Chapter 53

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION: INTERTRIBAL AND OTHER RELATIONS

INTERTRIBAL RELATIONS

Dealings on the part of. Manóbos with other tribes such as the Banuáon, the Debabáon, and the Mandáya are almost without exception of the most pacific kind. I made frequent inquiries, especially while on the upper Agúsan River, as to the reason for this, and was always given to understand that any trouble with another tribe was carefully avoided because it might give rise to unending complications and to interminable war. I am of the opinion that, in his avoidance of war with neighboring tribes, there is ever present in the Manóbo's mind a consciousness of his inferiority to the Mandáya, Debabáon, and Banuáon, and a realization of the consequences that would inevitably follow in case of a clash with them. Thus the Manóbos of the upper Agúsan, who had provoked the Mandáyas of the Katí'il River at the beginning of the Christian conquest, suffered a dire reprisal on the Húlip River, upper Agúsan, when some 180 of them were massacred in one night.[1]

[1] See Oartas de los PP. de la Compañía de Jesús, 5:22, 1883.

The current accounts of Debabáon warriors, as narrated to me by many of them on the upper Sálug River, show the severe losses suffered by Manóbos of the upper Agúsan in their conflicts with Debabáons. The same holds true of the Manóbos on the lower Agúsan when they matched their strength with the Banuáons of the Maásam, Líbañg, and Óhut Rivers. A perusal of the "Cartas de los PP. de la Compañía de Jesús" will give one a vivid picture of the devastation caused by not only the Banuáons but by the Mandáyas and the Debabáons in Manóboland.

The reason for these unfriendly intertribal relations and for the consequent defeats of the Manóbos in nearly every instance is not far to seek. The Manóbo lacks the organization of the Mandáya, Debabáon, and Banuáon. Like the Mañgguáñgan he is somewhat hot-headed, and upon provocation, especially while drunk, prefers to take justice into his own hands, striking down with one fell swoop his Mandáya or other adversary, without appealing to a public adjudication. The result of this imprudent proceeding is an attack in which the friends and relatives of the slain one become the aggressors, invading Manóbo territory and executing awful vengeance upon the perpetrator of the wrong. The friends and relatives of the latter, with their inferior tribal organization and their conscious feeling of inferiority in courage, together with a realization of the innumerable difficulties that beset the path of reprisals, very rarely invade the territory of the hostile tribe.

Both from the accounts given in the aforesaid Jesuit letters and from my own observations and information, I know that the same statements may be made of the intertribal relations of Mañgguáñgans and Mandáyas, Mañgguáñgans and Debabáons, and Mañgguáñgans and Manóbos. The Mañgguáñgans are much lower in the scale of culture than the Manóbos, and when they are under the influence of liquor yield to very slight provocation. As a result of a rash blow, the Mañgguáñgan's territory is invaded and his settlement is surrounded. He is an arrant coward as a rule, and, hot-headed fool as he is, jumps from his low, wall-less house only to meet the foeman's lance. Thus it happens that thousands and thousands of them have been killed. If we may believe the testimony of a certain Jesuit missionary, as stated in one of the Jesuit letters, the Mañgguáñgan tribe numbered 30,000 at one time and their habitat extended eastward from the Tágum River and from its eastern tributary, the Sálug, between the Híjo and the Tótui Rivers, to the Agúsan and thence spread still eastward over the Simúlau River. In 1886 Father Pastells estimated them to number some 14,000. In 1910, I made an estimate, based on the reports of their hereditary enemies in Compostela, Gandía, Geróna, and Moncáyo, and venture to state that in that year they did not number more than about 10,000 souls. Their territory, too, at that date, was confined to the low range of mountains that formed the Agúsan-Sálug divide and to the swamp tracts in the region of the Mánat River, with a scattered settlement here and there on the east of the Agúsan to the north of the Mánat River.

The Manóbos of the Ihawán, Baóbo, and Agúsan Rivers played a bloody part in the massacre of the Mañgguáñgans. While on my first visit to the upper Agúsan in 1907, I used to hear once or twice a week of the killing of Mañgguáñgans. Many a time my Mandáya or Manóbo or Debabáon companions would say to me, upon seeing a Mañgguáñgan: "Shoot him, grandpa, he is only a Mañgguáñgan."

