Missions to the Balugas, [39] or Aetas
Besides the aforesaid missions, the province maintains another,
scattered through all the islands, to a class of people who, it is
believed (and with no small reason), were in olden times the masters
of the entire land. One of the grounds for this belief is, that in all
the islands (which are very many) these people maintain an identical
language, and different from those of all the other peoples among
whom they live; while the other natives of each island have a language
different [from those spoken in other islands], and even in some places
(as is evident throughout all this treatise) are encountered at every
turn different dialects in the same island. Another argument is drawn
from the similarity which there is between the peoples of those islands
and the Malayos, and even in their respective languages--these Malayos
are natives of Maluco, and are quite energetic and warlike--excepting
the people of whom we now speak. From this it has been inferred that
these blacks ruled that country; and that the said Malayos, coming to
it and subduing its former masters, compelled them to retire to the
bush and the mountain heights, abandoning the rest of the country to
the conquerors.
These people of whom we speak are very dark in color, not black
like those of Angola; neither have they thick lips, or curly and
short hair, like them. But their color is a brownish or pallid
[descolorido] black, their hair like that of a mulatto; their lips
are not thick; many of them are very corpulent, and all have large
abdomens, and generally both men and women appear feeble. All go
naked, with no other covering than a long strip like a narrow sash,
with which, tied round the waist and drawn between the legs, the
men cover their private parts; while the women wear a sort of apron,
which covers them behind and before as far as the knees. Both sexes
make these coverings from the bark of a tree which they call balete;
stripping off its bark, which is very smooth and flexible, they place
it in water, afterward beating it in order to loosen the outer layer;
then washing and drying it, it remains of the color and softness of a
chamois-skin, although it is thin. They keep this on until it wears
out, and when they can no longer use it they repair to the shop in
the grove, to look for another in their storehouse.
The nature and peculiarities of these Balugas are described by the
reverend father, former provincial of the Philipinas, our father Fray
Vicente Ibarra, in the report of the missions which he made to the
governor of those islands, Don Fernando Valdés Tamon, in the year
1738. He says, then, speaking of these people: "The third mission
which is in these mountains is very arduous, not so much on account
of the toilsome roads as because the people have less intellect than
[any other that] is known in these islands; for this reason it has
not been possible to introduce them into any civilization, although
those who are baptized are numerous. Their maintenance in the faith
is so difficult that it cannot easily be explained after the no small
expenses that are incurred; for all the time while the ministers are
devoting themselves to their instruction it is necessary to support
the fathers, furnishing to them rice, meat, wine, and tobacco, along
with some trinkets for the women and children. For those people have
neither house nor fields, nor any furniture save the bow and arrow
and some heavy knives [machetes], with which they are continually
seeking their food, without reserving anything for another day."
[Mozo adds other information, acquired during his residence of three
years among the Negritos; but precedes it by various citations from
learned authors. Returning to his subject, he says:]
They have their own territory, within which they go about in bands
and from which they never go out; but they do not have any fixed
dwelling-place in it, for they remain a short time in one place
hunting, and afterward they remove therefrom four or five leguas
away. In whatever place they arrive, they make their hut in an
instant with four rough sticks, and with a sort of grass, very long
and flexible, with which the country abounds, which they call ilib,
[40] or with the leaves of palms--with which and with the stakes
they form their huts (which resemble those of the vineyard-keepers),
in which with a piece of wood and some dry grass, [41] which they are
sure to find about the entrance, they forthwith have bed and pillows,
and all that they need for sleep. They live entirely in common,
and therefore when they capture any deer or wild swine (by hunting
which they live) they immediately share it equally--except the head
and neck, which parts they set aside for the dogs that they have,
who start the said game.
