DAMPIE.r’s ACCOUNT OF THE PHILIPPINES.

II

damps their induftry, fo they never drive to have any thing but from hand to mouth.They are generally proud and walk very (lately. . They are civil enough to ftrangers,and will eafily be acquainted with them, and entertain them with great freedom ; butthey are implacable to their enemies, and very revengeful if they are injured, fre-quently poifoning fecretly thofe that have affronted’ them.

They wear but few cloaths ; their heads are circled with a fhort turbat, fringedor laced at both ends ; it goes once about the head, and is tied in a knot, the lacedends hanging down. They wear frocks and breeches, but no (lockings nor (hoes.

The women are fairer than the men ; aild their hair is black and long, which theytie in a knot, that hangs back in their poles. They are more round vifaged than themen, and generally well featured ; only their nofes are very fmall, and fo low be-tween their eyes, that in fome of the female children the riling that (hould be betweenthe eyes is fcarce difcernible; neither is there any fenfible riling in their foreheads.At a diftance they appear very well; but being nigh, thefe impediments are very ob-vious. They have very fmall limbs. They wear but two garments; a frock and afort of petticoat; the petticoat is only a piece of cloth, fowed both ends together:but it is made two feet too big for their waifts, fo that they may wear either enduppermoft: that part that comes up to their waill, becaufe it is fo much too big,they gather it in their hands, and twi(l it till it fits clofe to their waifts, tucking in thetwifted part between their waift and the edge of the petticoat, which keeps it clofe.The frock fits loofe about them, and reaches down a little below the waift. Thefleeves are a great deal longer than their arms, and fo fmall at the end, that theirhands will fcarce go through. Being on the lleeve fits in folds about the wrift, whereinthey take great pride.

1 he better fort of people have their garments made of long cloth ; but the ordi-nary fort wear cloth made of plantain-tree, which they call Saggen, by which namethey call the plantain. They have neither (locking nor (hoe, and the women havevery fmall feet.

The women are very defirous of the company of ftrangers, efpecially of whitemen : and doubtlefs would be very familiar, if the cuftom of the country did not debarthem from that freedom, which feems coveted by them. Yet from the higheft tothe lowed they are allowed liberty to converfe with, or treat ftrangers in the fight of■their hufbands.

There is a kind of begging cuftom at Mindanao , that I have not met elfew *

in all my travels ; and which I believe is owing to the little trade they havejh ch sthus: when ftrangers arrive here, the Mindanao men will come a oar >them to their houfes, and inquire who has a comrade, (whic wor f am ;i; a r

have from the Spaniards) or a pagally, and who has not. ^ comra e is „male friend ; a pagally is an innocent platonic friend of the ot. er ex.are in a manner obliged to accept of this acquaintance and fanu w 1 ,

firft purchafed with a fmall prefent, and afterwards confirmed wit ormgi ,to continue the acquaintance: and as often as the ftranger goes aflioie, eto his comrade or pagally’s houfe, where he may be entertained for is in Y ?drink, or Keep ; and complimented, as often as he comes aftiore wi ^ a *i co an ,betel-nut, which is all the entertainment he mull expedt gratis. e 11C e menswives are allowed the freedom to converfe with her pagally m puD ic, an may giveor receive prefents from him. Even the Sultan’s and general s wives, w o are a '‘'ayscoopt up, will vet look out of their cages when a ftranger paffeth by, and demand or

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