The Manóbos of Mindanáo | Page 9

who have
lived there and had intercourse with them and the same is a tradition
among themselves, and they desired to be so considered. And it would
seem that one is convinced of it on seeing them: for they are light

complexioned, well-built, lusty, very reliable in their dealings,
respectful, and very valiant, but not restless. So I am informed by one
who has had much to do with them: and above all these are the qualities
which we find in the Japanese."
In further proof, Father Pedro de San Francisco de Assis (ibid. 41: 138,
et seq.) says: "The nearest nation to our village [Bislig] is that of the
Taga-baloóyes who are so named from certain mountains that they call
Balooy. * * * They are a corpulent race, well built, of great courage and
strength, and they are at the same time of good understanding, and
more than halfway industrious. Their nation is faithful in its treaties and
constant in its promises, as they are descendants, so they pride
themselves, of the Japanese, whom they resemble in complexion,
countenance, and manners." The writer describes briefly their houses
and their manner of life, and mentions in particular the device they
make use of in the construction of their ladders. It is interesting to note
that the same device is still made use of by the more well-to-do
Mandáyas on the Karága, Manorigao, and Kati'il Rivers. In other
respects their character, as described, is very similar to that of the
present Mandáyas of the Kati'il River who in physical type present
characteristics that mark them as being a people of a superior race.
In Medina's historia (Blair and Roberston, 24:175, 1906,) we find it
related that Captain Juan Niño de Tabora mistreated the chief of the
Taga-baloóyes in Karága and that as a result the captain, Father Jacinto
Cor, and 12 soldiers were killed. Subsequently four more men of the
religious order were killed and two others wounded and captured by the
Taga-baloóyes.
Zuñiga in Estadismo (ibid. 2:71, et seq.) notes the fairness of
complexion of the Taga-baloóyes, a tribe living in the mountains of
Balooy in Karága.
Father Manual Buzeta in Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico
de las Islas Filipinas (1: 506, 1905) makes the same observation, but M.
Felix Renouard de Sainte Croix in Voyage commercial et politique aux
Indes Orientales (1803-1809) goes further still by drawing attention to
these people as meriting distinction for superior mentality.

The Jesuit missionary Pastells in 1883 (Cartas de los PP. de la
Compañía de Jesús, 4:212, 1884) writes that the people above Manresa
(southeastern Mindanáo) are perhaps of Moro origin but bettered by a
strain of noble blood, which their very appearance seems to him to
indicate. In support of this view he cites the authority of Santayana,
who claims Japanese descent for them and repudiates the opinion of
those who attribute Hollandish descent. In a footnote, the above
celebrated missionary and scholar adds that the town of Kinablangan (a
town on the east coast of Mindanáo) owes its origin to a party of
Europeans who were shipwrecked on Point Bagoso and took up their
abode in that place, intermarrying with the natives. I was informed by a
Bisáya trader, the only one that ever went among the mountain
Mandáyas, that he had seen a circular, clocklike article with strange
letters upon it in a settlement on the middle Kati'il. The following year I
made every effort to see it, but I could not prevail upon the possessors
to show it to me. They asserted that they had lost it. It is probable that
this object was a ship's compass.
[Transcriber's note: The preceding six paragraphs are all part of
footnote 21.]
On the whole, the impression made upon me in my long and intimate
dealings with the Mandáyas of the Kati'il, Manorigao, and Karága
Rivers is that they are a brave, intelligent, clean, frank people that with
proper handling might be brought to a high state of civilization. They
are looked up to by Manóbos, Mañgguáñgans, Mansákas, and
Debabáons as being a superior and more ancient race, and considered
by the Bisáyas of the Agúsan Valley as a people of much more
intelligence and fair-dealing than any other tribe. The Mandáyas consist
of four branches:
THE TÁGUM BRANCH
These occupy the country from near the mouth of the Tágum to the
confluence of the Sálug and Libagánon Rivers, or perhaps a little
farther up both of the last-mentioned rivers. It is probable that the
Debabáons farther up are the issue of Manóbos and Tágum Mandáyas.

THE AGÚSAN VALLEY BRANCH
It is usual for the people of the upper Agúsan from Gerona to
Compostela to call themselves Mandáyas, but this appears to be due to
a desire to be taken for Mandáyas. They have certainly absorbed a