The Inhabitants of the PhilippinesSawyer, Frederic H.
History
The Inhabitants of the Philippines
Sawyer, Frederic H.
Ethnology -- Philippines; Philippines -- Social life and customs
There can be no doubt that this once numerous tribe has been reduced
to a mere remnant, part settled in the before-mentioned reducciones,
and part still wandering in mountains.
Montéses or Buquidnónes (6).
The Spanish word Montés, means hill-man. Buquid, in Tagal, means
arable land; and Taga-buquid, a countryman. The Tagal equivalent of
hill-man is Taga-bundoc, which corresponds to the jungle-wallah of
British India. The word Buquidnónes may mean cultivators, and their
extensive plantations fully justify this designation. It is therefore
rather a vague expression, but still designates a particular tribe
in Mindanao, whose numbers were estimated to amount to 13,000 ten
years ago, and who have probably largely increased since then.
They occupy the valleys through which the Rivers of Cagayan and
Tagoloan run, and the hills between them and on both sides.
They hold the country of the head-waters of the Pulangui, and the right
bank, as far south as the Manobos extend on the left bank, say to 7°
30' N. latitude. In the north they extend right up into the peninsula
between the Bay of Macajalar and the Bay of Lunao, occupying the lofty
mountains of Sabrac, Sinalagao, Quimanquil, and the sacred Balatucan,
whence the souls of the dead jump from earth to heaven.
Father Clotet, from whose letters to his superiors I have taken these
particulars, considers them to be divided into three large groups.
The first consists of those living in the hills and valleys of the
rivers Tagoloan, Cagayan, and Iponam; the second, of those bordering
on the Manobos of the Agusan between Gingoog and Nasipit, and the
third of those who live on the right bank of the Pulangui and on some
of its affluents.
They bear some resemblance to their neighbours the Manobos, being of
good stature, well-built, even handsome, and are of an affable and
friendly disposition; some of them are so smart and well-bred as to
be not in the least inferior to the most civilised of the Visayas,
and to judge by their free and open address, and the absence of all
affectation when settling their business with the old Christians,
nobody would take them for heathens.
Father Urios said that, from the extent of their intelligence, they
were fit to be kings of the Manobos, so much superior were they
to these.
In their dress they show a far greater idea of decorum and modesty
than any other race in Mindanao, both men and women. The latter wear a
white shirt, which is held in at the waist by a long skirt, reaching
to the ankles. Over this they wear a very short and tight jacket,
to the edges of which they sew strips of cloth of many colours in a
pleasing tracery, the short wide sleeves being trimmed in the same way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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