Negritos of Zambales
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William Allan Reed >> Negritos of Zambales
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At only two places in the western half of northern Luzon have Negritos
been observed. There is a small group near Piddig, Ilokos Norte,
and a wandering band of about thirty-five in the mountains between
Villavieja, Abra Province, and Santa Maria, Ilokos Sur Province, from
both of which towns they have been reported. It is but a question of
time until no trace of them will be left in this region so thickly
populated with stronger mountain peoples.
In the Southern Islands
Although Negritos were reported by the early Spanish writers to
be especially numerous in some of the southern islands, probably
more of them are found on Luzon than on all the other islands in the
Archipelago. Besides Luzon, the only large islands inhabited by them
at present are Panay, Negros, Mindanao, and Paragua, but some of the
smaller islands, as Tablas and Guimaras, have them.
Negritos of pure blood have not been reported from Mindoro, but only
the half-breed Manguian, who belong in a group to themselves. It is
questionable whether the unknown interior will produce pure types,
though it is frequently reported that there are Negritos in the
interior.
There is a rather large colony of Negritos on the west coast of Tablas
near Odiungan, and also a few on the Isla de Carabao immediately
south of Tablas. These have probably passed up from Panay. All the
provinces of the latter island report Negritos, locally known as
"Ati" and "Agta." They seem to be scattered pretty well over the
interior of Panay, being especially numerous in the mountainous region
where the Provinces of Antique and Iloilo join. In Antique there are
about 1,000 Negritos living in groups of several families each. They
are reported from nearly all the towns, being more numerous along
the Dalanas and Sibalon Rivers. The number of pure types is said,
however, to be rapidly decreasing on account of intermarriage with
the Bukidnon or mountain Visayan. They are of very small stature,
with kinky hair. They lead the same nomadic life as the Negritos in
other parts, except that they depend more on the products of the forest
for subsistence and rarely clear and cultivate "ca-ing-in." [11] They
seem to have developed more of religious superstitions, and believe
that both evil spirits and protecting spirits inhabit the forests
and plains. However, these beliefs may have been borrowed from the
Bukidnon, with whom they come much in contact. From a mixing of the
Ati and Bukidnon are sprung the Calibugan, who partake more of the
characteristics of their Visayan ancestors than those of the Ati, and
generally abandon the nomadic life and live in clearings in the forest.
About ten years ago there was a group of about 200 Ati at a place
called Labangan, on the Dalanas River, governed by one Capitan
Andres. They made clearings and carried people across the river for a
small remuneration. Many of them are said to have emigrated to Negros
to escape public work to which the local authorities subjected them
without compensation.
There is a small, wandering group of Negritos on Guimaras, probably
emigrants from Panay. They have been reported from both Nagaba and
Nueva Valencia, pueblos of that island.
Investigation does not bear out the statements of the historian
previously quoted in regard to the early populations of Negros. At
least it seems that if the southwestern part of that island known
as Sojoton had been so thickly populated with Negritos early in the
eighteenth century more traces of them would remain to-day. But they
seem to have left no marks on the Malayan population. While in the
Isio region in August, 1903, I made special investigation and inquiry
into this subject and could find no trace of Negritos. Expeditions
of the Constabulary into the interior have never met with the little
blacks except a single colony near the boundary line between the two
provinces just north of Tolon. A few Negritos have also been seen
scattered in the interior of southern Oriental Negros back from
Nueva Valencia, Ayuquitan, and Bais. From there no trace of them
exists until the rugged mountains north of the volcano of Canlaon
are reached, in the almost impenetrable recesses of which there are
estimated to be a thousand or more. They are especially numerous
back of Escalante and formerly made frequent visits to that pueblo,
but recent military operations in the region have made them timid, as
scouting parties have fired on and killed several of them. The sight
of a white man or native of the plain is a signal for an immediate
discharge of arrows. Also in the mountains behind Sagay, Cadiz, and
Manapla live a few scattered families. I was fortunate in securing
photographs of a Negrito captured by the Constabulary near Cadiz. (See
Pl. XXVI.) He was much taller than the Negritos of Zambales, but with
very little muscular development. He spoke Visayan, and said he knew
no other dialect. While in Negros I also secured photographs of a
small colony of Ati, who emigrated from Panay about twenty years ago
and now live on a mountain hacienda on the slope of Mount Canlaon.
