The Manóbos of Mindanáo | Page 6

to escape from the missionary activities. These two migrations are a forcible example of what may have taken place in the rest of Mindanáo to bring about such a wide distribution of what was, perhaps, originally one people. Each migration led to the formation of a new group from which, as from a new nucleus, a new tribe may have developed in the course of time.
[11] Blair and Robertson, 40: 315, 1906.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MANóBOS IN EASTERN MINDANáO[12] IN THE AGúSAN VALLEY
[12] See tribal map.
The Manóbos occupy the whole Agúsan Valley as far as the town of Buai on the upper Agúsan with the following exceptions:
1. The upper parts of the rivers Lami?ga, Kandiisan, Hawilian, and óhut, and the whole of the river Maásam, together with the mountainous region beyond the headwaters of these rivers, and probably the territory beyond in the district of Misamis, as far over as the habitat of the Bukídnon tribe.[13]
[13] The reason for the insertion of this last clause is that the people inhabiting the mountains at the headwaters of the above rivers have the same physical types, dress, and weapons as the Bukídnons, if I may judge from my slight acquaintance with the latter.
2. The towns of Butuán, Talakógon, Bunáwan, Veruéla, and Prosperidad.
3. The town of Tagusab and the headwaters of the Tutui and Binu?g?gaan Rivers.
ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE PACIFIC CORDILLERA
In this region I include the upper waters of the Lia?ga, Hubo, Oteiza, Marihátag, Kagwáit, Tágo, Tándag, and Kantílan Rivers.
ON THE PENINSULA OF SAN AGUSTIN
I desire to call the reader's attention to the fact that this monograph has no reference to the Manóbos of Port San Agustin nor to the Manóbos of the Libagánon River and its tributaries, nor to the Manóbos that occupy the hinterland above Nasipit as far as the Bugábus River. I had only cursory dealings with the inhabitants of the last-named region but both from my own scant observations and from the reports of others more familiar with them, I am inclined to believe that there may be differences great enough to distinguish them from the other peoples of the Agúsan Valley as a distinct tribe.
As to the Manóbos of Libagánon, it is probable that they have more or less the same cultural and linguistic characteristics as the Manóbos that form the subject matter of this paper, but, as I did not visit them nor get satisfactory information regarding them, I prefer to leave them untouched until further investigation.
Of the Manóbos of the lower half of the peninsula of San Agustin, I know absolutely nothing except that they are known as Manóbos. I noted, however, in perusing the Jesuit letters[14] that there were in the year 1891 not only Manóbos but Moros, Biláns, and Tagakaólos in that region.
[14] Cartas de los PP. de la Compa?ía de Jesús, 9: 335, et seq., 1892.
THE MAMáNUAS, OR NEGRITOS, AND NEGRITO-MANóBO HALF-BREEDS
The Mamánuas, or Negritos, and Negrito-Manóbo half-breeds of Mindanáo occupy the mountains from Anao-aon near Surigao down to the break in the eastern Cordillera, northwest of Lia?ga. They also inhabit a small range that extends in a northeasterly direction from the Cordillera to Point Kawit on the east coast.
I heard three trustworthy reports of the existence of Negritos in eastern Mindanáo. The first report I heard on the Umaíam River (Walo, August, 1909). It was given to me by a Manóbo chief from the River Ihawán. He assured and reassured me that on the La?gila?g River, near the Libagánon River exists a group of what he called Manóbos but who were very small, black as an earthen pot, kinky-haired, without clothes except bark-cloth, very peaceable and harmless, but very timid. I interrogated him over and over as to the bark-cloth that he said these people wore. He said in answer that it was called agahan and that it was made out of the bark of a tree whose name I can not recall. He described the process of beating the bark and promised to bring me, 60 days from the date of our conference, a loin cloth of one of these people. I inquired as to their manner of life, and was assured that they were tau-bata?g; that is, people who slept under logs or up in trees. He said that he and his people had killed many of them, but that he was still on terms of friendship with some of them.
The second report as to the existence of Negritos I heard on the Baglásan River, a tributary of the Sálug River. The chiefs whom I questioned had never visited the Negritos but had purchased from the Tugawanons[15] many Negrito slaves whom they had sold to the Mandáyas of the Kati'il and Karága Rivers. This statement was probably true, for I saw one slave, a full-blooded Negrito girl, on