Negrito

“ Even when more or less domesticated, the Negrito cannot be trusted to do anything which requires an effort of judgement. At times his mind seems to wander from all social order, and an apparently overwhelming eagerness to return to his native haunts disconcerts all oneʼs plans for his civilization. ”

“ This view has found much acceptance among ethnologists. The result of Quatrefages’s theory would be to place the negrito races closest to the primitive human type, a conclusion apparently justified by their physical characteristics. The true negritos are always of little stature (the majority under 5 ft.) , have rounded forms and their skull is brachycephalic or subbrachycephalic, that is to say, it is relatively short and broad and of little height. ”

“ They are of a markedly pure type. While it is usual to find Negrito communities considerably affected by Malayan blood, in this case I doubt if there is more than a single individual who is not of pure Negrito race. ”

“ In all the groups, except the Bila-an, the percentage of individuals showing evidences of Negrito blood increases as we go from the coasts toward the interior, until in such divisions as the Obo and Tigdapaya of the Bagobo, and the Tugauanum of the Ata, practically all the people show traces of this admixture.
[140] Negrito are reported from the Samal Islands in the Gulf of Davao.
In addition to the types already described there are found in each tribe individuals who in all but color might readily pass as white men. ”

“ Beyond all doubt those Negritos are the first settlers of these islands, and retired to the mountains when the Indians came hither. The latter inhabit the coasts, and formerly the Negritos waged continual war with them, and would not permit them to cut wood in the mountains unless they paid tribute to them. Today they have but little power, and yet they are feared; for whenever any Negrito is killed, or when any one dies suddenly, another Negrito generally offers himself among his companions and takes an oath not to return to his own people until he kills three or four Indians. ”

“ The Negrito himself, however, is necessary to the story,—he takes the place of the miller in most of the European forms,—and he had to be fitted in as best he could. The magic ring of the slave, with the aid of which he is able to make himself look exactly like his master, does not appear in any of the other variants that I know of. In many of the European forms the occasion of the questions is this: A king or a nobleman becomes angry with a priest or bishop, and threatens him with death if he cannot answer within a definite time three questions that are put to him. ”

“ These tribes have always been, and always will be, mere barbarians [99] and savages. In the pure type of Negritos, spindle legs, large turned-in feet, weak bodies, and large heads are noticeable. Shifting eyes, flat noses, kinky hair, and teeth irregularly set,—these are Negrito characteristics, though they frequently occur in the mestizo types. The Igorrotes of Luzon, whose ancestors were possibly the aborigines and the worst element of the invaders, are to-day the cannibals and the head-hunters of the north. ”

“ In the Malay Peninsula the indigenous element is certainly the Negrito, who, known by many names—Semang, Udai, Pangan, Hami, Menik or Mandi—forms a single ethnical group presenting some striking analogies with the Andamanese. But, surrounded from time out of mind by Malay peoples, some semi-civilised, some nearly as wild as themselves, but all alike slowly crowding them out of the land, these aborigines have developed defensive qualities unneeded by the more favoured insular Negritoes, while their natural development has been arrested at perhaps a somewhat lower plane of culture. ”

“ One peculiarity of the face is noticeable: it narrows rapidly from the cheek bones to the chin, giving the face a pentagonal shape. The color may be a little lighter than in the Igorot, who is more exposed to sunlight than the Ilongot of the forest, and it is much lighter than in the Negrito, but by no means light enough to justify any likeness to either white or Mongol races. [375]
In these people we have, I am quite sure, a mixture of primitive Malayan and Negrito, with more Negrito than in the case of the Igorot. ”

“ He almost shouted with relief when he discovered that the third eye, though still aglow, was much dimmer than it had been in the night. The sun had conquered; the eye's baleful attraction was gone.
Presently the negrito guards brought him his breakfast of water and the same glutinous porridge as on the previous day. He spoke to them, first in English, then in Hindustani, but they answered nothing; if they understood him, they gave no sign of it. An hour or two later they returned, accompanied by one of the shaven priests, who indicated that he was to follow them. ”

“ The culture of the Igorot has been greatly modified and advanced by the rigors of his habitat, but it is Malayan at base, as are the languages which he speaks. Except in one or two localities where there has been recent mixture with the still existing Negrito he does not make use of the bow and arrow, which are Negrito weapons, but uses the shield and spear for close fighting and the jungle knife or an interesting modification, the “headax,” for both fighting and work. ”

“ Most of these are not characteristics of the ordinary forest Malayan; on the contrary, they suggest the Negrito, and occasion the belief, in my own mind, that the Ilongot is, like many other peoples of the Philippines and Malaysia, a mixed race resulting from the union of Negrito and Malayan.
From what has already been said it is apparent that in Ilongot society we have a most rudimentary stage of political development. There is no tribe. There is no chieftainship. ”

“ If it can be shown that this aboriginal population was Negrito, and if the relations which researches, especially in philology, have indicated between the peoples of India and those of Australia can be proved, a range of possibilities of startling importance, affecting the race question of Oceania in general and the origin and distribution of the Negritos in particular, will be opened up. ”

“ From what I could understand these two and another brother ruled over this tribe of Negritos between them, each being chief of a third of the tribe Soon after my arrival I turned in, as I was very tired and feverish and had had no sleep the previous night. The Negritos, as usual, were very merry and made a great noise for so small a people. I never saw such people for laughter whenever anything amused them, which is very often; they were a great contrast in this respect to the Filipinos. ”