Each band, usually containing twenty-five to thirty persons, goes by
itself, with one man to whom the rest pay respect, generally the one
who is most daring and valiant. In the summer they go down to live
on the banks of the streams, seeking the fresh air; but in times of
rain, or when the north winds blow hard, they huddle together in the
thickets, so dense that the wind hardly enters them. If one of them
dies, as soon as he expires they bury him in a very shallow grave;
and then they take to flight, in order that death may not seize
another person and carry him away, as they say. When the time for
[gathering] honeycombs arrives--and the stores of honey which the bees
[42] gather in those dense forests are without limit--they are busy in
searching for these; and if they come across a honey-tree the person
who finds it immediately makes a mark on the trunk of the tree, and
possesses it as securely as if he had it in his own house. For, even if
another person goes there and finds it, when he sees the mark he says:
"This tree already has an owner," and therefore he goes on. Afterward,
they go at a convenient time, and, waiting until there is no wind,
so that the smoke may not be prevented from rising perpendicularly,
they make a fire [under the tree]; and, the bees being scared away,
men climb the tree, carrying a sort of sling, strongly made from a
palm-leaf, very broad, [from the tree] which they call anao. [43]
They take out the comb entire, with wax and all, placing it in this
receptacle; and then tie it together and carry it down. They eat
the honey, and sell the wax in order to buy tobacco for smoking,
without which they cannot pass the time. So long as such people have
their tobacco, their bows and arrows, their half-cutlass, and their
outfit for striking fire, they do not desire anything else--money, or
clothing, or lands--neither do they envy any person for anything. They
shoot arrows with the greatest dexterity, and will pierce a deer with
one from side to side in his most rapid flight. When they have food
they eat it in a barbarous manner; but if on account of bad weather
they have not been able to obtain any game, they boil water and drink
it, and compress their bellies with cords. They are also accustomed to
dig in the ground and search for a root called sucbao, [44] with which,
when it is roasted, they can subsist, although in summer they never
lack fruits in the woods. They are always happy, and keep themselves
plump and contented; and among them are persons who are quite old.
I frankly confess that, in the midst of the sorrow that was occasioned
in me by the extreme barbarism and mental stupidity of this people
when I knew by experience their mode of life, at the same time not
only were presented before me those golden ages, so celebrated,
of which Ovid treats at length in his Metamorphoses, Cicero in his
Aratus, Lactantius Firmianus in his Institutiones, and Seneca in his
Epistolæ, but I also saw how true is that Epicurean maxim, which,
distinguishing human necessities, says, Naturales necessitates satiari
pene nihilo. To which Pythocles adds, Si vis hominem divitem facere,
non pecuniæ adjice, sed cupiditatibus detrahe. [45] It is worth while
to see the said people going about naked, without house or shelter,
without land, and even without desire for it, yet living contented,
happy, plump, and satisfied; without having any anxieties beyond
that of searching for enough to get through the day with--which, as
it is but little, they soon provide from what is yielded by nature
in those mountains.... Again I say that their mode of life arouses
my admiration, and that if they were enlightened by our holy faith,
and were enduring for God's sake the sufferings that they experience, I
believe that not even the most austere monk of the Thebaid could equal
them. It is, however, true that they avail themselves of the "bill
of divorce," although before marriage a false step is hardly heard
of among them; and that in some districts they are cruel and murderous.
[Mozo here makes observations on various medicinal plants,
which he found by actual experience or observation to be highly
efficacious. Among these are two roots which these natives used
in cases of parturition--one to facilitate the birth, the other to
cleanse and strengthen the mother's system; the woman was able to
go out from her hut, carrying her infant, within one day, or even a
few hours. Seeing the great virtue of this treatment, Mozo obtained
a quantity of these remedies and prescribed them successfully in many
similar cases, after he left the Negritos. They poisoned their arrows
with a decoction of the bark of the camandag, [46] and of some other
plants, in order to kill large game--so powerful a poison that even a
buffalo would die within two minutes if one of these arrows hit even
its hoof.]