So far there is no evidence that Negritos exist on Cebu, Bohol, Samar,
and Leyte. In Mindanao they are found only in the extreme northern
part of Surigao, not having been reported below Tago. They are called
"Mamanua," and are not very numerous.
We have detailed accounts of both the Tagbanua and Batak of
Paragua, by senor Manuel Venturello, a native of Puerto Princesa,
who has lived among them twenty years. These interesting articles,
translated by Capt. E. A. Helmick, Tenth United States Infantry, and
published in pamphlet form by the Division of Military Information,
Manila, are especially full as to customs, religion, language, etc.,
of the Tagbanua who inhabit the central part of Paragua from the
Bay of Ulugan south to Apurahuan. However, the Tagbanua, although
perhaps having a slight amount of Negrito blood, can not be classed
with the Negritos. But, in my opinion, the Batak who inhabit the
territory from the Bay of Ulugan north to Caruray and Barbacan may
be so classed, although they are by no means of pure blood. They are
described as being generally of small stature but well developed
and muscular. They have very curly but not kinky hair, except in
rare cases. Their weapons are the bow and arrow and the blowgun or
sumpitan, here called "sumpit." Their only clothing is a breechcloth
and a short skirt of flayed bark. A notable feature of their customs
is that both polygyny and polyandry are permitted, this being the
only instance of the latter practice so far observed among the tribes
of the Philippines. The Batak are not very numerous; their villages
have been decimated by ravages of smallpox during the past five years.
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.
After all, Blumentritt's opinion of several years ago is not far from
right. Including all mixed breeds having a preponderance of Negrito
blood, it is safe to say that the Negrito population of the Philippines
probably will not exceed 25,000. Of these the group largest in numbers
and probably purest in type is that in the Zambales mountain range,
western Luzon. However, while individuals may retain in some cases
purity of blood, nowhere are whole groups free from mixture with the
Malayan. The Negritos of Panay, Negros, and Mindanao are also to be
regarded as pure to a large extent. On the east side of Luzon and in
the Island of Paragua, as we have just seen, there is marked evidence
of mixture.
The social state of the Negritos is everywhere practically the
same. They maintain their half-starved lives by the fruits of the
chase and forest products, and at best cultivate only small patches of
maize and other vegetables. Only occasionally do they live in settled,
self-supporting communities, but wander for the most part in scattered
families from one place to another.
CHAPTER II
THE PROVINCE OF ZAMBALES
Geographical Features
This little-known and comparatively unimportant province stretches
along the western coast of Luzon for more than 120 miles. Its average
width does not exceed 25 miles and is so out of proportion to its
length that it merits the title which it bears of the "shoestring
province." [12]
The Zambales range of mountains, of which the southern half is known
as the Cordillera de Cabusilan and which is second in importance
to the Caraballos system of northern Luzon, forms the entire eastern
boundary of Zambales and separates it from the Provinces of Pangasinan,
Tarlac, and Pampanga. A number of peaks rise along this chain, of
which Mount Pinatubo, 6,040 feet in height, is the highest. All of the
rivers of Zambales rise on the western slope of these mountains and
carry turbulent floods through the narrow plains. Still unbridged,
they are an important factor in preventing communication and
traffic between towns, and hence in retarding the development of
the province. Another important factor in this connection is the
lack of safe anchorages. The Zambales coast is a stormy one, and
vessels frequently come to grief on its reefs. At only one point,
Subig Bay, can larger vessels find anchorage safe from the typhoons
which sweep the coast. The soil of the well-watered plain is fertile
and seems adapted to the cultivation of nearly all the products of
the Archipelago. The forests are especially valuable, and besides
fine timbers for constructional purposes they supply large quantities
of pitch, resin, bejuco, and beeswax. There are no industries worth
mentioning, there being only primitive agriculture and stock raising.
