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Letter of Transmittal
Letter of Transmittal
Department of the Interior, The Ethnological Survey, Manila, March 3, 1904. Sir: I have the honor to transmit a study of the Negritos of Zambales Province made by Mr. William Allan Reed, of The Ethnological Survey, during the year 1903. It is transmitted with the recommendation that it be published as Part I of Volume II of a series of scientific studies to be published by this Survey. Respectfully, Chief of the Ethnological Survey. Hon. Dean C. Worcester, Secretary of the Interior, Manila, P. I
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Letter of Submittal
Letter of Submittal
Department of the Interior, The Ethnological Survey, Manila, March 1, 1904. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith my report on the Negritos of Zambales. Very respectfully, William Allan Reed. Dr. Albert Ernest Jenks, Chief of The Ethnological Survey, Manila, P. I. Dr. Albert Ernest Jenks, Chief of The Ethnological Survey, Manila, P. I....
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Preface
Preface
This report is based on two months’ field work pursued during May and June, 1903. Accompanied by Mr. J. Diamond, a photographer, the writer went in the latter part of April to Iba, Zambales, where a few days were spent in investigating the dialects of the Zambal people and in preparation for a trip to the interior. After a journey of 25 miles inland a camp was established near Tagiltil. During the three weeks we were there the camp was visited by about 700 Negritos, who came in from outlying set
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Present Distribution in the Philippines9
Present Distribution in the Philippines9
This paper concerns itself chiefly with the Zambales Negritos whose distribution in Zambales and the contiguous Provinces of Bataan, Pampanga, and Tarlac is treated in detail in the following chapter. But Negritos of more or less pure blood, known variously as Aeta, Agta, Baluga, Dumagat, etc., are found in at least eleven other provinces of Luzon. Beginning with the southern end of the island there are a very few Negritos in the Province of Sorsogon. They are found generally living among the Bi
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Conclusion
Conclusion
This rapid survey leaves much to be desired, but it contains about all that is definitely known to-day concerning the whereabouts of the Negritos in the Philippines. No attempt has been made to state numbers. The Philippine census will probably have more exact information in this particular, but it must be borne in mind that even the figures given by the census can be no more than estimates in most instances. The habits of the Negritos do not lend themselves to modern methods of census taking. A
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Historical Sketch
Historical Sketch
According to Buzeta, another Spanish historian, it was Juan de Salcedo who discovered Zambales. 3 This intrepid soldier [he says], after having conquered Manila and the surrounding provinces, resolved to explore the northern part of Luzon. He organized at his own expense an expedition, and General Legaspi gave him forty-five soldiers, with whom he left Manila May 20, 1572. After a journey of three days he arrived at Bolinao, where he found a Chinese vessel whose crew had made captives of a chief
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Habitat of the Negritos
Habitat of the Negritos
As has been stated, the present range of the Negritos of this territory embraces the mountainous portion of the lower half of Zambales and the contiguous Provinces of Tarlac and Pampanga, extending southward even to the very extremity of the peninsula of Bataan. This region, although exceedingly broken and rough, has not the high-ridged, deep-canyoned aspect of the Cordillera Central of northern Luzon. It consists for the most part of rolling tablelands, broken by low, forest-covered ridges and
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Permanent Adornment
Permanent Adornment
The custom prevails throughout the entire Negrito territory of sharpening the teeth. Usually only the upper teeth are so treated, but numerous cases were noted where the teeth were sharpened both above and below, and still there were others where they were not sharpened at all. This sharpening is not performed at any certain age, and it is apparently not obligatory; I do not believe parents compel their children to submit to this practice. The object seems to be largely for the sake of adornment
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Clothing and Dress
Clothing and Dress
The clothing of the Negrito consists simply of the breechcloth and an occasional cast-off shirt given him by some Filipino in exchange for articles. Sometimes in cases of extreme prosperity he may possess a hat and a pair of trousers. The latter garment is usually worn, however, only by the chief man or “capitán” of the tribe, and the rank and file wear only the breechcloth. A strip of cloth fastened around the waist and extending to the knees serves a woman for a dress. With unmarried girls thi
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Home Life
Home Life
Besides rice, maize, camotes, and other cultivated vegetables there is not a wild tuber or fruit with which the Negrito’s stomach is not acquainted. Even some that in their raw state would be deadly poisonous he soaks and boils in several waters until the poison is extracted, and then he eats them. This is the case with a yellow tuber which he calls “ca-lot′.” In its natural form it is covered with stiff bristles. The Negritos peel off the skin and slice the vegetable into very thin bits and soa
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Agriculture
Agriculture
The Negrito can not by any stretch of imagination be called a worker. His life for generations has not been such as to teach habits of industry. But for the fact that he has to do some work or starve, he would spend all his days in idleness except that time which he devoted to the chase. Yet when under pressure or urged on by anticipation of gain from the white man, whose wealth and munificence appear boundless, he is tireless. He will clear ground for a camp, cut and split bamboo, and make tabl
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Manufacture and Trade
Manufacture and Trade
The Negrito knows little of the art of making things. Aside from the bows and arrows which he constructs with some degree of skill he has no ingenuity, and his few other products are of the most crude and primitive type. The bows of the Negritos of Zambales are superior to any the writer has seen in the Philippines. They are made from the wood of the well-known palma brava and are gracefully cut and highly polished. The strings are of twisted bark, as soft and pliable and as strong as thongs of
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Hunting and Fishing
Hunting and Fishing
