These gobernadorcillos, or little governors, possess considerable authority over the natives, for, besides having the chief municipal authority in their own districts, they are allowed to decide judicially in civil cases, when the amount in dispute does not exceed the value of forty-four dollars, or about ten pounds sterling, and in criminal cases undertake the prosecution, collecting the evidence and ascertaining the charges against any delinquent within their district, all of which is remitted by them to the provincial-governor and judge for his decision. Their election takes place annually, on the commencement of the new year, all over the country, and their power is exactly defined in a printed commission which they all hold from the Governor of the Philippines. The half-breeds, or people of mixed Chinese and Indian blood, known by the name of Sangleys, are usually permitted, in districts where their number is considerable, to elect a Major from among their own class, whose power over them is exactly similar to that of the captain of the village where they reside over the aboriginal Indians: they do not interfere with each other, and are quite independent of any one save the alcalde of the province. When there are two gobernadorcillos in the same village, they each look after their own class, whether Mestizos or natives. In addition to these local officials there is another curious body of men, called _Cabezas de barangay_; each of whom has under his charge about fifty families, whose tribute to government he has to collect, and for the amount of which he is held accountable. The persons who fill this office are usually resident in the immediate neighbourhood or in the same street with those from whom they have to collect the tribute, and have some slight authority over those who pay it to them, such as deciding petty quarrels and disputes among them, &c. The institution of this body is uncertain, and is said to have been originated by the aboriginal Indians themselves, and to have been found in full operation at the time of the earliest Spanish intercourse with them. The probability is, however, that at that period it was of a military nature, and their duties then were more to officer the armies of the native kings than for any of the uses it has been subsequently wisely put to by the white man. The office is hereditary in their families; but in the event of the person who exercises it changing his residence, or from other causes becoming unfit to discharge its duties, a successor is elected in his place.