The following opinions of Zambales set forth by a Spanish writer in
1880 still hold good: [13]
There are more populous and more civilized provinces whose
commercial and agricultural progress has been more pronounced,
but nowhere is the air more pure and transparent, the vegetation
more luxuriant, the climate more agreeable, the coasts more sunny,
and the inhabitants more simple and pacific.
Historical Sketch
According to Buzeta, another Spanish historian, it was Juan de Salcedo
who discovered Zambales. [14]
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 and several other natives. Salcedo, retook these captives
from the Chinese and gave them their liberty. The Indians, who
were not accustomed to such generosity, were so touched by this
act that they became voluntary vassals of the Spaniards.
It seems that nothing further was done toward settling or evangelizing
the region for twelve years, although the chronicler goes on to say
that three years after the discovery of Bolinao a sergeant of Salcedo's
traversed the Bolinao region, receiving everywhere the homage of the
natives, and a Franciscan missionary, Sebastian Baeza, preached the
gospel there. But in 1584 the Augustinians established themselves at
the extreme ends of the mountain range, Bolinao and Mariveles. One
of them, the friar Esteban Martin, was the first to learn the Zambal
dialect. The Augustinians were succeeded by the Recollets, who, during
the period from 1607 to 1680, founded missions at Agno, Balincaguin,
Bolinao, Cabangan, Iba, Masinloc, and Santa Cruz. Then in 1680, more
than a hundred years after Salcedo landed at Bolinao, the Dominicans
undertook the active evangelization of the district.
Let us now examine [continues the historian [15]] the state
of these savage Indians whom the zealous Spanish missionaries
sought to convert. Father Salazar, after having described the
topography of this mountainous province, sought to give an idea
of the political and social state of the pagans who formed the
larger part of the aboriginal population: "The principal cause,"
he said, "of the barbarity of these Indians, and that which
prevents their ever being entirely and pacifically converted,
is that the distances are so great and communication so difficult
that the alcaldes can not control them and the missionaries find
it impossible to exercise any influence over them."
Each village was composed of ten, twenty, or thirty families,
united nearly always by ties of kinship. It was difficult to bring
these villages together because they carried on wars continually,
and they lived in such a state of discord that it was impossible to
govern them; moreover they were so barbarous and fierce that they
recognized only superior power. They governed through fear. He who
wished to be most respected sought to inspire fear by striking
off as many beads as possible. The one who committed the most
assassinations was thus assured of the subordination of all. They
made such a glory of it that they were accustomed to wear certain
ornaments in order to show to the eyes or all the murders they had
committed. When a person lost a relative either by a violent or
a natural death he covered his head with a strip of black cloth
as a sign of mourning and could take it off only after having
committed a murder, a thing which they were always eager to do
in order to get rid of the sadness of mourning, because so long
as they wore the badge they could not sing or dance or take part
in any festivity. One understands then that deaths became very
frequent in a country where all deaths were necessarily followed
by one or more murders. It is true that he who committed a murder
sought to atone for it by paying to the relatives of the deceased
a certain quantity of gold or silver or by giving them a slave
or a Negrito who might be murdered in his place.
The Zambal had nevertheless more religion than the inhabitants
of other provinces. There was among them a high priest, called
"Bayoc," who by certain rites consecrated the other priests. He
celebrated this ceremony in the midst of orgies and the most
frightful revels. He next indicated to the new priest the idol or
cult to which he should specially devote himself and conferred on
him privileges proportionate to the rank of that divinity, for
they recognized among their gods a hierarchy, which established
also that of their curates. They gave to their principal idol
the name of "Malyari"--that is, the powerful. The Bayoc alone
could offer sacrifice to him. There was another idol, Acasi,
whose power almost equaled that of the first. In fact, they sang
in religious ceremonies that "although Malyari was powerful,
Acasi had preeminence." In an inferior order they worshiped also
Manlobog or Mangalagan, whom they recognized as having power of
appeasing irritated spirits. They rendered equal worship to five
less important idols who represented the divinities of the fields,
prosperity to their herds and harvests. They also believed that
Anitong sent them rains and favorable winds; Damalag preserved
the sown fields from hurricanes; Dumanga made the grain grow
abundantly; and finally Calascas ripened it, leaving to Calosocos
only the duty of harvesting the crops. They also had a kind of
baptism administered by the Bayoc with pure blood of the pig,
but this ceremony, very long and especially very expensive,
was seldom celebrated in grand style. The sacrifice which the
same priest offered to the idol Malyari consisted of ridiculous
ceremonies accompanied by savage cries and yells and was terminated
by repugnant debaucheries.
