The Manóbos of Mindanáo | Page 8

they could have
inherited only from Negrito ancestors. One interesting trait of this
particular group is the use of blowpipes for killing small birds. In the
use of the bow and arrow, too, they are quite expert. These people are
called taga-butái--that is, mountain dwellers--and live in places on the
slopes of high mountains difficult of access, their watering-place being
frequently a little hole on the side of the mountain.
THE BANUÁONS
The Banuáons,[20] probably an extension of the Bukídnons of the
Bukídnon subprovince. They occupy the upper parts of the Rivers
Lamiñga, Kandiisan, Hawilian, and Óhut, and the whole of the River
Maásam, together with the mountainous region beyond the headwaters
of these rivers, and probably extend over to the Bukídnons.
[20] Also called Higaunon or Higagaun, probably "the Hadgaguanes--a

people untamed and ferocious"--to whom the Jesuits preached shortly
after the year 1596. (Jesuit Mission, Blair and Robertson, 44:60, 1906.)
These may be the people whom Pigaffetta, in his First Voyage Around
the World (1519-1522) calls Benaian (Banuáon ?) and whom he
describes as "shaggy and living at a cape near a river in the islands of
Butuán and Karága--great fighters and archers--eating only raw human
hearts with the juice of oranges or lemons" (Blair and Robertson,
30:243, 1906).
THE MAÑGGUÁÑGANS
This tribe occupies the towns of Tagusab and Pilar on the upper
Agúsan, the range between the Sálug and the Agúsan, the headwaters
of the Mánat River, and the water-shed between the Mánat and the
Mawab. The physical type of many of them bespeaks an admixture of
Negrito blood, and their timidity and, on occasions, their utter lack of
good judgment, brand them as the lowest people, after the Mamánuas,
in eastern Mindanáo. One authority, a Jesuit missionary, I think,
estimated their number at 30,000. An estimate, based on the reports of
the people of Compostela, places their number at 10,000 just before my
departure from the Agúsan Valley in 1910. The decrease, if the two
estimates are correct, is probably due to intertribal and interclan wars.
THE MANSÁKAS
The Mansákas do not seem to me to be as distinct tribally as are the
Manóbos and Mandáyas. It would appear from their physical
appearance and other characteristics that they should be classed as
Mandáyas, or as a subtribe of Mandáyas with whom they form one
dialect group. I judge them to be the result of intermarriage between the
Mañgguáñgans and the Mandáyas. They occupy the Mawab River
Valley and the region included between the Hijo, Mawab, and
Madawan Rivers. They are probably the people whom Montano called
Tagabawas, but I think that this designation was perhaps a mistaken
form of Tagabaas, an appellation given to Mañgguáñgans who live in
the bá-as, or prickly swamp-grass, that abounds at the headwaters of
the Mánat River.

THE DEBABÁONS
The Debabáons are probably a hybrid group forming a dialect group
with the Manóbos of the Ihawán and Baóbo, and a culture group in
dress and other features with the Mandáyas. They claim relationship
with Manóbos, and follow Manóbo religious beliefs and practices to a
great extent. For this reason I have retained the name that they apply to
themselves, until their tribal identity can be clearly determined. They
inhabit the upper half of the Sálug River Valley and the country that
lies to the west of it as far as the Baóbo River.
THE MANDÁYAS
These form the greatest and best tribe in eastern Mindanáo.[21] One
who visits the Mandáyas of the middle Kati'il can not fail to be struck
with the fairness of complexion, the brownness of the hair, the
diminutiveness of the hands and feet, and the large eyes with long
lashes that are characteristic of many of these people. Here and there,
too, one finds a distinctly Caucasian type. In psychological
characteristics they stand out still more sharply from any tribe or group
of people that I know in eastern Mindanáo. Shrewd and diplomatic on
the one hand, they are an affectionate, good-natured and
straight-forward people, with little of the timidity and cautiousness of
the Manóbo. Their religious instincts are so highly developed that they
are inclined to be fanatical at times.
[21] It is very interesting to note that the people called Taga-baloóyes
and referred to by so many of the writers on Mindanáo can be none
other than the Mandáyas. Thus San Antonio (Blair and Robertson, 40:
407, 1906) states that "the Taga-baloóyes take their name from some
mountains which are located in the interior of the jurisdiction of Caraga.
They are not very far distant from and trade with the villages of
(Karága) and some, indeed, live in them who have become Christians.
* * * These people, as has been stated above, are the descendants of
lately arrived Japanese. This is the opinion of all the religious