I know from the personal accounts of Manóbo, Mandáya, and Debabáon warrior chiefs that in nearly every case they had acquired their title of warrior chief by bloody attacks made upon Mañgguáñgans. The warrior chiefs of the upper Agúsan, upper Karága, upper Manorígau and upper and middle Katí'il had nearly to a man earned their titles from the killing of Mañgguáñgans. This is eminently true of the Debabáon group. Moncáyo itself boasts of more warrior chiefs than any district in eastern Mindanáo, and stands like a mighty watchtower over the thousands and thousands of Mañgguáñgan and Manóbo graves that bestrew the lonely forest from Libagánon to the Agúsan.

INTERCLAN RELATIONS

It must be borne in mind that, judging from the testimony of all with whom I conversed on the subject as well as from my own personal observation, interclan feuds among Manóbos have diminished notably since the beginning of missionary activity and more especially since the establishment of the special government in the Agúsan Valley. Upon the establishment of this government in the lower half of the Agúsan Valley, there was a perceptible decrease in bloody fights due to the effective extension of supervision under able and active officials. Here and there in remote regions, such as the upper reaches of the Baóbo, Ihawán, Umaíam, Argáwan, and Kasilaían Rivers, casual killings took place. On the upper Agúsan, however, where no effective government had been established until after my departure in 1910, interclan relations were not of the most pacific nature. Thus, in 1909, the settlements of Dugmánon and Moncáyo were in open hostility, and up to the time of my departure four deaths had occurred. The Mandáyas of Katí'il and Manorígao had contemplated an extensive movement against Compostela and after my departure did bring about one death. However, the intended move was frustrated happily by the establishment of a military post in Moncáyo in 1910. Several Mañgguáñgans at the headwaters of the Mánat River met their fate in 1909. The whole Mañgguáñgan tribe went into armed vigilance that same year and rendered it impossible for me to meet any but the milder members of the tribe living in the vicinity of Compostela. On one occasion I had made arrangements to meet a Mañgguáñgan warrior chief at an appointed trysting place in the forest. Upon arriving at the spot, one of my companions beat the buttress of a tree as a signal that we had arrived, but it was more than an hour before our Mañgguáñgan friends made their appearance. Upon being questioned as to the delay, they informed us that they had circled around at a considerable distance, examining the number and shape of our footprints in order to make sure that no deception was being practiced upon them. When we approached the purpose of the interview, namely, to request permission to visit their houses, they positively refused to allow it, telling us that they were on guard against three warrior chiefs of the upper Sálug who had recently procured guns and who had threatened to attack them. Upon questioning my companions as to the likely location of the domicile of the Mañgguáñgans, I was assured that they probably lived at the head of the Mánat River in a swampy region and that access to their settlement could be had only by wading through tracts of mud and water thigh deep.

During the same year various other raids were made, notably on the watershed between the Sálug and the Ihawán Rivers. The Manóbos of the Baóbo River, which has been styled by the well-known Jesuit missionary Urios "the river of Bagáni" (warrior chiefs), were reported to be in a state of interclan war. Such a condition, however, was nothing unusual, for I never ascended the upper Agúsan without hearing reports of atrocities on Baóbo River.[2]

[2] The Baóbo River rises in a mountain that is very near the confluence of the Sálug and Libagánon Rivers, and empties into one of the myriad channels into which the Agúsan is divided just below Veruéla.

In time of peace, interclan dealings are friendly, but it may be said in general that dealings of any kind are not numerous and that their frequency is in inverse ratio to the distance between the two clans. It is seldom that a given individual has no feudal enemy in one district or another so that in his visits to other clans he usually has either to pass through the territory of an enemy or to run the risk of meeting one at his destination. This does not mean that he will be attacked then and there, for he is on his guard, but it must be remembered that he is in Manóboland and that a mere spark may start a conflagration.

Hence, visits to others than relatives and trips to distant points are not frequent. This is particularly true of the womenfolk. Here and there one finds a Manóbo man who travels fearlessly to distant settlements for the purpose of securing some object that he needs, but he never fails to carry his lance, and frequently, his shield; he is never off his guard, either on the trail or in the house he may be visiting.

During the greater social and religious gatherings the greatest vigilance is exerted by all concerned as everyone realizes beforehand the possibility of trouble. Hence bolos or daggers are worn even during meals. Enemies or others who are known to be at loggerheads are seated at a respectful distance from each other with such people around them as are considered friendly or at least neutral. This arrangement of guests is a very striking feature of a Manóbo meal and one of great importance, for it prevents many an untoward act. The host, in an informal way, sees to the distribution of the guests, and when his arrangement is not acceptable to any of the interested parties, a rearrangement is made and all seat themselves. This proceeding has nothing formal about it. The whole thing seems to be done by instinct.

