This system of selling girls, for that is what it amounts to, is carried to an extreme by parents who contract their daughters at an early age to the parents of some boy, and the children are regarded as man and wife, though of course each remains with the parents until the age of puberty is reached. Whether or not the whole payment is made in the beginning or only enough is paid to bind the bargain, I do not know, but I do know that cases of this kind may be met with frequently among the Negritos of Pinatubo, who give as an excuse that the girl is thus protected from being kidnapped by some neighboring tribe, the relatives of the boy making common cause with those of the girl in case anything like this should happen. It seems more likely, however, that the contract is simply a desire on the part of the parents of the girl to come into early possession of the things which are paid for her, and of the parents of the boy to get her cheaper than they could by waiting until she was of marriageable age. This practice is not met with in southern Zambales and Bataan, where marriage does not seem to partake so much of the nature of a sale but where presents are nevertheless made to a girl's parents. If it happens that there is a young man in the girl's family who is seeking a wife in that of the boy, an even exchange may be made and neither family has to part with any of its possessions. I was told also that in lieu of other articles a young man might give a relative to the bride's family, who was to remain as a sort of slave and work for his master until he was ransomed by payment of the necessary amount; or he might buy a person condemned to death and turn him over at an increased price, or sell children stolen from another barrio. As a bride may be worth as much as 500 pesos and a slave never more than 40 pesos, it would seem necessary to secure several individuals as payment. This was told me more than once and in different villages, but I was unable to find any examples, and am forced to conclude that if it ever was the practice, it is no longer so, at least among the "conquistas." As to the true savages, still lurking in the inmost recesses of the Zambales mountains, I am unable to say. The question of slavery among Negritos is reserved to another chapter. Rice Ceremony