Part 10

Also, during their revelries, the singers who have good voices recite the exploits of olden times; thus they always possess a knowledge of past events. The people of the coast, who are called the Yligueynes, believe that heaven and earth had no beginning, and that there were two gods, one called Captan and the other Maguayen. [14] They believe that the land breeze and the sea breeze were married; and that the land breeze brought forth a reed, which was planted by the god Captan. When the reed grew, it broke into two sections, which became a man and a woman. To the man they gave the name of Sicalac, and that is the reason why men from that time on have been called _lalac_; the woman they called Sicavay, and thenceforth women have been called _babayes_. One day the man asked the woman to marry him, for there were no other people in the world; but she refused, saying that they were brother and sister, born of the same reed, with only one knot between them; and that she would not marry him, since he was her brother. Finally they agreed to ask advice from the tunnies of the sea, and from the doves of the air; they also went to the earthquake, who said that it was necessary for them to marry, so that the world might be peopled. They married, and called their first son Sibo; then a daughter was born to them, and they gave her the name of Samar. This brother and sister also had a daughter, called Lupluban. She married Pandaguan, a son of the first pair, and had a son called Anoranor. Pandaguan was the first to invent a net for fishing at sea; and, the first time when he used it, he caught a shark and brought it on shore, thinking that it would not die. But the shark died when brought ashore; and Pandaguan, when he saw this, began to mourn and weep over it--complaining against the gods for having allowed the shark to die, when no one had died before that time. It is said that the god Captan, on hearing this, sent the flies to ascertain who the dead one was; but, as the flies did not dare to go, Captan sent the weevil, who brought back the news of the shark's death. The god Captan was displeased at these obsequies to a fish. He and Maguayen made a thunderbolt, with which they killed Pandaguan; he remained thirty days in the infernal regions, at the end of which time the gods took pity upon him, brought him back to life, and returned him to the world. While Pandaguan was dead, his wife Lubluban became the concubine of a man called Maracoyrun; and these people say that at that time concubinage began in the world. When Pandaguan returned, he did not find his wife at home, because she had been invited by her friend to feast upon a pig that he had stolen; and the natives say that this was the first theft committed in the world. Pandaguan sent his son for Lubluban, but she refused to go home, saying that the dead do not return to the world. At this answer Pandaguan became angry, and returned to the infernal regions. The people believe that, if his wife had obeyed his summons, and he had not gone back at that time, all the dead would return to life. [_Blank space in MS_.] Inheritances, and their inventor. Their ceremonies. The omentum [15].

_Another belief, that of the mountaineers, who are called Tinguianes_

The Tinguianes believe that in the beginning were only the sea and the sky; and that one day a kite, having no place where to alight, determined to set the sea against the sky. Accordingly, the sea declared war against the sky, and threw her waters upward. The sky, seeing this, made a treaty of peace with the sea. Afterward, to avenge himself upon her for having dared to assert herself, they say that he showered upon the sea all the islands of this archipelago, in order to subdue her; and that the sea ran to and fro without being able to rise again. They say that from this event arose the custom of _mavaris_--that is, taking vengeance for an insult received, a very common practice in this land; and they consider it a point of honor to take revenge. Then they relate also the story of the reed; but they say that the kite pecked the reed, and the aforesaid man and woman came out. They add that the first time when Cavahi gave birth to children, she brought forth a great number at once. One day the father went home, very angry, and threatened the children. The latter were frightened and fled; some into the most hidden rooms of the house; some hid in other places nearer the open air; some hid themselves within the _dindines_, or walls of the houses, which are constructed of reeds; some in the fireplace; and some fled to the sea through the same door by which the father had entered. It is said that those who fled to the most hidden rooms are the chiefs of these islands; those who remained nearer the outside are the timaguas; those who hid themselves within the walls are the slaves; those who hid themselves in the fireplace are the blacks; and those who fled out to the sea through the open door, are the Spaniards, and that they had no news of us until they beheld us return through the sea.

Chapter Eighth

_Of their belief concerning the dead_

It is said that the souls of those who are stabbed to death, eaten by crocodiles, or killed by arrows (which is considered a very honorable death), go to heaven by way of the arch which is formed when it rains, and become gods. The souls of the drowned remain in the sea forever. By way of honor to these, they erect a tall reed and hang upon it a garment--that of a man, if the dead be a man; but a woman's, for a woman. This garment is left there until it falls to pieces through age. When the children or other relatives of drowned persons are sick, the relatives are taken and placed in a barangay, in company with a _baylana_, who is a sort of priestess; and, at the place indicated by the priestess, they throw into the sea a chest filled with robes and other articles, which they have brought with them. At the same time their ancestors are invoked to protect and help the sick man during his illness.

