strong and Long, very
strong. large. strong.
Upper Ordinary size. High, salient. Ordinary.
Mandible
Lower Ordinary and Strong, open. Well-formed.
Mandible strong.
Breast Wide; woman's hard Firm but Firm but narrow.
and firm. narrow.
Carriage Graceful, elegant. Graceful. Easy and
careless.
Buttocks Broad and hard. Broad, hard. Broad, hard.
Muscles Small. Small. Small.
Thighs Small. Small. Small.
Feet Small. Small. Small and
well-formed.
Flesh Hard. Hard. Hard.
Hair (body) Lightly spread. None. Little.
Beard None. Little. Little.
Genitals Small. Small. Small.
The Altaban Indians have an idol whom they call Cubiga, whose wife is
Bujas. The Gaddans give the name of Amanolay, meaning Creator of Man,
to the object of their worship, and his goddess is Dalingay. There
are no temples nor public rites, but appeals to the superior spirits
in cases of urgency are generally directed by the female priest or
sorceress, who sprinkles the idol with the blood of a buffalo, fowl
or guinea-pig, offers libations, while the Indians lift up their hands
exclaiming, "Siggam Cabunian! Siggam Bulamaiag! Siggam aggen!" (O thou
God! O thou beautiful moon! O thou star!) A brush is then dipped in
palm wine, which is sprinkled over the attendants. (This is surely
an imitation of Catholic aspersions.) A general carousing follows.
The priests give many examples of what they call Indian ignorance and
stupidity, but these examples generally amount only to a disclaimer
of all knowledge respecting the mysteries of creation, the origin
and future destiny of man, the nature of religious obligations, and
the dogmas of the Catholic faith. It may be doubted whether the mere
habitual repetition of certain formulas affords more satisfactory
evidence of Christian advancement than the openly avowed ignorance
of these heathen races.
If an Indian is murdered by one of a neighbouring tribe, and the
offence not condoned by some arranged payment, it is deemed an
obligation on the part of the injured to retaliate by killing one of
the offending tribe.
The popular amusement is dancing; they form themselves into a circle,
stretching out their hands, using their feet alternately, leaping on
one and lifting the other behind; so they move round and round with
loud cries to the sounds of cylindrical drums struck by both hands.
The skulls of animals are frequently used for the decoration of
the houses of the Indians. Galvey says he counted in one dwelling,
in Capangar, 405 heads of buffaloes and bullocks, and more than a
thousand of pigs, causing an intolerable stench.
They use the bark of the Uplay in cases of intermittent fever, and have
much knowledge of the curative qualities of certain herbs; they apply
hot iron to counteract severe local pain, so that the flesh becomes
cauterized; but they almost invariably have recourse to amulets or
charms, and sacrifice fowls and animals, which are distributed among
the attendants on the sick persons.
Padre Mozo says of the Italons (Luzon) that he has seen them, after
murdering an enemy, drink his blood, cut up the lungs, the back of
the head, the entrails, and other parts of the body, which they eat
raw, avowing that it gave them courage and spirit in war. The skulls
are kept in their houses to be exhibited on great occasions. This
custom is probably of Bornean origin, for Father Quarteron, the vicar
apostolic of that island, told me that he once fell in with a large
number of savages who were carrying in procession the human skulls
with which their houses were generally adorned, and which they called
"giving an airing to their enemies." The teeth are inserted in the
handles of their hangers. After enumerating many more of the barbarous
customs of the islands, the good friar Mozo exclaims:--"Fancy our
troubles and labours in rescuing such barbarians from the power
of the devil!" They sacrifice as many victims as they find fingers
opened after death. If the hand be closed, none. They suffer much
from cutaneous diseases. The Busaos paint their arms with flowers,
and to carry ornaments bore their ears, which are sometimes stretched
down to their shoulders. The Ifugaos wear on a necklace pieces of
cane denoting the number of enemies they have killed. Galvey says
he counted twenty-three worn by one man who fell in an affray with
Spanish troops. This tribe frequently attacks travellers in the
mountains for the sake of their skulls. The missionaries represent
them as the fiercest enemies of Christians. Some of the monks speak
of horrible confessions made by Igorrote women after their conversion
to Christianity, of their intercourse with monkeys in the woods, and
the Padre Lorenzo indulges in long details on the subject, declaring,
moreover, that a creature was once brought to him for baptism which
"filled him with suspicion." De Mas reports that a child with long
arms, covered with soft hair, and much resembling a monkey, was
exhibited by his mother in Viyan, and taught to ask for alms.
