On many occasions the natives had got up a religious excitement, and great gatherings have taken place at some spot where a miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin, or some supernatural manifestation has been alleged to have occurred. All these affairs have been somewhat sceptically inquired into by the priests under a general order to this effect issued by the archbishop, and so far as my experience goes, the excessive religious ardour of the natives has rather been checked than stimulated. When writing about the Visayas I shall have more to say about misdirected religious zeal. The Tagals practise circumcision as a hygienic measure, and not as a religious rite. The operation is usually performed at the age of fourteen by a companion or friend of the patient, and a sharp flint or piece of volcanic glass (obsidian) is used for this purpose. From what I have heard, this custom is really maintained by the women, who refuse their favours to the uncircumcised of their own nation, though with foreigners they are more complaisant. Cursing. In cursing, the Tagal displays a directness quite worthy of the Anglo-Saxon. All his remarks are very much to the point, and would have earned the approval of the late lamented and reverend author of the Ingoldsby Legends. Leaving out the world-wide reflections upon the virtues of an opponent's female ancestry, since these appear to belong indiscriminately to all nations, the principal Tagal curses are as follows:-- 1. May an evil wind blow upon you. 2. May the earth open and swallow you up. 3. May the lightning strike you. 4. May the alligator eat you. The superiority of the Tagal style as compared with the French Mortbleu, Ventre bleu, must be apparent to all unprejudiced observers. The Tagal has drawn all his curses from the grand and awful operations of nature in his own country, except the last, where he invokes the dreaded saurian, the most fearsome inhabitant of the Philippine swamps, rivers, and coasts--formerly venerated by his ancestors and respectfully addressed by them as nono, or grandfather. Under American guidance and example, I think the Tagals quite capable of developing a startling vocabulary of swear-words, and in course of time rivalling their instructors in profanity, with a touch of their old style to give a little local colour. Courtship. Courtship is sometimes a long business amongst the Tagals. It is still customary in the country districts for the impecunious candidate for matrimony to serve the father of the damsel he desires to wed for a period which may extend to a couple of years or more. He is called a Catipado, and is expected to make himself generally useful, and to take a hand in any labour that may be going on, sowing or reaping, mending the roof, or patching the canoe.