1. PhilippineQuarterlyofculturE and Socav
3 (1975204 -236
I'IIE PHILIPFINE NEGRIMS IN TIIE
CONTEXT OF RESEARCH ON FOOD l
GATITDRERSDURING TIIIS CENTURY
c
i
I
Rudolf Rahmann,
SVD.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS INTRODUCTORY
REMARKS
L WilhelmSchmidt'sapp€al study the food-
to Thispaper a contributionto the historyof
is
gathercrs and the r€spons€of anthropologirts
anthropology(ethnolory) in the Phitippines
during this century. While working on it the
II. The rc{iscovery of the African rygmies and vriter realizedanew that this subjectis not
studiesgenerated ther€by
only a vast field of investigation but alsoa
most .ewarding one. This paper,thoughrather
IIl. Negrito res€archin the Philippines long, is limited to the Negritosand certainly
A. The early yealsof this century doesnolexhaust $bject matter.But it will,
the
l. The Bur€auof Non{hrktian Tribesand so the writer hopes, p.oyidea somewhat fuller
David P. Barrows and alsomore clarifyingdescription makeand
2. William A. Reed a wider circle of anthropologists students
and
3. The EeyerPapen of anthropologyawareof the variousaspects
B. John M. carvan of the field research theor€tical
and studies on
l Biodata the Philippine Negritosaccomplished during
this century. It may also help us to seewhat
2. GarYan's
Negdto Manuscript
future Esearchabout them still needsto be
a)MsA done.
b)MsB As statedin the Dedication, issue the
this of
c)MsC Qr.otterlyis in honor of a great missionary-
d) Other manuscriptforms anthiopologist,Father Morice Vanoverbergh
3. The contentsof carvan Negrito manue of the ScheutMissionary Society.At the same
cript and Bomemann's evaluationofit time, however,I would like to dedicate to it
a) Ih unfinishedstate the Society of the Divine Word which cele-
b) The generalizationsther€in
brated its first centenaryon Septembe.8,
1975.I am surethat Fr. Vanoverbeeh not will
c) The r€lativeformlessness
ofNegrito
curture
mind sharing the hono. aith the Society,
especially sincehis wo.k as an anthropologist
d) Carvan's
world view
has from the very outset linked him closely
4- Azcona'sanalysis Garvan
of with it. As will be detailedin the pages ofthis
5. Hochegger'sbook edition of Galvan's article,several membeN ofthe S.V.D. (Societas
manuscript Verbi Divini. which is the Latin nane of the
C. MoriceVanoverberyh, PaulSchebesta, Society)have participated,like our honorce,
Robert Fox. Marcelino
kaceda. and others in the work of studying the Philippine Negritos,
and it is for that rcasonthat the writer wishes
CONCLUDING RLMARKS to dedicate pape.alsoto the S.V.D.on the
this
occasion oftJIefilst centenary ofits existenc€.
In his work, the late FatherWilhelm Schrnidt,
the founder ol Aathropos, was generously
encouEgedand prudently guided by Father

2. Rahmann THE PHILIPPINENEGRITOS
/ 205
r--:1 Janss€n,
r,d the Founder of the S.V.D. FatherSchebesta our ptesentknowledge
to of
-_:::
can be no doubt that the strong and the Philippine Negritos equal that of W.
s-r:r.rl intercst given to the shorl-statured Schmidt's.Mention should also be made of
:i::i.s of the world in this century'santhro- anotherS.V.D.anthropologist, likewiseof the
:': .ifcal field researchand systematicstudies first post-Schmidtgenemtion, the late Father
:.:<: largely back to the initiative of Father Martin Gusinde. who had a keenintercstin the
i..1rir- Father Paul Schebesta, belonging to PhilippineNegritos although meritsareof a
his
:: :l15!post-Schmidt generationin the Anthro- moreperipheral nature.
::! Institute, called Schmidt the RuJerzur Other outstanding contributionsto our prc-
>. =t,tenlorschung(Herald df Pygmy Research), sentday knowledge the Philippine
of Negritos
I . :::.e which delighted Schmidt(cf. Schebesta have beenmade three
by moteS.V.D. members,
5 ::i ). Father Peter Schumacherof the namelyFritz Bomemann, Hermann Hochegger,
3 i ' :e Fathers,a Pygmyexplorer like Schebesta md Jesus Azcona.This writer is gratefulthat,
I :::.:ates his work on the Kiw-Pygmies East in having been a studentof Schmidt and Sche-
1:::.r to Father Sclmidt, the "Standard- besta, belongs this fine group of anthro-
he to
; :,:.::r" (Bannertrueger,of Pygmy research pologists.
