The countenance of the average Negrito is not dull and passive,
as might reasonably be expected, but is fairly bright and keen,
more so than the average Malayan countenance. The Negrito also has
a look of good nature--a look usually lacking in the Malayan. His
knowledge of things other than those pertaining to his environment is,
of course, extremely limited, but he is possessed of an intellect that
is capable of growth under proper conditions. He always manifests
the most lively interest in things which he does not understand,
and he tries to assign causes for them.
Natural phenomena he is unable to explain. When the sun sets it
goes down behind a precipice so far off that he could not walk to
it, but he does not know how it gets back to the east. Rain comes
from the clouds, but he does not know how it got there except that
thunder and lightning bring it. These things are incomprehensible to
him and he has apparently invented no stories concerning them. While
thunder and lightning are good because they bring rain, yet if they
are exceedingly violent he becomes afraid and tries to stop them by
burning deer's bones, which, he says, are always efficacious.
The mathematical knowledge of the Negritos is naturally small. They
count on their fingers and toes, beginning always with the thumb and
great toe. If the things they are counting are more than twenty they
go through the process again, but never repeat the fingers without
first counting the toes. To add they use rice or small stones. They
have no weights or measures except those of the civilized natives, but
usually compare things to be measured with some known object. Distance
is estimated by the time taken to walk it, but they have no conception
of hours. It may take from sunrise until the sun is directly overhead
to go from a certain rancheria to another, but if asked the number of
hours the Negrito is as likely to say three or eight as six. They have
no division of time by weeks or months, but have periods corresponding
to the phase of the moon, to which they give names. The new moon
is called "bay'-un bu'-an," the full moon "da-a'-na bu'-an," and
the waning moon "may-a'-mo-a bu'-an." They determine years by the
planting or harvesting season. Yet no record of years is kept, and
memory seldom goes back beyond the last season. Hence the Negritos
have no idea of age. They know that they are old enough to have
children or grandchildren, and that is as far as their knowledge of
age goes. To count days ahead they tie knots in a string of bejuco
and each day cut off one knot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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