Of course it is impossible to tell how much of this is the product
of the writer's imagination, or at least of the imagination of those
earlier chroniclers from whom he got his information, but it can
very well be believed that the natives had a religion of their own
and that the work of the missionaries was exceedingly difficult. It
was necessary to get them into villages, to show them how to prepare
and till the soil and harvest the crops. And the writer concludes
that "little by little the apathetic and indolent natives began to
recognize the advantages of social life constituted under the shield
of authority and law, and the deplorable effects of savage life,
offering no guarantee of individual or collective security."
A fortress had been built at Paynaven, in what is now the Province of
Pangasinan, from which the work of the missionaries spread southward,
so that the northern towns were all organized before those in the
south. It is not likely that this had anything to do with causing
the Negritos to leave the northern part of the province, if indeed
they ever occupied it, but it is true that to-day they inhabit only
the mountainous region south of a line drawn through the middle of
the province from east to west.
The friar Martinez Zuniga, speaking of the fortress at Paynaven,
said that in that day, the beginning of the last century, there was
little need of it as a protection against the "infidel Indians" and
blacks who were very few in number, and against whom a stockade of
bamboo was sufficient.
It might serve against the Moros [he continues], but happily
the Zambales coast is but little exposed to the attacks of these
pirates, who always seek easy anchorage. The pirates are, however,
a constant menace and source of danger to the Zambal, who try to
transport on rafts the precious woods of their mountains and to
carry on commerce with Manila in their little boats. The Zambal
are exposed to attack from the Moros in rounding the point at the
entrance of Manila Bay, from which it results that the province
is poor and has little commerce. [16]
Everything in the history of the Zambal people and their present
comparative unimportance goes to show that they were the most indolent
and backward of the Malayan peoples. While they have never given the
governing powers much trouble, yet they have not kept pace with the
agricultural and commercial progress of the other people, and their
territory has been so steadily encroached on from all sides by their
more aggressive neighbors that their separate identity is seriously
threatened. The rich valleys of Zambales have long attracted Ilokano
immigrants, who have founded several important towns. The Zambal
themselves, owing to lack of communication between their towns, have
developed three separate dialects, none of which has ever been deemed
worthy of study and publication, as have the other native dialects
of the Philippines. A glance at the list of towns of Zambales with
the prevailing dialect spoken in each, and in case of nearly equal
division also the second most important dialect, will show to what
extent Zambal as a distinct dialect is gradually disappearing:
Dialects in Zambales Province
Town Primary dialect Secondary dialect
Olongapo Tagalog
Subig Tagalog
Castillejos Tagalog Ilokano
San Marcelino Ilokano Tagalog
San Antonio Ilokano
San Narciso Ilokano
San Felipe Ilokano
Cabangan Zambal
Botolan Zambal
Iba Zambal
Palauig Zambal
Masinloc Zambal
Candelaria Zambal
Santa Cruz Zambal
Infanta Zambal
Dasol Pangasinan Zambal
Agno Ilokano Pangasinan
Barri Zambal
San Isidro Ilokano
Balincaguin Pangasinan
Alos Ilokano Pangasinan
Alumnos Pangasinan Ilokano
Zaragoza Zambal
Bolinao Zambal
Anda Zambal
Of twenty-five towns Zambal is the prevailing dialect of less than
half. As will be seen, the Ilokano have been the most aggressive
immigrants. As a prominent Ilokano in the town of San Marcelino
expressed it, when they first came they worked for the Zambals, who
held all the good land. But the Zambal landowners, perhaps wanting
money for a cockfight, would sell a small piece of land to some Ilokano
who had saved a little money, and when he ran out of money he would
sell a little more land, until finally the Ilokano owned it all.