_Belief regarding the dead_

If those who die from disease are young, the Pintados say that the _mangalos_, who are goblins, are eating their bowels, wherefore they die; for these people do not know that the corruption of humors causes diseases. They say of those who die in old age that the wind comes and snatches away their souls. And of those who die thus, the Arayas (which is a certain alliance of villages), they say, go to a very high mountain in the island of Panay, called Mayas. The souls of the Yligueynes, who comprise the people of Çubu, Bohol, and Bantay, go with the god called Sisiburanen, to a very high mountain in the island of Burney.

_The god Sidapa_. They say that there is in the sky another god, called Sidapa. This god possesses a very tall tree on mount Mayas. There he measures the lives of all the new-born, and places a mark on the tree; when the person's stature equals this mark, he dies immediately.

_Belief concerning the destination of souls_. It is believed that at death all souls go directly to the infernal regions; but that, by means of the _maganitos_, which are the sacrifices and offerings made to the god Pandaque in sight of the mount of Mayas, they are redeemed from Simuran and Siguinarugan, gods of the lower regions.

It is said that, when the Yligueynes die, the god Maguayen carries them to Inferno. When he has carried them thither in his barangay, Sumpoy, another god, sallies forth, takes them away, and leads them to Sisiburanen, the god before mentioned, who keeps them all. Good or bad alike, he takes them all on equal terms, when they go to Inferno. But the poor, who have no one to offer sacrifices for them, remain forever, in the inferno, and the god of those regions eats them, or keeps them forever in prison. From this it will be seen how little their being good or bad avails them, and how much reason they have to hate poverty.

_Baylanas_. The natives of these islands have neither time nor place set apart for the offering of prayers and sacrifices to their gods. It is only in case of sickness, and in times of seed-sowing or of war, that sacrifices are offered. These sacrifices are called _baylanes_, and the priestesses, or the men who perform this office, are also called _baylanes_. The priestesses dress very gaily, with garlands on their heads, and are resplendent with gold. They bring to the place of sacrifice some _pitarrillas_ (a kind of earthen jar) full of rice-wine, besides a live hog and a quantity of prepared food. Then the priestess chants her songs and invokes the demon, who appears to her all glistening in gold. Then he enters her body and hurls her to the ground, foaming at the mouth as one possessed. In this state she declares whether the sick person is to recover or not. In regard to other matters, she foretells the future. All this takes place to the sound of bells and kettle-drums. Then she rises and taking a spear, she pierces the heart of the hog. They dress it and prepare a dish for the demons. Upon an altar erected there, they place the dressed hog, rice, bananas, wine, and all the other articles of food that they have brought. All this is done in behalf of sick persons, or to redeem those who are confined in the infernal regions. When they go to war or on a plundering expedition, they offer prayers to Varangao, who is the rainbow, and to their gods, Ynaguinid and Macanduc. For the redemption of souls detained in the inferno above mentioned, they invoke also their ancestors, and the dead, claiming to see them and receive answers to their questions.

_Belief concerning the world. The god Macaptan._ They believe that the world has no end. They say that Macaptan dwells highest in the sky. They consider him a bad god, because he sends disease and death among them, saying that because he has not eaten anything of this world, or drunk any pitarrillas, he does not love them, and so kills them.

_The god Lalahon_. It is said that the divinity Lalahon dwells in a volcano in Negros island, whence she hurls fire. The volcano is about five leagues from the town of Arevalo. They invoke Lalahon for their harvest; when she does not choose to grant them good harvests she sends the locusts to destroy and consume the crops. This Lalahon is a woman.

_Burials_. These natives bury their dead in certain wooden coffins, in their own houses. They bury with the dead gold, cloth, and other valuable objects--saying that if they depart rich they will be well received in the other world, but coldly if they go poor.

_How they guard the dead_. When anyone dies, the people light many fires near his house; and at night armed men go to act as sentinels about his coffin, for fear that the sorcerers (who are in this country also) may come and touch the coffin; for then the coffin would immediately burst open and a great stench issue from the corpse, which could not any longer remain in the coffin. For this reason they keep watch for several nights.

_Slaves killed at the death of chiefs_. When any chief descended from Dumaguet dies, a slave is made to die by the same death as that of the chief. They choose the most wretched slave whom they can find, so that he may serve the chief in the other world. They always select for this a slave who is a foreigner, and not a native; for they really are not at all cruel. They say that the reason for their killing slaves, as we have said, at the death of any chief is very ancient. According to their story, a chief called Marapan more than ten thousand years ago, while easing his body asked a slave of his for some grass with which to clean himself. The slave threw to him a large stalk of reed-grass, which seems to have hit the chief on the knee, causing a wound. As he was at the time a very old man, he died, as they say, from the blow; but before his death he gave orders that, when he should die, the slave and all his children should be put to death. From this arose the custom of killing slaves at the death of a chief.