EXTERNAL COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

EXPLOITATION BY CHRISTIAN NATIVES

The shameless spoliation[3] practiced during my residence and travels in eastern Mindanáo (1905-1909) by Christian natives upon the Christianized and un-Christianized Manóbos is a subject that deserves special mention.

[3] Since the establishment in 1909 of government trading posts, this spoliation has practically ceased in the Agúsan Valley.

_Exploitation by falsification_.--The hill people, living in their mountain fastnesses out of communication with the more important traders, had to depend wholly for their needs on petty traders and peddlers of the Christian population. They were accordingly kept in absolute ignorance of the true value of the commodities that they required. False reports as to the value of rice, hemp, and _vino_ were constantly spread. To-day, it would be a report of a war between China and Japan that caused a rise of several pesos in the price of a sack of rice. To-morrow, it would be an international complication between Japan and several of the great European powers which caused a paralysis in the exportation of hemp and a corresponding fall of several pesos in the value of it. These and numerous other fabrications were corroborated by letters purporting to come from Butuán, but in most cases written by one trader to another on the spot, with a view to giving plausibility to the lie. It was a common practice for the trader's friend or partner in Butuán to direct, usually by previous arrangement, two letters to him, in one of which was stated the true value of the commodity and in the other the value at which it was desired to purchase or to dispose of it. The latter letter was for public perusal and rarely failed to beguile the ignorant _conquistas_ and Manóbos.

But it was not only in the exorbitant rates charged and in the unspeakably low prices paid for objects of merchandise that the Christian trader swindled his pagan fellow men. The use of false weights and measures was a second means. The Manóbo had little conception of a _pikul_[4] or of an _arroba_[5] of hemp, so that he was utterly at the mercy of the trader. The steelyards used by Christian traders from 1905 to 1908 were never less than 30 per cent out of true and frequently as much as 50 per cent. One pair of scales I found to be so heavily leaded that the hemp that weighed 25 pounds on them weighed between 38 and 39 pounds on a true English scales.

[4] A _pikul_ is the equivalent of 137.5 Spanish pounds.

[5] An _arroba_ is 25 Spanish pounds.

Another method of defraudation consisted in false accounts. The Manóbo had no account book to rely upon in his dealings with the trader, but trusted to his memory and to the honesty of his friend. The payment was made in occasional deliveries of hemp or other articles, such deliveries covering a period usually of many months. When the day for settling accounts came, the Manóbo was allowed to spread out his little grains of corn or little bits of wood on the floor and to perform the calculation as best he could. Any mistakes in his own favor were promptly corrected by the trader, but mistakes or omissions in favor of the trader were allowed to pass unobserved. The account would then be closed and the trader would mark with a piece of charcoal on a beam, rafter, or other convenient place, the amount of the debt still due him, for it was extremely rare that he allowed the poor tribesman to escape from his clutches.

_Defraudation by usury and excessive prices_.--Another method of exploitation consisted in a system of usury, practiced throughout the valley but more especially on the upper Agúsan. An example will illustrate this: A Bisáya advances 5 pesos in various commodities with the understanding that at the next harvest he is to receive 10 sacks of paddy in payment. At the next harvest the Manóbo is unable to pay more than 6 sacks. He is given to understand that he must pay the balance within two months. After that period the trader goes upstream again and proceeds to collect. The paddy is not forthcoming, so the trader informs his customer that the prevailing price of paddy in such and such a town is actually 5 pesos per sack and that he accordingly loses 20 pesos by the failure to receive the paddy stipulated for and that the debtor must answer for the amount. The poor Manóbo then turns over a war bolo or perhaps a spear at one-half their original value, for the contract called for paddy and not weapons. In that way he pays up a certain amount, let us say 10 pesos, and has still a balance of 10 pesos against him, he having no available resources wherewith to settle the account in full. He is then offered the alternative of paying 20 sacks at the next harvest or of performing some work that he is unwilling to do, so he accepts the former alternative. The bargain is then clinched with many threats on the part of the trader to the effect that the Americans will cut off his head or commit some other outrageous act should he fail to fulfill this second contract.

The worst depredation committed on the Manóbo consisted of the advancing of merchandise at exorbitant rates just before harvest time with a view to purchasing rice and tobacco. It is principally at this time that the Manóbo stands in special need of a supply of pigs and chickens for the celebrations, religious and social, that invariably take place. As he has little foresight in his nature and rarely, if ever, speculates, he was accustomed to bartering away in advance a large amount of his paddy and tobacco. The result was that after paying up as much of his paddy debts and tobacco debts as he could, he found that his stock was meager, barely sufficient for a few months. So the time came when he had to repurchase at from 3 to 10 pesos per bamboo joint that which he had sold for 25 centavos.