The Negrito is by instinct, habits, and of necessity a hunter. Although he has advanced somewhat beyond that stage of primitive life where man subsists wholly from the fruits of the chase, yet it is so necessary to him that were he deprived of it the existence of his race would be seriously threatened. Since the chase has furnished him a living for centuries, it is not strange that much of the ingenuity he possesses should be devoted to the construction of arms and traps and snares with which he
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Music
Music
In their love for music and their skill in dancing Negritos betray other striking Negroid characteristics. Their music is still of the most primitive type, and their instruments are crude. But if their notes are few no fault can be found with the rhythm, the chief requisite for an accompaniment to a dance. Their instruments are various. The simple jew’s-harp cut from a piece of bamboo and the four-holed flutes (called “ban′-sic”) made of mountain cane (figs. 6, 7, Pl. XLVI ) are very common but
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Dancing
Dancing
Dancing forms the chief amusement of the Negritos and allows an outlet for their naturally exuberant spirits. I had no more than set, up camp near the first rancheria I visited than I was entertained by dancing. Among the Negritos helping me was one with an old violin, and as soon as a place was cleared of brush and the tent was up he struck up a tune. Whereupon two or three youngsters jumped out and performed a good imitation of a buck-and-wing dance. However, dancing is not generally indulged
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Marriage
Marriage
In the southern rancherias a bamboo platform is erected 20 or 30 feet high, with a ladder leading up to it from the ground. On the day fixed for the marriage the groom, accompanied by his parents, goes to the house of the bride and asks for her. They are usually told that she has gone away, but some small gifts are sufficient to have her produced, and the whole party proceeds to the place of marriage. Here bride and groom mount the ladder—some accounts say the bride is carried up by her prospect
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Polygamy and Divorce
Polygamy and Divorce
As might be expected among the Negritos, a man may marry as many wives as he can buy. His inability to provide the necessary things for her purchase argues against his ability to provide food for her. Hence it is only the well-to-do that can afford the luxury of more than one wife. Visually this practice is confined to the capitán or head man of the tribe, and even he seldom has more than two wives, but one case was noticed in the village of Tagiltil, where one man had seven. At Cabayan the capi
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Burial
Burial
Notwithstanding the repeated statements of travelers that Negritos bury their dead under their houses, which are then abandoned, nothing of this kind was met in Zambales, and Mr. Cooke did not see it in Bataan. He says that in the latter province the body is placed in a coffin made by hollowing out a tree, and is buried in some high spot, but there is no regular burying ground. A rude shed and a fence are built to protect the grave. In Zambales any spot may be selected. The body is wrapped up in
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Morals
Morals
I believe that many of the vices of the Negrito are due to contact with the Malayan to whom he is, at least in point of truthfulness, honesty, and temperance, far superior. It is rare that he will tell a lie unless he thinks he will be greatly benefited by it, and he seems not to indulge in purposeless lying, as so often do his more civilized neighbors. So far as my acquaintance with him goes, I never detected an untruth except one arising from errors of judgment. In their dealings with each oth
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Slavery
Slavery
Notwithstanding the statements of Montano that the Negritos have no slaves and know nothing of slavery, the reverse is true, in Zambales at least; so say the Negritos and also the Filipinos who have spent several years among them. The word “a-li′-pun” is used among them to express such social condition. As has been stated, a man caught stealing may become a slave, as also may a person captured from another rancheria, a child left without support, a person under death sentence, or a debtor. It wa
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Intellectual Life
Intellectual Life
The countenance of the average Negrito is not dull and passive, as might reasonably be expected, but is fairly bright and keen, more so than the average Malayan countenance. The Negrito also has a look of good nature—a look usually lacking in the Malayan. His knowledge of things other than those pertaining to his environment is, of course, extremely limited, but he is possessed of an intellect that is capable of growth under proper conditions. He always manifests the most lively interest in thin
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Chapter VII Spanish Attempts to Organize Negritos
Chapter VII Spanish Attempts to Organize Negritos
Article 6 states that— It shall not be necessary for the Negritos to embrace the Catholic faith, but the priests shall go among them to examine their condition and learn their needs and teach them the advantages of civil life and the importance of religion. Article 7 provides for a report every three months from those officers in charge of such districts. This all sounds very well, and if carried out might have succeeded in improving the condition of the unfortunate Negritos, but we can not find
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Appendix B Vocabularies
Appendix B Vocabularies
As has been pointed out already, the Negritos of Zambales seem to have lost entirely their own language and to have adopted that of the Christianized Zambal. A study of the vocabularies here given will show that in various sections of the province Zambal is to-day the language of the Negritos. Differences will be found, of course, in the dialects of regions which do not come much into contact with each other, and contact with other dialects creates different changes in different localities. The
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Plates
Plates
Negrito man from Nangsol, near Subig, Zambales. Photo by Diamond. Negrito man from Aglao, Zambales. Photo by Diamond. Negrito woman of Zambales. Photo by Diamond. View near Santa Fé, Zambales. Photo by Diamond. Capitán of Villar. Photo by Diamond. Negrito man of Zambales. Photo by Diamond. Showing the relative height of American, mixed blood and pure Negrito. Photo by Diamond. Group of Negritos and Constabulary at Cabayan, Zambales. Photo by Diamond. Old man of Zambales (pure Negrito). Photo by
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Corrections
Corrections
The following corrections have been applied to the text:...
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