_Mourning indicated by fasting_. When the father or mother or any near relative died, they promised to eat no rice until they should seize some captive in battle. The actual sign of mourning among them was the wearing of armlets made of bejucos [rattans] which covered the entire arm, with a similar band around the neck. They drank no pitarrilla, and their only food was bananas and camotes, until they had either taken a captive or killed some one, when they ceased their mourning; it might thus happen that they would eat no rice for a whole year, and therefore they would be, at the end of that period, very languid and weak. Sometimes a man determined, soon after a relative's death, to eat nothing, but to abandon himself to death. But his timaguas and slaves quickly assembled, and made a collection throughout the village; bananas were given him for food, and _tuba_ (which is a wine made from the palm-tree) for drink, so that he should not die. These gains were the perquisites of the chiefs. This kind of mourning is called among them _maglahe_.

_Mourning among the women_. The mourning observed by the women they call _morotal_. It is similar to that of the men, except that the mourner--instead of going to capture or kill some one before she is allowed to cease mourning and to eat rice again--embarks in a barangay with many women; they have one Indian man to steer, one to bail, and one in the bow. These three Indians are always chosen as being very valiant men, who have achieved much success in war. Thus they go to a village of their friends, the three Indians singing all along the way, keeping time with their oars; they recount their exploits, the slaves whom they have captured, and the men whom they have killed in war. The vessel is laden with wine and pitarrillas. When they reach the village, they exchange invitations with the inhabitants, and hold a great revel. After this they lay aside their white robes, and strip the bejuco bands from their arms and necks; the mourning ends, and they begin to eat rice again, and to adorn themselves with gold.

_Larao of the dead_--_that is, mourning_. One of the observances which is carried out with most rigor is that called _larao_. This rule requires that when a chief dies all must mourn him, and must observe the following restrictions: No one shall quarrel with any other during the time of mourning, and especially at the time of the burial. Spears must be carried point downward, and daggers be carried in the belt with hilt reversed. No gala or colored dress shall be worn during that time. There must be no singing on board a barangay when returning to the village, but strict silence is maintained. They make an enclosure around the house of the dead man; and if anyone, great or small, passes by and transgresses this bound, he shall be punished. In order that all men may know of a chief's death and no one feign ignorance, one of the timaguas who is held in honor goes through the village and makes announcement of the mourning. He who transgresses the law must pay the penalty, without fail. If he who does this wrong be a slave--one of those who serve without the dwelling--and has not the means to pay, his owner pays for him; but the latter takes the slave to his own house, that he may serve him, and makes him an ayoey. They say that these rules were left to them by Lubluban and Panas. To some, especially to the religious, it has seemed as if they were too rigorous for these people; but they were general among chiefs, timaguas, and slaves.

_Wars_. The first man who waged war, according to their story, was Panas, the son of that Anoranor, who was grandson of the first human [parents: _crossed out in MS_.] beings. He declared war against Mañgaran, on account of an inheritance; and from that time date the first wars, because the people were divided into two factions, and hostility was handed down from father to son. They say that Panas was the first man to use weapons in fighting.

_Just wars_. There are three cases in which these natives regard war as just. The first is when an Indian goes to another village and is there put to death without cause; the second, when their wives are stolen from them; and the third is when they go in friendly manner to trade at any village, and there, under the appearance of friendship, are wronged or maltreated.

_Laws_. They say that the laws by which they have thus far been governed were left to them by Lubluban, the woman whom we have already mentioned. Of these laws only the chiefs are defenders and executors There are no judges, although there are mediators who go from one party to another to bring about a reconciliation.

Chapter Ninth

_Which treats of slavery in the Filipinas Islands_

_Laws of slavery_. No Indian in this country is made a slave or is put to death for any crime which he commits, even if it be theft, adultery, or murder--except that for each crime there is an established fine, which they have to pay in jewels or gold, and if the culprit is unable to pay the fine he will borrow the money, and pledge himself to the man from whom he borrows. As a result he becomes a slave, until he shall repay what was lent to him; after that, he is free again. Therefore, according to the crime committed, they are slaves; and there are three classes of slaves in these islands. The first, and the most thoroughly enslaved, is the bondman of him who is served in his own dwelling; such a slave they call _ayuey_. These slaves work three days for the master, and one for themselves.