It is a fact, however, that they do not use the said poisoned arrows
against any save animals, considering it an inexpiable crime to shoot
rational beings with them; but for hunting those animals--"the great
game," as they call them--they use these arrows continually, and
with them kill innumerable beasts. When one of these falls to the
ground, they immediately cut off its head; and, having thoroughly
washed the flesh, they eat it without any misgivings. I baptized
the man who chiefly made this poison, who was already past the age
of ninety years, who never was willing to leave me until he died;
and on various occasions he explained to me the method of making the
said poison, naming to me the separate ingredients, although I never
was acquainted with them. These same people have other plants, the
use of which I tried, in my religious instructions, to banish among
them--not only because some persons make use of them for evil purposes,
but also because they lead one to suspect some diabolical aid, for
those people accomplish with them things which are truly amazing. But
since information of this may be of great assistance in explaining some
things which, written by the ancients, give the moderns material for
many and various curious inquiries, I will briefly describe what those
barbarians are accustomed to do with the said plants. They use, then,
I was told, certain herbs that are amatory, or adapted for philters,
if thus they should be called (which I do not dispute), in order to
captivate the love of those whom they desire to win. For instance,
do they desire to marry some woman who does not love them? Then,
obtaining their herbs (which they know very well), they carry these
with them, endeavoring at the same time to carry them in the mouth
when they talk with the woman; and the attraction is usually such
that in a short time they succeed in gaining the affection of women
who before were very averse to loving them. They do the same when they
enter the presence of some person whom they have offended and whom they
fear. They take the said herbs in their mouths, and, armed with this
antidote, they are not afraid to be seen by him and to talk with him;
and such are the results that they experience that, even when that
person is greatly offended, he feels for that time so changed that,
far from showing his anger, he receives them with great kindness, and
with indications of special affection. They are also wont to use the
aforesaid herbs in order to succeed in committing their lewd acts with
women; and the women do the same in order to make themselves beloved
by the men, very often, but not always, succeeding in this. [Mozo
relates an instance of this: a convert of his own, a most virtuous,
modest, and exemplary widow, at first refused to marry another man, an
infidel; but with the odor of these plants he overcame her opposition
and carried her away with him. "Never since then have I been able to
see them again, although I tried to do so that I might convert that
barbarian, and marry them afterward." He also relates how sometimes
the natives would try this spell on him, if they feared that he was
offended with them; after careful examination, he was satisfied that
it caused not the slightest change in his feelings. He argues that
any effect produced by the use of these herbs must, after all, be a
natural one, and not caused by diabolical influences--a conclusion
which he enforces by quoting various learned doctors. He and other
missionaries made vigorous efforts to prevent the natives from such
use of these herbs, on account of their bad results--as also in
another custom, thus described:]
In order to enable them to kill some deer quickly, they take some herbs
which they call in their own language panarongusa, which signifies
the same as to say in Spanish, aliciente para venados [i.e., "a lure
for deer"]. They distinguish the said herb into male and female, and
therefore they make two small bundles of them, the male plants in
one and the female in another. This done, they stick an arrow into
the ground, and, placing at the top of it the herbs tied together,
they begin to call the deer, imitating its voice, which they do to
perfection. If in that vicinity there is any deer that hears the
said sound, it infallibly sets out at once, and, beginning to scent,
steadily approaches the fixed arrow, without taking fright at the men
who are stationed near it. They allow the deer to approach, and, when
it is in the place which suits them, they shoot an arrow at whichever
part of its body they wish, and bring it down without difficulty. When
I heard these things, I endeavored with those very persons, after
they were baptized, to make a more than minute investigation, to
ascertain whether the devil was giving them any instruction in it,
whether they used any superstitious words, or performed [like] acts,
so that I could form some opinion regarding these; but the unanimous
reply of all was, that there was nothing of this sort, but that
their ancestors had known that the said herbs possessed this virtue,
and that they simply made use of them. There was, consequently,
nothing more for me to do, except to declare that these were among
the frauds of which the enemy [of souls] avails himself, in order
by these baits to ruin their souls, and so much the more as he more
secretly endeavored to introduce such things [as these among them];
and that on this account they ought to abstain from this mode of
hunting, using only the common one, and trusting in the Lord who
gives food to all living creatures, without despising the raven's
nestlings who cry unto Him, that He would furnish what they might
need for their support. I think that I succeeded, and that other
religious will succeed in gradually banishing much of this abuse.
[In Ilocos Fray Alexandra Cacho formed a village of converts, under
the name of San Juan de Sahagun; and Fray Velloxin greatly enlarged
the village of Santa Monica, "although in past years there came a
pest of smallpox, which in a short time swept away a great number of
the inhabitants." Fray Francisco Alvarez, a son of the province of
Philipinas, in 1740 formed two other small villages in the mountains of
Santor; this was removed to another site by Mozo himself in 1747, and
in the period of three years he secured more than a hundred and fifty
conversions, and even the attendance of their children at school. The
harvest among those people, Mozo says, is great, and many more might
be saved if there were more missionaries; those who are among them are
overworked, and in a few years are worn out or killed by their labors.]