This somewhat lengthy and seemingly irrelevant sketch of the early
history of Zambales and of the character of its inhabitants to-day is
given to show the former state of savagery and the apathetic nature
of the people who, in the days before the arrival of the Europeans,
were in such close contact with the Negritos as to impose on them
their language, and they have done it so thoroughly that no trace of
an original Negrito dialect remains. Relations such as to-day exist
between the people of the plains and those of the mountains would not
change a dialect in a thousand years. Another evidence of a former
close contact may be found in the fact that the Negritos of southern
Zambales who have never personally come in contact with the Zambal but
only with the Tagalog also speak Zambal with some slight variations,
showing, too, that the movement of the Negritos has been southward
away from the Zambal territory.
Close study and special investigation into the linguistics of
this region, carried also into Bataan and across the mountain into
Pampanga and Tarlac, may throw more light on this very interesting
and important subject and may reveal traces of an original Negrito
dialect. Prominent natives of Zambales, whom I have questioned, and
who are familiar with the subject, affirm that the Negritos know
only the dialect of the Zambal. Indeed those are not lacking who
believe in a blood relationship between the Negritos and the Zambal,
but this belief can not be taken seriously. [17]
Very little mention is made by the early writers of the Negritos. In
fact they knew nothing of them except that they were small blacks who
roamed in the mountains, living on roots and game which they killed
with the bow and arrow. They were reported to be fierce little savages
from whom no danger could come, since they did not leave their mountain
fastnesses, but whose territory none dared enter.
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 dotted here and there by a few gigantic
peaks. The largest and highest of these, Mount Pinatubo, situated
due east from the town of Cabangan, holds on its broad slopes the
largest part of the Negritos of Zambales. Many tiny streams have their
sources in this mountain and rush down the slopes, growing in volume
and furnishing water supply to the Negrito villages situated along
their banks. Some of the larger of these streams have made deep cuts
on the lower reaches of the mountain slopes, but they are generally
too small to have great powers of erosion. The unwooded portions of
the table-lands are covered with cogon and similar wild grasses.
Here is enough fertile land to support thousands of people. The
Negritos occupy practically none of it. Their villages and mountain
farms are very scattered. The villages are built for the most part on
the table-land above some stream, and the little clearings are found
on the slope of the ridge at the base of which the stream runs. No
use whatever is made of the grass-covered table-land, save that it
offers a high and dry site for a rancheria, free from fevers.
Practically all of the Negrito rancherias are within the jurisdiction
of the two towns of Botolan and San Marcelino. Following the winding
course of the Bucao River, 15 miles southeast from Botolan, one comes
to the barrio of San Fernando de Riviera, as it is on the maps, or
Pombato, as the natives call it. This is a small Filipino village,
the farthest out, a half-way place between the people of the plains
and those of the uplands. Here a ravine is crossed, a hill climbed,
and the traveler stands on a plateau not more than half a mile wide but
winding for miles toward the big peak Pinatubo and almost imperceptibly
increasing in elevation. Low, barren ridges flank it on either side,
at the base of each of which flows a good-sized stream. Seven miles
of beaten winding path through the cogon grass bring the traveler to
the first Negrito rancheria, Tagiltil, one year old, lying sun baked
on a southern slope of the plateau. Here the plateau widens out, is
crossed and cut up by streams and hills, and the forests gradually
become thicker. In the wide reach of territory of which this narrow
plateau is the western apex, including Mount Pinatubo and reaching
to the Tarlac and Pampanga boundaries, there are situated no less
than thirty rancherias of Negritos, having an average population of
40 persons or a total of more than 1,200. Besides these there are
probably many scattered families, especially in the higher and less
easily accessible forests of Mount Pinatubo, who live in no fixed spot
but lead a wandering existence. And so uncertain are the habits of the
more settled Negritos that one of the thirty rancherias known to-day
may to-morrow be nothing more than a name, and some miles away a new
rancheria may spring up. The tendency to remain in one place seems,
however, to be growing.
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