3. _The Extent of Hindu influences._--These are less in the Philippines than in Celebes, and much less than in Java and Bali. Still the Philippines have a native alphabet, and this native alphabet has the same origin with the alphabets of Sumatra, Java, and Celebes; _viz._ the Hindu Devanagari. 4. _The remains of the original mythology._--I give what I know of this in the following note from Marsden's Sumatra,[61] where it is inserted from Thevenot, for the sake of illustrating that of Sumatra. "The chief deity of the _Tagalas_ is called _Bathala mei Capal_, and also _Dinata_; and their principal idolatry consists in adoring those of their ancestors who signalised themselves for courage or abilities; calling them _Humalagar_, i.e. _manes_. They make slaves of the people who do not keep silence at the tombs of their ancestors. They have great veneration for the crocodile, which they call _nono_, signifying grandfather, and make offerings to it. Every old tree they look upon as a superior being, and think it a crime to cut it down. They worship also stones, rocks, and points of land, shooting arrows at these last as they pass them. They have priests, who, at their sacrifices, make many contortions and grimaces, as if possessed with a devil. The first man and woman, they say, were produced from a bamboo, which burst in the island of _Sumatra_; and they quarrelled about their marriage. The people mark their bodies in various figures, and render them of the colour of ashes; have large holes in their ears; blacken and file their teeth, and make an opening, which they fill up with gold. They used to write from top to bottom, till the Spaniards taught them to write from left to right. Bamboos and palm-leaves serve them for paper. They cover their houses with straw, leaves of trees, or bamboos split in two, which serve for tiles. They hire people to sing and weep at their funerals; burn _benzoin_; bury their dead on the third day in strong coffins, and sometimes kill slaves to accompany their deceased masters. They held the _caiman_, or alligator, in great reverence, and when they saw him they called him _nono_, or grandfather, praying with great tenderness that he would do them no harm; and, to this end, offered him of whatever they had in their boats, throwing it into the water. There was not an old tree to which they did not offer divine worship, especially that called _balete_; and even at this time they have some respect for them. Beside these they had certain idols inherited from their ancestors, which the Tagalas called _anito_, and the Bissayans, _divata_. Some of these were for the mountains and plains, and they asked their leave when they would pass them. Others for the corn-fields; and to these they recommend them, that they might be fertile, placing meat and drink in the fields for the use of the _anitos_. There was one of the sea, who had care of their fishing and navigation; another of the house, whose favour they implored at