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Show V AGES UNIIEKl OUR FL A.G ' ' LiVPS stoms I pLlward Y. Iillcr, mto of .he fcv. of Palawan, one of the larg-JJlipnino larg-JJlipnino islands;, hii3 translutod lio original Spanish manuscript lit"1 to the Smithsonian lustitu-iMkiuthoritativo lustitu-iMkiuthoritativo account or the I jd customs of the original in-Ifaglof in-Ifaglof tho island, says the V.ash-fiorrespomlent V.ash-fiorrespomlent of tho cw i ork ISposr. The paper records tho IfcUL' observations of Manuel H. ilBlo. a ir ember of tho Council of )'ri'nccsa. It is filled -with storie3 JJftb American ears. That men n7cn of the sort hero described 2rtill exist upon soil now under diction of the United States I Sso many to wonder. They aro 1! Jfof another world than ours, i (natives of this, island of Pala-I Pala-I ro brought to the United States iiortunity tfivon them to live in j iginal condition, they would bo ' to hundred to a thousand years ;liu times. If k'iven tho freedom ervation as large as 1heir home, they would rcquiro a strip of territory the si-e of Connecticut. It thoy were i on the shore they would build them-j them-j selves huts, raise a scanty harvest of rice, barter for trikots and platos, watch carefully Moro pirates, and welcome any friendly visitors with tho best they had. Jf tiicv were in tho mountains they would, live like tho beasts of tho forests, in the trunks of trees, or with no shelter at all. Thoy would slum all foreigners with superstitious wonder, or. persuaded to speak, they would inquire in-quire feelingly if tho visitor had catarrh. ca-tarrh. Thev would hunt with arrows-or with poisohed-quillod bowguns. They would feed on worms or vermin of tho forest. They would bo sprightly, dark, and sincwyreaity to kill at .sight, or to fleo at tlfo approach of too powerful a foe. There are half a dozcu barbaric tribes in the island, each of course with customs of its own. but all typical of a stnto- of civilization hardlj as advanced ad-vanced as that of tho wide-eved Indians who first flocked to the shores of Santo Domingo to raze at the sun-sent ships of Columbus, and, as among many nativo tribes, they possess an organized slavery and slave trade. They aro a colored race, theso aborigines, abor-igines, but anthropologists would not range them up beside the African negro, j The mountain men, especially of the lia-tac lia-tac tribe, are quick and agile, possessed of an energy that seems seldom to tire. But they arc not ploasant people to meet, living as they do, an animal life. Shunning in some cases with abhorrenco tho thought of a bath in a stream, they arc in consequence afflicted with infectious, infec-tious, wasting diseases. Chief Tribe of tho Island. The main tribo of the island, however, how-ever, the Tagbanuas, should not bo classed with the rougher clans of the mountains. These have built for themselves them-selves tho semblance of a barbarous, civilization, incorporating in their body politic principles born of uccessitv, or which have leaked in through a 'very occasional visitor. Their government, strange as it may seem, whether from one or the other o these reasons, resembles re-sembles very closely ancient European hierarchies with power in a council of nine old men of tho tribe. The chief of this council, who is lord of the tribe, has power of life and death over his subjects. But there is little regal splendor splen-dor in the council. Justice is administered bysub-lords, or "chiefs of rancheria," and there is little corporal punishment, fines of plates or earthen jars or musical instruments instru-ments being imposed. Theirs is a system sys-tem of justice which, in ease of a crime, reimburses not the Government, but the injured party or his family. Lynch law privileges are extended in murder and other serious cases for a period of twenty-four hours after tho crime, but, if the criminal is not made away with before tho time limit expires, the council coun-cil of wiso men steps in as a tribunal with officers- to catch and try him. Caught and tried, however, he usually has an easier time of it, being lined probably a fine equivalent to $50, to bo paid to the family of the injured party. I But the inability "to pay such a fine will exposo a convict to even greater dangers, dan-gers, for slavery is bv no means forbidden. for-bidden. On account of debt, an orgau- j ized system' of slavery remains from da3s of former generations; men and women bound over to moro powerful members of their own tribes are sold for a few bright plates to a visiting Jolo merchant. Until .1900, a flourishing slave trade existed with the neighboring neighbor-ing tribes, especially with tho Moros of the south. Tiarc contact with a civilization civiliza-tion of a different sprt may in time have1 its inllucnco upon this, at least, of the Philippine institutions. Theso Tagbanuans are - so far advanced ad-vanced as to have a system of writing of their own, composed of a series ot oddly shaped symbols. And, as their alphabet al-phabet goes to show, they are now given nioro to peaceful pursuits than to war, all internal difficulties being settlod by tho council of cldors. Their hospitality is a striking feature of the island life. Senor Vonturcllo, author of tho paper, was welcomed with surprising cordiality to the houses of the chiefs, dined on rice, and wined on native liquors. li-quors. Seated on the floor of the teu-by-twenty executive mansion of the tribe he was served on curious metal plates, tho special guest service, and was brought heaping ''jalams" of rice by the wife of the chief. After the meal he was surprised back into his own civilization civ-ilization by the proffer of native smoking smok-ing apparatus. Religious Rites and Feasts. In spite of this touch of Western custom there is very much of the barbaric bar-baric still surviving in religious rites and feasts. The 'people worship as supreme lord the creator pf earth and men, and pay due reverence to a stafr. of spirits, good and bad, which hold the balance of human happiness within thcrr