he has apparently invented no stories concerning them. While thunder and lightning are good because they bring rain, yet if they are exceedingly violent he becomes afraid and tries to stop them by burning deer's bones, which, he says, are always efficacious.

The mathematical knowledge of the Negritos is naturally small. They count on their fingers and toes, beginning always with the thumb and great toe. If the things they are counting are more than twenty they go through the process again, but never repeat the fingers without first counting the toes. To add they use rice or small stones. They have no weights or measures except those of the civilized natives, but usually compare things to be measured with some known object. Distance is estimated by the time taken to walk it, but they have no conception of hours. It may take from sunrise until the sun is directly overhead to go from a certain rancheria to another, but if asked the number of hours the Negrito is as likely to say three or eight as six. They have no division of time by weeks or months, but have periods corresponding to the phases of the moon, to which they give names. The new moon is called "bay'-un bu'-an," the full moon "da-a'-na bu'-an," and the waning moon "may-a'-mo-a bu'-an." They determine years by the planting or harvesting season. Yet no record of years is kept, and memory seldom goes back beyond the last season. Hence the Negritos have no idea of age. They know that they are old enough to have children or grandchildren, and that is as far as their knowledge of age goes. To count days ahead they tie knots in a string of bejuco and each day cut off one knot.

In regard to units of value they are familiar with the peso and other coins of the Philippines and have vague ideas as to their value. But one meets persistently the word "tael" in their estimate of the value. of things. A tael is 5 pesos. If asked how much he paid for his wife a man may say "luampo tael." Where they got this Chinese term I do not attempt to say, unless it points to very remote commercial relations with the Chinese, a thing which seems incredible.1

The Negritos have developed to a high degree a sense of the dramatic, and they can relate a tale graphically, becoming so interested in their account as to seem to forget their surroundings. For instance, a head man was giving me one night an account of their marriage ceremony. He went through all the motions necessary to depict various actions, talking faster and louder as if warming up to his theme, his eyes sparkling and his face and manner eager.

They are much like children in their curiosity to see the white man's belongings, and are as greatly pleased with the gift of a trinket. Their expressions and actions on beholding themselves in a mirror for the

1 In the footnote on page 29 is given an extract from Careri's Voyages, in which the following occurs: "True it is, that by means of the heathen Chinese who deal with them in the mountains, some deformed statues have been found in their huts."

first time are extremely ludicrous. One man who had a goatee gazed at it and stroked it with feelings of pride and admiration not unmixed with awe.

SUPERSTITIONS

It will also take a close acquaintance to learn much of the superstitious beliefs of the Negritos. Some hints have already been given in regard to feeding the spirits after a hunt and reasons for changing names of children. Other superstitions were mentioned, as the wearing of bracelets and leglets of wild boar's skin and the burning of deer's bones to scare away thunder.

The basis of all the superstitious beliefs of the Negritos, what might else be termed their religion, is the constant presence of the spirits of the dead near where they lived when alive. All places are inhabited by the spirits. All adverse circumstances, sickness, failure of crops, unsuccessful hunts, are attributed to them. So long as things go well the spirits are not so much considered. There seems to be no particular worship or offerings to gain the good will of the spirits, other than the feeding already noted, except in one particula On the Tarlac trail between O'Donnell (Tarlac Province) and Botolan (Zambales Province) there is a huge black bowlder which the Negritos believe to be the home of one powerful spirit. So, far as I could learn, the belief is that the spirits of all who die enter this one spirit or "anito" who has its abiding place in this rock. However that may be, no Negrito, and in fact no Christianized native of Zambales or Tarlac, ever passes this rock without leaving a banana, camote, or some other article of food. If they do, bad luck or accident is sure to attend the trip.

Señor Potenciano Lesaca, the present governor of Zambales, when quite young, once passed the rock and for amusement-and greatly to the horror of the Negritos with him-spurned it by kicking it with his foot and eating part of a banana and throwing the rest in the opposite direction. The Negritos were much concerned and said that something would happen to him. Sure enough, before he had gone far he got an arrow through both legs from savage Negritos along the trail who could have known nothing of the occurrence. Of course this only strengthened the belief. There is nothing unusual about the shape of the stone. It is merely a large, round bowlder.

Disease is usually considered a punishment for wrongdoing, the more serious diseases coming from the supreme anito, the lesser ones from the lesser anitos. If smallpox visits a rancheria it is because someone has cut down a tree or killed an animal belonging to a spirit which has invoked the aid of the supreme spirit in inflicting a more severe punishment than it can do alone.

For the lesser diseases there are mediquillos or medicine men or women,

called "mañga-anito," who are called to exorcise the spirit creating the disturbance. Anyone who has cured patients or belongs to a family of mediquillos can follow the profession. There is an aversion to being a mediquillo, although it pays, because if a patient dies the medicine. man who treated him is held accountable. As a rule they are treated with respect, and people stand more or less in awe of them, but they have sometimes been killed when they failed to effect a cure.

Señor Benito Guido, a native of Botolan, who accompanied me to the barrio of Tagiltil as interpreter, became slightly ill while in a camp. The Negritos were much worked up over it. They said it was caused by cutting the bamboo for our camp, the spirits that owned the bamboo being offended.

In order that we might witness their customs in such cases, an old woman who practiced as "mañga-anito" was called and offered to relieve the patient for a little money. A peso was given her and she began. Upon being asked how he was affected Señor Guido said that he felt as if something was weighing him down. Of course this was the spirit, which had to be removed before a cure could be effected. The mangaanito danced around the patient and had him dance and turn somersaults. This was to make the spirit sorry he had chosen such an unstable abiding place. Finally she took hold of his hands, gave a mighty tug and then dropped back stiff. The spirit had passed from the body of the patient into her body.

