Society among the Tagalog-Bisayan tribes was divided into three classes, the chiefs and nobles, the common people (timagua), and the slaves. The principal of every group, styled maguinoo among the Tagalogs, bagani by the Manobos, and dato by the Bisayans, was the only political, military, and judicial authority. These chieftainships were hereditary, and the same respect was shown to the women as to the men of the ruling families. Their power over the people was despotic, they imposed a tribute upon the harvests, and could at any time reduce a subject to slavery, or dispose of his property and children. The slaves were divided into two classes: the sanguihuileyes, who were in entire servitude as also were their children, lived and served in the houses of their masters; while the namamahayes lived in houses of their own, and only worked as slaves on special occasions, such as at harvesting and housebuilding. Among this latter class there obtained a peculiar half-bond system, which may be explained thus: In the event of a free man marrying a slave woman, and their having only one son, that child would be half free and half enslaved--that is, he would work one month for his owner and the next for himself. If they had more than one child, the first born would follow the condition of the father, the second of the mother, and so on. If there were uneven numbers, the last born was half free and half bond. Slaves were bought, sold, and exchanged like ordinary merchandise. In their social manners these people were very courteous, more especially the Luzon tribes. They never spoke to a superior without removing their turban. They then knelt upon one knee, raised their hands to their cheeks, and awaited authority to speak. The hongi, or nose-pressing salutation of the Polynesians, was an ancient custom in the Philippine Group, and on the island of Timor. It also obtained among the Chamorro of the Ladrones, who termed it tshomiko. The Philippine natives addressed all superiors in the third person, and added to every sentence the word po, equivalent to Sir. They were given to addresses replete with compliments, and were fond of music of the cud, a guitar with two strings of copper wire. In regard to judicial matters, all complaints were brought before the dato of the barangay (district) for examination. Though they had no written laws, they had established rules and customs by which all disputes were settled, and the chiefs recovered their fees by seizing the property not only of the vanquished party, but also of his witnesses. Trial by ordeal was common, the usual mode being that of plunging the arm into a vessel of boiling water and taking out a stone off the bottom; or a lighted torch was placed in the hands of the accused, and if the flame flickered towards him he was pronounced guilty. Theft was sometimes punished by death, in which case, the condemned was executed by the thrust of a lance. In some cases the punishment was by being reduced to slavery.