grasp. Superstition, as the AVest regards it, of course prevails, exerting such a strong influence upou their acts that the song of a certain bird at a certain time may cause the slaughter of a new-born' babe. A sneeze, perhaps per-haps rarer among these open-air Easterners East-erners than among the indoor Westerners, Western-ers, may necessitate special rites. Feasts, says Senor Vcnturcllo, aro held at harvest time and on special moon days feasts and revels of truly barbaric tinge, resplendent with kaleidoscopic kalei-doscopic motion and weird with ear-holding ear-holding incantations. In the midst of the drink of "pnngas" women glide gracefully to and fro or in a circle, chanting softly. Alcn wilder and stronger, shouting, leap into the air like frenzied rabbets until they fall exhausted ex-hausted upon the ground; and, over the whole, the voice of tho officiating chief, his body glistening in the moonlight with coeoanut oil, speaks forth strange words of hope. Upon the death of a member of the tribe tho ceremony is more solemn.. The body is carried reverently to the family burying place, followed by a sombro train of mourners; mourn-ers; clothing, articles of food, and household utensils that may be needed in tho next world aro carefully placed near 1)3'; and tho service of chanting performed, cannonades boom over the spot. Tribal Laws. The laws of the tribe do not forbid polygamy, if tho wealth and position of the liusband warrants the extra expenditure ex-penditure necessary for more than one wife, but in the family the first wife always rules the household, and her children have prior rights in the line of succession. Divorce laws are stricter than would naturally be imagined in such a state of culture. Although the Tagbanuas as u rule are peace-loving, they are not of the nature to stand insult in-sult or opposition. On the comparatively comparative-ly rare occasions that they do go to war, from their skill and numbers they arc heartily feared by tho other tribes. Armed with bow and arrow and blow-gun, blow-gun, with Moro kris and spear, with a few muskets of a very old pattern, the' aro a picture to inspire reverence from their less enlightened neighbors. Customs of Other Tribes. Closely allied to tho Tagbanuas, yet thoir main rivals in numbers and advancement; ad-vancement; are the Palawanos. To tho Palawan tribo belong a host of settlements, for the size of the territory terri-tory strangely varied. The moro civilized, civil-ized, of tho people have built up a culture cul-ture in' the main very similar to that of the Tagbanuas. There are among them, however, some Mohammedans who observe Moro customs entirely. And yet within the same tribo thcro arc those .who would shoot a Moro on sight and who feed on "wild animals, vermin of the forest, worms and grasses, centipedes, snakes, monkeys," otc. They' arc not fond of industry. They prefer io hunt with their kris and blowgun. Through the blowgun they shoot a poisonous quill fashioned from enno and black on the end, making even more dangerous a weapon than the much-prized muskets of their neighbors. neigh-bors. Tn one feature at least they lead the islands. They have worked but to the commercial disadvantage of their trading rivals a system of weights and measures, perhaps not of metric accuracy, accur-acy, but fully adequate to their purposes. pur-poses. A.nd j'ct there is one tribe which in a way gets ahead of the Palawanos. The Qucncys, inhabitants mostly of tho mountains, but for an occasional offer of beeswax and "nlm'aciaga," seldom trade or even communicate with their neighbors. All that is known of them can bo put into a hundred words. They keep very much to themselves. They have no chief, no ranchcrias. Their Government is patriarchal. They build no houses, but live in rude huts and trunks of large trees. Thev clothe themselves in bark and cat. wild beasts and vermin. They are arrogant, but ! mortally afraid of catarrh. Tf they have any religion at all no foreigner 1 has ever" been initiated into its secrets. ! Far in the north, hidden by the moun- I tains, exists still another tribe of dark- I skins which a score of years ago --'ere i little more than beasts. Thc3' wandered in the forests from day to day, sleeping sleep-ing under trees and occasionally in a ! cave wherever night overtook them, hunting for a living, and dying when hunting was poor. Since then, however, brought into contact, with traders from other regions, thoy have assimilated many customs, habits and beliefs of Eastern and local peoples. The" have now much of the Tagbanuan in them. They still shun agriculture, and only when forced to it, trouble to raise a crop of rice At rice harvest time, all the neighbors of the tribe hold an old-fashioned husking bee, or log-rolling party, assisting each other in gathering the crop and taking equal snares as p.13'-ment. p.13'-ment. Believer3 in Judgment After Death. These Batacs are not a clean tribe; Senor Vonturcllo found 60 per cent of thofri diseased. But with all their un-cleanliness un-cleanliness of body, they insist upon cleanliness of soul. If after death their god Diwata should judge thoir souls unstained, un-stained, they are sent with the accom paniment of stringed instruments and. H 'flute ip the happiness of Larnpanag. H The guilt 3' souls, however, arc doomed IH to bo thiv.st into the depths of BaBal, where arc waiting caldrons of fire and IH boiling water. H Much like the Batac clan of the early r days is a little tribe of agile men, the I Tandulauos. Tliey live on the soashore, I ur.d roam in the forests with nob even H huts lo visit for shelter. Much of their time is snent in boo-hnniing, for the H great ships that A-isit- their coast will H pa' hem well for wax and honey. The3", H too. abhor catarrh; stories 01 victims buried alive aro t'old you by the head men. But now the Taudulanos have B dwindled. Two decades ago a powerful people, as power goes among these na- lives, thc3' Avere almost- obliterated by a scourge of tropical measles, a scourge from which the3' may never recover, |