“ For the two main islands there are,—1st. In Mindanao, two wild tribes inhabiting the interior, the Bantschilen and the Hillunas. The proof of these two tribes being Negrito is the strongest for the Hillunas. They are the Negros del Monte of the Spaniards (Hervas, Catalogo delle Lingue; Adelung, i. 601) . Near Marivèles are the Igorots or Ætas (Agtas of Hervas) ; and of these we have late and positive evidence, first to the fact of their being Negrito, and next to the difference of their language from the Tagal.— (Lafond Lurcy.) ”

“ As the king was unable to do this, he acknowledged himself vanquished.
“All right,” said the king. “To-morrow come here for the wedding.” The Negrito hastened home, and told his young master all that had happened. The prince gave him five thousand pesetas, and promised him that he would urge the princess to give her consent to the marriage of the Negrito with her maid of honor. The next morning the prince and the princess were married, and the following day the Negrito received the maid of honor for his wife. ”

“ The method of making fire used universally by the Negritos of Zambales is that of the flint and steel, which apparatus they call “pan′-ting.” The steel is prized highly, because it is hard to get; it is procured in trade from the Christianized natives. Nearly every Negrito carries a flint and steel in a little grass basket or case dangling down his back and suspended by a fiber string from his neck. In the same basket are usually tobacco leaves, buyo, and other small odds and ends. Sometimes this pouch is carried in the folds of the breechcloth, which is the only pocket the Negrito possesses. ”

“ The wavy hair on head, face and limbs strongly suggests the Negrito.
The most considerable body of Ilongot appears to be those living east of the towns of Nueva Vizcaya from Mount Palali south, along a high-wooded range to the district of “Biruk,” nearly east of Karanglan. [529] Here are some important occupied sites that go by the names of Kampote, Kanatwan, Kanadem, Makebengat, Oyao and Biruk, as well as others. Homes are shifted from time to time as new clearings have to be made, and the name of a community’s home will vary and can not always be relied on. ”

“ I certainly never came across a Negrito man over four feet six inches, if as tall, and the women were a great deal smaller, coming as a rule only up to the men’s shoulders; the elderly women looked like small children with old faces. Both sexes generally had their bodies covered with various patterns cut in their skins, a kind of tattooing it might be called, but the skin was very much raised. ”

“ A few of the Negritos near the coast, however, have been touched by civilizing influences. They inhabit towns of small huts built on poles, which they abandon on the death of any one within. The house wherein a death occurs is generally burned. They plant a little corn and rice, but often move away before the crop is harvested. They are too lazy to raise anything; too weak to capture slaves. During the heavy rains, when the great woods are saturated, they protect themselves against the cold by wrapping blankets around their bodies. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In their efforts to find Negrito traces in the Mao-tse, the aboriginal peoples of the Chinese Empire, De Lacouperie and De Quatrefages have, in the opinion of Meyer, even less to stand on than had Hamy in the case of Japan. In like manner it remains to be proved whether the Moií of Annam are related to Negritos, as the two French writers have stated, but whose opinions have been vigorously opposed by Meyer and others.
The question of the aboriginal inhabitants of India is one of even greater importance and presents greater difficulties. ”

“ The Negritos are a cowardly race, yet they are dangerous; they always use poisoned arrows, and, from their safe hiding-places in the mountains, often succeed in killing any people who dare to come near them."
[84]
Then he told Alila how the Negrito children are taught to use their bows and arrows when very young. They learn to shoot so well they can hit the fish swimming in the water. They seldom fail to hit what they aim at. ”

“ Much rarer than the sallow type is that associated with a decidedly dark brown skin and fuzzy hair suggesting the Negrito type.18 Individuals of this type may be met with occasionally in all tribes, but they are nowhere very common, though perhaps least rare among Phoms, Konyaks and Aos. The fuzzy hair is always a subject for derision, being regarded as most unsightly (straight hair is by all looked on as the most becoming) , and more so perhaps even than a dark skin. ”

“ Negrito children have the same impulses of generosity, the same attachment to their friends, the same joys, sorrows, and sensations, that belong to children everywhere. Only their little souls are lost forever in the wilderness.
Neither the pagan tribes nor the Negritos read or write. The Moros, too, are very ignorant, only the priests and students being able to read passages from the Koran and make the Arabic characters. The latest Malay immigrants, who had been influenced by Indian culture, introduced a style of writing that is very queer. ”

“ The most scintillating Flash-light of Faith that I saw in the Orient was in the Philippine Islands. We were traveling the jungle trail to visit a tribe of naked Negritos. These are diminutive people who look like American negroes only they are much smaller; much more underfed, and who live in trees very much like the Orangutans of Borneo. They eat roots and nuts. They hunt with bows and arrows.
They are the lowest tribe in mentality on the Islands.
It was a terribly hot, tropical day and I had a sunstroke on the way up the mountainside to this Negrito village. ”

“ The primitive Negritos, living in these parts, as those also living on the island of Negros and in Mindanao, are of unknown origin—unless they are allied with similar types of pigmies, such as the Sakais of the Malay Peninsula, or the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. Some anthropologists would even associate them with the black dwarfs in the interior of Africa. These savages live a nomadic life, and seldom come down near the villages. But the mixed tribes, the Negrito-Malay, or the Malay-Japanese, are bolder and more enterprising. ”

“ After the musician has got well into his tune the, performers jump into either end of the space with a whoop and a flourish of weapons, and go through the characteristic Negrito heel-and-toe movement, all the time casting looks of malignant hate at each, other but each keeping well to his end of the ring. Then they advance slowly toward each other, swinging the drawn bow and arrow into play as if to shoot, then, apparently changing their minds or the opportunity not being good for a death shot, they withdraw again to the far ends of the ring. ”