_Exploitation by the system of commutation_.--Another means of defrauding perpetrated on the Manóbo was the system of commutation by which the debt had to be paid, if the creditor so desired, in other effects than those which were stipulated in the contract. The value of the goods thus substituted was reckoned extraordinarily low. For example, in the event of a failure to pay the stipulated amount of tobacco, its value in some other part of the Agúsan, where that commodity was high, would be calculated in money, and any object would be asked for that the trader might desire. Suppose the customary value of this object, a pig for instance, to be 10 pesos, at which price it would be offered to the trader, who would reply that he had contracted for tobacco and not pigs. He would go on to show that he had no use for pigs, that he could procure a pig of the same size for 2 pesos in another town, and he would finally persuade the debtor to turn over the pig for 2 pesos.

I adjudicated unofficially, at the request of the Manóbos, several cases where the Bisáya trader tried to collect not only the value of a sow but of the number of young ones that it might have given birth to had it lived. These pigs had been left with Manóbos for safe-keeping and either had died from natural causes or had been killed. One Bisáya went so far as to demand payment for the chickens that a hen would have produced had it not been stolen from the Manóbo to whom it had been entrusted. This part of the claim I did not allow, so the claimant demanded pay for the eggs that might have been laid.

_Wheedling or the puának system_.--Another means of exploitation practiced on the Manóbos of the upper Agúsan was the _puának_ system, invented by the Bisáya trader. The _puának_ was some prosperous Manóbo who was chosen as an intimate friend and who, out of friendship, was expected to furnish his Bisáya friend anything which the latter might ask for. The Bisáya in return was expected to do the same.

The Bisáya paid his Manóbo friend a few visits every year, on which occasions he was received with all the open-hearted hospitality so characteristic of the Manóbo. Pigs and chickens, purchased frequently at high rates, were killed in his honor. The country was scoured for sugar-cane wine or other drink, and no means were left untried to make the reception royal. The Bisáya, in the meanwhile, lavished on his host soft, wheedling words, at the same time giving him sad tales of the rise in the price of merchandise, of his indebtedness to the Chinese, and before leaving gave him a little cloth or some other thing of small value. In return he received paddy, tobacco, and such other articles as he needed. The farewell was made with great demonstrations of friendship on the Bisáya's part and with an invitation to his Manóbo friend to visit him at a certain stated time.

During his friend's visit the Manóbo had gone around the country canvassing for paddy and such other articles as he had been instructed to barter for. His wife and female relatives had stamped out several sacks of paddy for their friend. His sons and other male relatives had cleaned the Bisáya's boat and supplied him with rattan. In a word, the whole family had made menials of themselves to satisfy the Bisáya's every desire.

At the stated time the Manóbo started downstream with the various commodities that had been requested of him, paddy, tobacco, and other things. At his friend's house he was received with a great exhibition of joy and welcome. During his stay he was kept happy by constant doses of _vino_. Besides the killing of a suckling pig and of a few chickens, a little wheedling and palavering were about the only entertainment he received. But as the grog kept him in good humor and it is supposed to cost one peso per liter, he was perfectly happy, turned over his wares to the host, had his accounts balanced for him (he was usually in a hilarious condition while this was being done), received further advances of merchandise at the usual usurious rates, and left for his upland home to tell his family and relatives of the glorious time he had at his _puának's_.

_Bartering transactions_.--The following schedule of approximate values of commodities in the Agúsan, 1905 to 1909, will serve to show the commercial depredations committed on Manóbos and _conquistas_ by the Bisáyas who have ever looked upon them as their legitimate prey.

Sale price in Gain Value barter in of for weighing abaká Quantity Original Monetary abaká or in Article retailed cost value fiber measuring Butuán ------- --------- ---- ----- ----- --------- ------ Pesos Pesos Kilos Per cent Pesos Rice 1 sack 5-8 12-22 100-200 30-50 16-38 Vino 1 demijohn 5.50 16 240 30-50 42-48 Salt 1 sack 2.50 12 100 10-30 21-24 Salted fish 1 jar 6.00 16 205 -- 33-37 Turkey red 1 piece 4.00 14 106 15-25 26-28 ----- ----- 26.00 138-175

To this list might be appended the values of exchange in paddy, beeswax, and rattan and the corresponding gain made when these latter are bartered in their turn for hemp or disposed of to the Chinese merchants.