During all these gymnastics the other Negritos had preserved a most solemn mien, but at this juncture they set to work to restore the stricken woman, rubbing and working her arms and legs until the spirit was gone. All disease is caused by spirits, which must be expelled from the body before a cure can be effected.

Use is also made of other remedies to supplement the ministrations of the manga-anito. Attention has been called to the string of dried. berries, called "a-gata," which the Negritos of Pinatubo wear around their necks for convenience in case of pains in the stomach. In southern Zambales what seem to be these same berries are used as a charm against snake bite. Here for pains in the stomach they boil a piece of iron in water and drink the water hot. Pieces of certain woods are believed efficacious for rheumatism, and old men especially may often. be seen with them tied around the limbs. This superstition is not far removed from the belief entertained in certain rural districts of the United States that rheumatism may be prevented by carrying a horse chestnut in the pocket. The Negritos also wear such pieces of wood around the neck for colds and sore throat.

In cases of fever a bed is made from the leaves of a plant called "sam'-bon," which much resembles mint, and leaves are bound to the affected parts. The action of these leaves is cooling. For fractures they use bamboo splints and leaves of a plant called "ta-cum-ba-o."

A bad cut is also bound up in these leaves or with the sap of a tree called "pan-da-ko'-kis."

The Negritos do nothing for skin disease, a form of herpes, with which a great many are afflicted. They probably do not regard it as a disease. (See Pls. LVI et seq.) In case of centipede bites, if on a finger, the affected member is thrust in the anus of a chicken, where, the Negrito affirms, the poison is absorbed, resulting in the death of the chicken.

Goiter is quite common. It is said to be caused by strain from carrying a heavy load of camotes or other objects on the head.

Smallpox, as has been said, is believed to be a visitation of the wrath. of the supreme spirit, and if it breaks out in a rancheria the victim is left with a supply of food and water and the place is abandoned. After several days have elapsed the people return cautiously, and if they find the patient is dead they go away again never to return, but if he has recovered they take up their abode in the rancheria. A great many of the Negritos seen in Zambales have scars of smallpox.

The practice of blistering the body in case of sickness is very common in the Pinatubo region. The belief prevails with some individuals that in the healing up of the sore thus produced the sickness with which the body is afflicted will go away. Others affirmed that blistering was done only in case of fevers, and that the pain inflicted caused the patient to break out in a profuse perspiration which relieved the fever. This seems a more rational belief. Individuals were seen with as many as twenty scars produced in this manner.

Aside from the anito belief, the Negritos have other superstitions. Cries of birds at night are especially unlucky. If a person is starting out on a journey and someone sneezes just as he is leaving he will not go then. It is regarded as a sign of disaster, and delay of an hour or so is necessary in order to allow the spell to work off.

A certain parasitic plant that much resembles yellow moss and grows high up in trees is regarded as a very powerful charm. It is called "gay-u-ma" and a man who possesses it is called "nanara gayuma." If his eyes rest on a person during the new moon he will become sick at the stomach, but he can cure the sickness by laying hands on the afflicted part.

Señor Benito Guido says that when a young man he was told by Negritos that this charm would float upstream. And when he offered to give a carabao for it if that were so, its power was not shown. In spite of this, however, the Negritos are firm believers in it, and, for that matter, so also are the Christianized Zambal and Tagalog. It is likewise thought to be of value in attracting women. If it is rubbed on a woman or is smoked and the smoke blows on her the conquest is

CHAPTER VII

SPANISH ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE NEGRITOS

The attention of the Spanish Government was early attracted to the Negritos and other savages in the Philippines, and their subjection and conversion was the subject of many royal orders, though unfortunately little was accomplished. One of the first decrees of the Gobierno Superior relating especially to the Negritos was that of June 12, 1846. It runs substantially as follows:

In my visits to the provinces of these Islands, having noticed, with the sympathy that they must inspire in all sensitive souls, the kind of life and the privations that many of the infidel tribes, and especially the Negritos who inhabit the mountains, are forced to endure; and persuaded that it is a duty of all civilized Governments and of humanity itself to better the condition of men, who, hidden thus from society, will in time become extinct, victims of their customs, of the unhealthfulness of the rugged places where they live, and of our negligence in helping them; and desirous of making them useful, that some day, influenced by the benefits of social life, they may enter the consoling pale of our Holy Mother, the Catholic Church, I hereby decree the following:

ARTICLE 1. The alcaldes and military and political governors of provinces in whose district there may be tribes or rancherias of the aforesaid Negritos or of other infidels shall proceed with the consent of the devoted curas parrocos, whose charity I implore for them, through their head men or capitanes, to induce them to take the necessary steps to assemble in villages, lands being given for that purpose, in places not very near to Christian pueblos, and seeds of grains and vegetables being furnished that they may cultivate the land.

ART. 3. Two years after the pueblo shall have been formed the inhabitants thereof shall pay a moderate tribute, which shall not for the present exceed one real per head, the youths and children being excepted, obtaining in compensation the usufruct of the lands which they may hold as their own property so long as they do not abandon the cultivation, being able to sell to others under the same conditions with the knowledge of the authority of the district.

ART. 4. Said authorities and also the priests shall maintain the greatest zeal and vigilance that the Christian pueblos do not intrude on those of the infidels or Negritos, neither that individuals live among them nor that they harass or molest them on any pretext whatsoever under penalty of being punished.

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ART. 5. As I have understood that if the Negritos refuse social life it is on account of their being warned by the Christians who employ them in cutting wood, bamboo, and bejuco, and in the collection of other products of the woods

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