_Kinds of slavery_. Another class of slaves are those called _tumaranpoc_. They live in their own houses, and are obliged to go to work for their master one day out of four, having the three days for themselves. If they fail to work for their master, in order to cultivate their own fields, they give the master each year ten _çhicubites_ of rice, each çhicubite being equal to one fanéga.

There are other slaves, whom these people hold in most respect, who are called _tomatabans_; these work in the house of the master only when there is some banquet or revel. On such occasions they bring small gifts, and share in the drinking. But when one of these slaves dies, the property left by the slave is shared with his children by the master. During their lifetime, these slaves are bound to work for their master five days in a month; or, if they do not work, they annually give the master five çhicubites of rice.

_Value of the slaves_. The ayueys are worth among these people two gold taes of Labin sian, the equivalent of twelve pesos. The tumaranpoques are worth the same sum. The tumatabans are worth one tae, or six pesos.

The ayuey women, like their husbands, work in the houses of chiefs. The tumaranpoque women, if they have children, serve half of the month in spinning and weaving cotton, which their masters supply; and during the other half of the month they work for themselves. The tumataban women spin only one hank of cotton each month for their masters, who furnish to them the cotton in the boll. Only the ayueys receive food and clothing from their masters; to the others the masters give nothing. When these slaves die the masters take away all their property, except from the tomatabans, as we have said above. Those whom these natives have sold as slaves to the Spaniards are mostly the ayueys.

The rules which they observe for punishing any one so severely as to enslave him are as follows: for murder, adultery, and theft; and for insulting any woman of rank, or taking away her robe in public and leaving her naked, or causing her to flee or defend herself so that it falls off, which is considered a great offense.

_Thieves_. If a thief commit a great robbery, he and all his relatives (or at least his nearest kin) are fined. If they are unable to pay the fine, they are made slaves. This law applies to all classes, and even to the chiefs themselves; accordingly, if a chief commit any crime, even against one of his own slaves or timaguas, he is fined in the same manner. But they are not reduced to slavery for lack of means to pay the fine; as, if they were not chiefs, they would be slaves. In case of a small theft, the punishment falls upon the thief alone, and not on his relatives.

_In time of famine._ When there is a famine the poor, who have not the means of sustenance, in order not to perish, go to the rich--and almost always they seek their relatives and surrender themselves to them as slaves--in order to be fed.

_Another kind of slavery._ There is another kind of lordship [slavery: _crossed out in MS_.], which was first introduced by a man whom they call Sidumaguer--which, they say, occurred more than two thousand years ago. Because some men broke a barangay belonging to him--in Languiguey, his native village, situated in the island of Bantayan--he compelled the descendants of those who had broken his barangay to bequeath to him at their deaths two slaves out of every ten, and the same portion of all their other property. This kind of slavery gradually made its way among all the Indians living on the coast, but not among the Tinguianes.

_Real timaguas._ The freemen of these islands, who are called timaguas, are neither chiefs nor slaves. This is their mode of life. If a timagua desires to live in a certain village, he joins himself to one of the chiefs--for each village usually has many chiefs, each of whom has his own district, with slaves and timaguas, well known to him--to whom he offers himself as his timagua, binding himself to observe the following laws: When feasts are given to other chiefs he must attend; for it is the custom that the timagua drink first from the pitarrilla, before any chief does so. He must, with his weapons, accompany the chief when he goes on a journey. When the latter enters a boat the timagua must go to ply the oar, and to carry his weapons for the defense of the vessel; but if the vessel sustain any damages he receives no punishment for this, but is only reprimanded. For this service the chief is under obligation to defend the timagua, in his own person and those of his relatives, against anyone who seeks to injure him without cause; and thus it happens that, to defend the timaguas, fathers fight against their sons, and brothers against one another. If the timagua goes to any other village and there is wronged, the chief will endeavor, with all his forces, to avenge him to the same extent. Thus the timaguas live in security, and are free to pass from the service of one chief to that of another, whenever they so desire, and without any obstacle being placed in their way.

_Of the manner in which they set out on raids_. These natives have a method of casting lots with the teeth of a crocodile or of a wild boar. During the ceremony they invoke their gods and their ancestors, and inquire of them as to the result of their wars and their journeys. By knots or loops which they make with cords, they foretell what will happen to them; and they resort to these practices for everything which they have to undertake. The Indians along the coast are accustomed to set out every year on their plundering expeditions in the season of the bonanças, which come between the brisas and the vendabals. The Tinguianes set out after they have gathered their harvests; and since their custom is to be enemies to those who are such to their friends, they do not lack opportunity for fighting.