From the above list it is evident that a Bisáya trader could go up the river with goods valued at 26 pesos and within a few weeks return with _abaká_ valued at 138 pesos to 175 pesos, according to the scales and other measures used. His total expenses, including his own subsistence, probably would not exceed 30 pesos.

No mention is here made of such luxuries as shoes, hats, or European clothes on which gains of from 500 to 1,000 per cent are the rule. Neither have various other usuries been included, such as high interest or payment of expenses in case of delays, all of which go to swell the gain that a Bisáya considers his right and his privilege when he has to deal with beings whom he hardly classes as men.

Among the Manóbos the credit system almost invariably prevails, based upon the sacredness with which the Manóbo pays his debts. It is true that the Christianized Manóbo occasionally is not very scrupulous in this respect, but this is because he has been fleeced so much by his Christian brethren.

Arriving in a settlement, the trader displays only a part of his wares at a time. If he has two pieces of cloth, he displays only one. Of five sacks of rice, only two are his, he claims. In answering the inquiry as to whether he has dried fish, he says that he has just a little for his personal use, for the price of it in Butuán was prohibitive. On being besought to sell a little, he secretly orders it taken out from the jar and delivered to his customer, at an outrageous price. The object of this simulation is to hasten the sales of his wares, for should he display all his stock, many of his customers might prefer to wait in hopes of a reduction in prices, a sort of a diminutive "clearance sale."

As the article for which the exchange is made is nearly always _abaká_ fiber, it is evident that a certain period, longer or shorter according to the amount of fiber contracted for, must be allowed the customer. When this period exceeds a week, the stipulation is made that the payment shall be made in installments. A shorter period is allowed than is necessary for the stripping of the hemp, under the pretense that the trader is in a hurry to leave the settlement and catch a certain steamer with which he deals. This is a prudent precaution as the Manóbo is not very methodical in his affairs nor quick in his movements. A thousand and one things--omens, sickness, bad weather--may delay him in the fulfillment of his contract. It is this tardiness that gives rise to the ill feeling and bickering that are not infrequently the outcome of this system of trading. The Manóbo, moreover, has long since become aware of the stupendous gain made by the traders, and, when not dealt with gently, becomes exasperated and on occasions deliberately delays his creditor. Then again, some other trader may have got into the settlement in the meantime and seduced him into buying, cash down, some more enticing article, for this primitive man, like the rest of the world, often buys what he lays his eyes upon without any thought of the future. For this reason, the trader keeps close observation upon all who owe him, almost daily visiting their houses and profiting by the occasion to help himself to whatever little fish or meat or other edibles he may find therein. One who has been in debt a long time is a favorite victim, for when he is unable to pay his debt on time he is shamelessly required to offer a substantial apology[6] in the form of a chicken or some other edible.

[6] _Ba-lí-bad_.

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF TRADING

In general, there was no established system in the Agúsan Valley as far as the dealings of Bisáyas went. The constant fluctuation of prices was a sufficient explanation of this. Thus, rice might be worth 13 centavos per kilogram in Butuán, while at the same time it might command a price of 43 centavos on the Híbung River or in Veruéla. Salted fish might be selling in Butuán for a trifle, whereas up the Simúlau a jar of it at retail might be worth 20 or 30 sacks of paddy. In general the increase in price of a commodity was in direct proportion to its distance from points of distribution. By points of distribution are meant the Chinese stores in Butuán and Talakógon.

Again the old-time custom of selling paddy at a fixed customary price held the Manóbo in commercial servitude to his Bisáya compeer. This was due to the intense conservatism of the Manóbo and to his peculiar religious tenets in this regard, both of which were fostered and sustained by the tribal priests and encouraged by Bisáyas. Could he have been induced to retain his paddy instead of selling it at 50 centavos per sack he would not have been obliged to repurchase at P5 per sack. The same might be said of his tobacco, which he sold wholesale by the bamboo joint at 25 centavos each, or, at most, at a peso each, and which he repurchased, paying, in times of scarcity, 20 centavos for enough to chew a few times.

The credit system, too, was an impediment to his financial advance. It seems to have been a tribal institution. During my trading tour I frequently heard my Manóbo debtors proclaim boastingly to their fellow tribesmen that I had much confidence in their integrity.