De Mas recommends that the Spanish Government should buy the
saleable portion of the Mahomedan and pagan tribes, convert them,
and employ them in the cultivation of land; and he gives statistics
to show that there would be an accumulation of 120 per cent., while
their removal would set the Indians together by the ears, who would
destroy one another, and relieve the islands from the plague of their
presence. This would seem a new chapter in the history of slave-trade
experiments. He calculates that there are more than a million pagans
and Mahomedans in the islands. Galvey's "Diary of an Expedition to
Benguet in January, 1829," and another to Bacun in December, 1831,
are histories of personal adventures, many of a perilous character,
in which many lives were lost, and many habitations destroyed. They
are interesting as exhibiting the difficulties of subjugating these
mountain races. Galvey conducted several other expeditions, and died
in 1839.
There are few facts of more interest, in connection with the changes
that are going on in the Oriental world, than the outpouring of the
surplus Chinese population into almost every region eastwards of
Bengal; and in Calcutta itself there is now a considerable body of
Chinese, mostly shoemakers, many of whom have acquired considerable
wealth, and they are banded together in that strong gregarious bond
of nationality which accompanies them wherever they go, and which
is not broken, scarcely even influenced, by the circumstances that
surround them. In the islands of the Philippines they have obtained
almost a monopoly of the retail trade, and the indolent habits of
the natives cannot at all compete with these industrious, frugal,
and persevering intruders. Hence they are objects of great dislike
to the natives; but, as their generally peaceful demeanour and
obedience to the laws give no hold to their enemies, their numbers,
their wealth, their importance increase from year to year. Yet they
are but birds of passage, who return home to be succeeded by others
of their race. They never bring their wives, but take to themselves
wives or hand-maidens from the native tribes. Legitimate marriage,
however, necessitates the profession of Christianity, and many of
them care little for the public avowal of subjection to the Church
of Rome. They are allowed no temple to celebrate Buddhist rites,
but have cemeteries specially appropriated to them. They pay a fixed
contribution, which is regulated by the rank they hold as merchants,
traders, shopkeepers, artisans, servants, &c. Whole streets in Manila
are occupied by them, and wherever we went we found them the most
laborious, the most prosperous of the working classes. Thousands upon
thousands of Chinamen arrive, and are scattered over the islands, but
not a single Chinese woman accompanies them from their native country.
In the year 1857, 4,232 Chinamen landed in the port of Manila alone,
and 2,592 left for China.
Of the extraordinary unwillingness of the women of China to emigrate,
no more remarkable evidence can be found than in the statistics of
the capital of the Philippines. In 1855, there were in the fortress
of Manila 525 Chinamen, but of females only two women and five
children. In Binondo, 5,055 Chinamen, but of females only eight, all
of whom were children. Now, when it is remembered that the Philippines
are, with a favourable monsoon, not more than three or four days' sail
from China, that there are abundance of opulent Chinese settled in the
island, that the desire of having children and perpetuating a race is
universal among the Chinese people, it may be easily conceived that
there must be an intensely popular feeling opposed to the emigration
of women.
And such is undoubtedly the fact, and it is a fact which must prove
a great barrier to successful coolie emigration. No women have been
obtainable either for the British or Spanish colonies, though the
exportation of coolies had exceeded 60,000, and except by kidnapping
and direct purchase from the procuresses or the brothels, it is
certain no woman can be induced to emigrate. This certainty ought to
be seriously weighed by the advocates of the importation of Chinese
labourers into the colonies of Great Britain. In process of time,
Hong Kong will probably furnish some voluntary female emigrants,
and the late legalization of emigration by the Canton authorities
will accelerate the advent of a result so desirable.
