The war arrows, in addition to having more elaborately barbed points,
are further embellished by incised decorations the entire length of
the shaft. These incisions consist simply of a series of lines into
which dirt has been rubbed so that they offer a striking contrast to
the white surface of the arrow.
The women weave some coarse baskets out of bamboo, but they are
neither well shaped nor pretty. Sometimes to adorn them one strand
or strip of bamboo is stained black and the other left its natural
color. Other objects of manufacture are their ornaments, already
described in Chapter III, and musical instruments. (See Chap. VI.)
The Negrito knows that the people of the lowlands for some reason
have more food than he. He can not go down and live there and work as
they do, because, being timid by nature, he can not feel secure amid
an alien people, and, besides, he likes his mountain too well to live
contentedly in the hot plains. He makes nothing that the lowlands want,
but he knows they use, in the construction of their houses, bejuco,
of which his woods are full, and he has learned that they value
beeswax, which he knows where to find and how to collect. Moreover,
there are certain mountain roots, such as wild ginger, that have a
market value. His tobacco also finds a ready sale to the Filipinos.
The bolo is the only tool necessary to cut and strip the bejuco,
which he ties into bunches of one hundred and takes into his hut for
safety until such a time as a trade can be made. These bunches never
bring him more than a peseta each. He collects the beeswax from a
nest of wild bees which he has smoked out, melts it, and pours it
into a section of bamboo.
It is not always necessary that he take his products down to the town,
for the Filipinos are eager enough to trade with him to go out to his
rancheria carrying the little cloth, rice, iron, or steel that he is
willing to take for his hard-gained produce. Perhaps the townspeople
go out because they can drive better bargains. However that may be,
the Negrito always gets the worst of the deal, whether in town or at
his own home.
Hunting and Fishing
The Negrito is by instinct, habits, and of necessity a hunter. Although
he has advanced somewhat beyond that stage of primitive life where man
subsists wholly from the fruits of the chase, yet it is so necessary
to him that were he deprived of it the existence of his race would be
seriously threatened. Since the chase has furnished him a living for
centuries, it is not strange that much of the ingenuity he possesses
should be devoted to the construction of arms and traps and snares
with which he may kill or capture the creatures of the woods and
streams. His environment does not supply a great variety of game,
but there are always deer and wild boars in abundance. Then there are
wild chickens and many birds which none but the Negrito would think
of eating, and the mountain streams have a few small fish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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