The Manóbo who could gain the confidence of the traders and accumulate his debts seemed to be an honored person, but when he was able to make sufficient payment to satisfy his creditors he was a great man. Hence, the traders played upon his vanity and advanced him such commodities as he desired, seldom obliging him to settle in full his obligations, and induced him to accept on credit a certain amount so as to retain him in bondage to them. It must not be imagined that there was anything tyrannical in the manner of collecting outstanding debts. On the contrary, it was almost always done in a gentle diplomatic way, the trader knowing full well that the Manóbo regarded a debt as sacred and that he would finally pay it. But it must not be supposed that the transactions were entirely free from disputes and quarrels. It happened occasionally that the Manóbo detected the frauds in his creditor's accounting or remembered omissions of his own in a past reckoning, and so the bickering began, the Bisáya never caring to admit his errors or frauds, while the Manóbo, who is a hard and fast bargainer, insisted on claiming what he considered his rights. As a rule, the matter was settled peaceably by the principal men of the region. Numerous instances, however, occurred wherein the Manóbo, exasperated by the numerous frauds of his creditor, awaited a favorable occasion to dispatch him. On the whole, it may be said that differences which arose between Bisáyas and their mountain compeers in eastern Mindanáo are to be attributed in no small degree to the ruinous, relentless exploitation of the unsophisticated, untutored Manóbo by the greedy Bisáya traffickers.

INTERNAL COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

By internal trading is meant those simple transactions that take place between Manóbo and Manóbo. The subject presents a striking contrast to the merciless system adopted by the Christian traders in their dealings with their pagan congeners.

The transactions are simple exchanges of the absolute necessities of life.

MONEY AND SUBSTITUTES FOR IT

There is little conception of money as such among the hillmen unless they have been in contact with Christian or Christianized traders, and even then although monetary terms are made use of, there is but a vague conception of the real value of what they represent. I asked a Manóbo of the upper Wá-wa the price of his little bamboo lime tube. The answer was 30 pesos.

Money, therefore, has no value as a circulating medium, although it may be prized as a material out of which to make rings and other ornamental objects. As substitutes, there are several units of more or less indefinite value. Thus, the value of a slave which, expressed in monetary value, varies between 15 and 30 pesos, is mentioned in connection with large fines and with marriage payments. Again, plates of the type called _píñggan_ are referred to in small fines and in other payments, but as these are imported articles the price varies. On the whole, however, 100 _píñggan_ are worth a good serviceable slave--that is, 30 pesos. Pigs also are mentioned as a unit of value, but here again the value is not wholly definite, as a great many of them are imported and vary with the purchasing price.

PREVAILING MANÓBO PRICES

The following list will give a fair idea of the monetary value of some of the commodities that are most frequently exchanged between Manobos.

1. A slave who can perform a full-grown person's work. ..... 30.00 Pesos

2. A slave who can do a certain amount of work. ..... 20.00

3. A slave whose right hand can not reach the tip of his left ear ..... 15.00

4. A male pig 1 year old ..... 1.00

5. A sow that has given birth once ..... 1.00

6. One fathom of _abaká_ cloth nearly 1 meter wide ..... 1.00

7. A woman's skirt of _abaká_ ... .50

8. One double sack of paddy (150 liters) ..... .50

9. Three double _gantas_ (15 liters) ..... 0.0625

10. One large basket (15 liters) of _camotes_, corn, taro, etc. ..... 0.0625

11. One bunch of bananas ..... 0.0625

12. One dugout, 7 fathoms long, with a beam of 4 spans ..... 1.50

13. One dugout, 11 fathoms long, with a beam of 5 spans ..... 2.50

14. One bamboo jointful of tobacco, into whose mouth the closed hand can not be easily inserted ..... 0.0625

15. One bamboo jointful of tobacco, into whose mouth the closed hand can be easily inserted ..... 0.125

16. One full-grown hen or rooster ..... 0.125

The values above indicated are based on the monetary terms used to represent their value, and borrowed, possibly, from the terms which are still in vogue in eastern Mindanáo.[7]

[7] _I-sá-ka sá-pi_ (Bis., _ú-sa'-ka sa-lá-pi_), P0.50; _ka-há-ti_, P0.25; _Si-ká-pat_, P0.125; _Si-kau-au_, P0.0625.

From the above scale it will be seen that a pig 1 year old could be exchanged for 2 full-grown chickens, 2 sacks of paddy, and 2 bamboo joints of tobacco. It is not customary to trade in such things as _camotes_, taro, and corn, the return of them being the usual stipulation, but the corresponding values have been inserted in the above list in order to give the reader an idea of the value of food commodities.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

No measure of weight is used by the hill Manóbo. The Christianized Manóbo may have obtained some old scales of the type used by Bisáyas for weighing _abaká_ fiber. These scales are steelyards, the construction of which permitted the Bisáya trader to fleece his non-Christian customers of as much as 50 per cent of their _abaká_ fiber. The method of falsifying the balance was by loading the counterpoising weight with lead, and by filing the crosspiece that acts as fulcrum. Another method which might be used with even true steelyards consisted in giving the counterpoise arm a downward tilt, after the _abaká_ fiber had been loaded on the other arm. This was usually done on the pretense of picking up the counterpoising weight which had been purposely left on the ground.