During five years, ending in 1855, there were for grave crimes
only fourteen committals of Chinamen in the whole of the provinces,
being an average of less than three per annum; no case of murder,
none of robbery with violence, none for rape. There were nine cases
of larceny, two of cattle-stealing, one forgery, one coining, one
incendiarism. These facts are greatly creditable to the morality of
the Chinese settlers. Petty offences are punished, as in the case of
the Indians, by their own local principalia.
A great majority of the shoemakers in the Philippines are Chinese. Of
784 in the capital, 633 are Chinamen, and 151 natives. Great
numbers are carpenters, blacksmiths, water-carriers, cooks, and daily
labourers, but a retail shopkeeping trade is the favourite pursuit. Of
late, however, many are merging into the rank of wholesale dealers
and merchants, exporting and importing large quantities of goods
on their own account, and having their subordinate agents scattered
over most of the islands. Where will not a Chinaman penetrate--what
risks will he not run--to what suffering will he not submit--what
enterprises will he not engage in--what perseverance will he not
display--if money is to be made? And, in truth, this constitutes his
value as a settler: he is economical, patient, persistent, cunning;
submissive to the laws, respectful to authority, and seeking only
freedom from molestation while he adds dollar to dollar, and when the
pile is sufficient for his wants or his ambition, he returns home,
to be succeeded by others, exhibiting the same qualities, and in
their turn to be rewarded by the same success.
When encouragement was first given to the Chinese to settle in
the Philippines, it was as agricultural labourers, and they were
not allowed to exercise any other calling. The Japanese were also
invited, of whom scarcely any are now to be found in the islands. The
reputation of the Chinese as cultivators of the land no doubt
directed the attention of the Manila authorities towards them; but
no Chinaman continues in any career if he can discover another more
profitable. Besides this, they were no favourites among the rural
population, and in their gregarious nature were far more willing
to band themselves together in groups and hwey (associations) than
to disperse themselves among the pastoral and agricultural races,
who were jealous of them as rivals and hated them as heathens. They
have created for themselves a position in the towns, and are now too
numerous and too wealthy to be disregarded or seriously oppressed. They
are mostly from the province of Fokien, and Amoy is the principal port
of their embarkation. I did not find among them a single individual
who spoke the classical language of China, though a large proportion
read the Chinese character.
When a Chinese is examined on oath, the formula of cutting off the
head of a white cock is performed by the witness, who is told that,
if he do not utter the truth, the blood of his family will, like
that of the cock, be spilt and perdition overtake them. My long
experience of the Chinese compels me to say that I believe no oath
whatever--nothing but the apprehension of punishment--affords any,
the least security against perjury. In our courts in China various
forms have at different times been used--cock beheading; the breaking
of a piece of pottery; the witness repeating imprecations on himself,
and inviting the breaking up of all his felicities if he lied;
the burning of a piece of paper inscribed with a form of oath,
and an engagement to be consumed in hell, as that paper on earth,
if he spoke not the truth;--these and other ceremonies have utterly
failed in obtaining any security for veracity. While I was governor
of Hong Kong an ordinance was passed abolishing the oath-taking, as
regards the Chinese, and punishing them severely as perjurers when
they gave false testimony. The experiment has succeeded in greatly
fortifying and encouraging the utterance of truth and in checking
obscurity and mendacity. I inquired once of an influential person in
Canton what were the ceremonies employed among themselves where they
sought security for truthful evidence. He said there was one temple
in which a promise made would be held more binding than if made in
any other locality; but he acknowledged their tribunals had no real
security for veracity. There is a Chinese proverb which says, "Puh
tah, puh chaou," meaning "Without blows, no truth;" and the torture
is constantly applied to witnesses in judicial cases. The Chinese
religiously respect their written, and generally their ceremonial,
engagements--they "lose face" if these are dishonoured. But little
disgrace attends lying, especially when undetected and unpunished, and
the art of lying is one of the best understood arts of government. Lies
to deceive barbarians are even recommended and encouraged in some of
their classical books.