In measures of volume the Manóbo is almost equally destitute for he has only the _gántañg_. This is a cylindrical measure made out of the trunk of a palm tree, with a bottom of some other wood. It has a capacity of from 10 to 15 liters, but I know of no rule which fixes its exact size. An interesting point with regard to the size of this measure is that it is double that of the one used by Bisáyas.[8] It is suggested that the early Bisáya traders, on the introduction of the Spanish _ganta_ and _fanega_, taught, for obvious purposes, their unsuspecting mountain friends to make a measure double the size of the legal one.

[8] The _gántang_ measure in eastern Mindanáo is of two kinds, _de almacen_, "of the store," and _de provincia_, "of the province." The latter is twice the size of the former, and is universally used by the mountain peoples.

In the manner of measuring out paddy (for it is practically only for this purpose that the _gántang_ serves) there is a feature that is characteristic of Manobo frugality and economy. The paddy is scooped with the hands, little by little, into the measure, which is not moved until it is full. Then with a piece of stick the surface of the paddy is leveled off and it is emptied into the larger receptacle. At the same time the number is counted out loudly. The intention in not moving or disturbing the measure is to allow the paddy to have greater bulk, for if it is disturbed the grains settle and it requires more to fill the measure.

Twenty-five of these _gántang_ make a _kabán_, _bákkid_, or _anéga_, as it is variously called. This _kabán_, although there is no measure corresponding to it in Manóboland, would be equivalent in bulk to two sacks of rice, or about 150 liters.

The yard is the distance from the end of the thumb, when the arm is extended horizontally, to the middle of the sternum. It, of course, varies somewhat with each individual.

The Bisáya trader, in measuring cloth, considerably shortens his yard by not giving a full stretch to the arm, and by slightly turning the outstretched hand toward his body. This gain, together with another little one secured when he bites off the measured piece from the bolt, makes a total gain of 10 centimeters approximately. Remonstrances on the part of the customer are unavailing, for he is told that such is the length of the trader's yard and, if the customer is not satisfied, he is not obliged to accept the cloth. As it is a credit transaction, the poor Manóbo is obliged to yield.

The fathom[9] is the distance between the thumb tips when the arms and hands are outstretched. The fraud practiced by the Bisáya trader in the yard measure is also employed in this.

[9] _Dú-pa'_.

The span [10] is the stretch between the tip of the first finger and that of the thumb as they are stretched over the object to be measured.

[10] _Dáng-au_.

The finger length[11] is the length of either the first or of the middle finger, according to the custom of each locality.

[11] _Túd-lo_.

The joint length [12] is the length of the middle joint of the finger. It is a measure that is very seldom used.

[12] _Lúm-po_.

SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVES

SLAVE TRADE

I have not visited the Agúsan Valley since 1910, so that I am unable to give any information as to the actual extent of slave trading at the present day. From 1905 to 1909 the practice was in vogue, but to no great extent. It is reported on all sides by Mañgguáñgans, Mandáyas, Manóbos, and Banuáons that since the American occupation it has diminished to a remarkable degree, due to the wonderful reputation of the Americans for having overcome the Spaniards. This diminution was a natural sequence of the decrease of war raids.

Slave trading among the Manóbos of eastern Mindanáo was practically confined to the Ihawán, Baóbo, upper Simúlau, and Agúsan Rivers. I am of the opinion that during my four years' residence in the Agúsan there were not more than 100 cases of slave trade in the regions outside of the Ihawán and Baóbo River Valleys.

The customary value of a slave has been mentioned in this chapter, but it is only proper to add that a great many considerations, such as poor health, weak constitution, and other defects which might lessen the ability of the slave to work, detract from his value. It may be said in general that the value of a slave ranges between 10 and 30 pesos, never exceeding the last figure, at which he stands on a par with an unusually good hunting dog, or with an extra large prolific sow.

Slave trading does not, in the Manóbo's mind, involve the idea of degradation which attaches to it among other nations. A slave is to the Manóbo a chattel which he can sell, kill, or dispose of in any other way that he may deem expedient.

CLASSES OF SLAVES

Captives[13] are those who have been captured from the enemy. At first their treatment may be a little harsh, or they may, when their owners happen to be angry, be killed outright. This is due to the fact that the feelings of revenge have not cooled off. But after a few days their condition and treatment is similar to that of ordinary slaves, except that more precautions are taken to prevent their escape. If fear of their escape is entertained, it is usual to sell them as soon as possible.

[13] _Bi-ha_.

By ordinary slaves[14] are meant those who have been purchased or who have been delivered over in payment of fines or marriages. There is no institution in Manóboland by which a freeman, not a minor, can become a slave by reason of debt. But minors, usually relatives of the debtor, sometimes in an exigency are turned over in payment of a debt. This is usually done with a view to avoiding bloodshed.

[14] _Áñg-lañg_.

DELIVERY AND TREATMENT OF SLAVES

The manner of delivering the slave to a new owner depends ordinarily upon the feelings with which he regards the change, except in the case of children, who are easily coaxed into accepting it. In the case of older persons who have been attached to their owners, the matter is more difficult, as they display a reluctance to change hands. A ruse is then resorted to, as in a case which I witnessed. The person, in this case a slave girl, was sent to her purchaser's house, ostensibly for the purpose of procuring salt and of delivering a basket of paddy. As she was about to return her purchaser called her back into the house. She then, realizing the circumstances, burst into tears, but was soon soothed by the wives of her new owner.

On the whole slaves are not mistreated. Like all menials, they at times become remiss in the performance of what is expected of them, and accordingly are given a few blows with a stick or other convenient object. In a very passionate moment, or when drunk, the master may cut off his slave girl's hair or denude her completely in the presence of the household, but such acts are of very rare occurrence.

Immediately after being captured, or after a change of master, the slave feels his lot keenly, but as time goes on and as he realizes that there is no hope of deliverance, the remembrance of his relatives fades away and he resigns himself to his fate. Sometimes one finds a slave who has become so attached to his master that he is unwilling to return to his relatives. This is true of those who have been captured when young, and especially of girls. A fondness often grows up between the latter and their master's wife, and separation causes loud and long weeping.

A slave enjoys no rights, either personal or political. He can be disposed of without his consent either by sale or in marriage, or in any other way his master sees fit. If he runs away he is pursued and brought back to his master's house. If he runs away with frequency, and the owner is unable to dispose of him to some one else, he is simply speared to death. I never witnessed the actual killing, but trustworthy accounts authenticate the fact that formerly, at least, it occasionally took place. If a slave flees from his master's house no one may aid or abet him in his flight, though it is lawful for anyone to capture him with the intention of returning him to his master, who in this case must pay the capturer P15.[15]

[15] On my last trip among the Mandáyas of southeastern Mindanáo (Karága River) I was instrumental in saving the life of a woman slave who had escaped six times. At the time of her escape six slaves, led by a boy slave of about 14 years of age, had fled from the house of their master. They were recaptured and no punishment except a good scolding and an infinity of threats was meted out to them. A few days afterwards an elderly slave again escaped. She was discovered in a neighboring house and brought back by the wife and daughter of her owner. When her master saw her he rushed from his house with spear and bolo and would have killed her had it not been for my remonstrances and entreaties.

The slave does his share of domestic service. To the female falls the task of drawing water, gathering firewood, pounding rice, cooking, and weeding; to the male that of acting as his master's companion, porter, and general messenger, and of planting _camotes_ and other crops.

The slave's dress is usually sufficient to cover his nakedness and no more. Ear disks, bracelets, and similar articles of feminity[sic] are not allowed, and too neat arrangement of the hair is not countenanced, as it might be indicative of matrimonial inclinations. Marriage of his slaves is not looked upon with favor by the master, and he does not permit it unless the material advantages are so great that they will repay him for the loss of the slave's services.

I know of few slave marriages. Captives, however, are said to be married off for a good payment, when their looks and other good qualities have won the heart of some young man.

My observation and the testimony of Manóboland as to the sexual morality of slaves is that it is excellent, though no vigilance seems to be exercised over them in the matter. The female slave makes trips alone to the water place even by night, and spends many hours of the day in solitary places while working in the clearings or traveling to the granary. This sexual morality is due to the fact that intercourse with a female slave is looked down upon with unmitigated contempt.

The slave fares no worse in the matter of food than the inmates of the house; possibly he fares even better, for he gets more secret tastes of sugarcane and roasted _camotes_ between meal hours; during meals he does not forget himself, as he often has the handling of the pots.