>-:umacher1950:iii).This paperwill alsotry
:emonstrate how ltrongly Schmidt in-
--::r.cd Another personal rcmark may be allowed. This
the studies the Philippin€
on Negritos. article was *ritten snidst va.ious other, and pardy
-rJ he who attractedFather Vanoverbergh rath€r heavy,duties;not infrcquently fiagments of
:ii field work and obtained from Pope Pius trme had to be used for it. This by necessityentails
,. ::ic financial meansfor an expedition to the someshortcomings in the paper. On the otier hand,
''::ntos of no hem Luzon in 1925. h.rdly any other anthropologist urould, so it seems
'i to me, be in an equally good position to deal in a
anoverbergh'sexpcdition to the Negritos
' ilstem Luzon was discussedby him and somewhat comprchensir€way with the subject
matter as I am; and I felt that it shouldbe dealt
:', rjdt when the two met, on the occasion of with at once.Iwish to add that I would almosrnever
:.- :nidt's world tour, in Manila in the year have b€€n able to writ€ tlis paper in a r€latively
:ji The funJs for tl)rs rprdition were in short time without the faithful and constanthelp of
,J amounts provided by the hovincial of Lydia Colina, S€cretary of the Editorial Oflicr of
. Society of the Dvine Word in the Philip- San Carlos hrblications. Miss Colina complet€ly
spar€d the troubleof goingto the Libmry of the
me
: - ii and by hofessor Joseph Schrijnen
-r ll!,rd), Ceneral Secretarv of the (inter- University of SanCarlos in order to get the literature
needed.Shepati€ntly twed and i€typed my drafts,
,:: rnal)Commission EnquCted' Linguistique. prepaFd the Bibliography as well asthe Appendic€s,
. -i:!rerbctgh writes that: and did most of the pmof readins.So I arn de€ply.
indebtedto her.
''Tlese gran!5.togetherwith
the unsnimous
:rpport of the officials of the Philippine Com-
:ronwealth,have allowed me to mate a fairly I. W. Schmidt's appeal to 6tudy the foodgather-
jr.nsive studyof several theNegiitogoupswho
of ers and the tesponse of anttuopologistg.
:habit eastem Luzon."(See Vanoverbergh 1937:9
VanoverbeBh writes that he met Schmidtin In 1910,Father Wilhelm Schmidtpublished
Vanilain November 1936.However, yea.was
the his rather extensive work on the position of
:lnainly 1935; Henninger
see 1956:31. I, more- the Pygrny peoples in the history of the
o!er, rememb€r FatherBomemtann myself
thal and development man (Schmidt1910).In the
oi
tul. prior to FatherSchmidt's rEtum,some order animatedlywrilten conclusionof the work
urlotheconsidenble amount maillhat was
of await-
u|g him on his deskin St. cabri€l's. left for my (pp.304-309), madean appeal the anthro-
he to
I
signmentat Fu Jen Uni€rsity in PekinS eady
in pologists and ethnologistsas well as the
August 1936). scientific institutes and govemments the
of
countries concemedfor the study of thes€
The value of the studies made by the late peoples. Moreover, he tecommendedthe

3. 206 PHILIPPINE OF
QUARTERLY CULTUREAND SOCIETY
crcationof an intemational commission re_
for Fuegiansaltogetherfour times: he concludedhis
In
search the "Pygmies." Schmidt's
on opinion, field work in 1924.Fath€rwilhelm Koppers,S.v D.,
would be a valuablecontribution joined him during his third visit (1921-1922) the
to
such studies
Fuegians.
to the elucidationof the earliesthistory of
Du.ing the months ofJuly-Ausust 1955,Gusinde
mankind. But Schmidt'sappealfound at that spent a few weeksin the Philippines. This Save him
time no echo whatsoever, he himself ad-
as a chanceto havea look at the Negitos in "cenhal
mitted hfteen yeals later (Schmidt 1925). and northem Luzon." He alsovisited FatherVano-
Furthemore, the outbreakof World War I in verberghin the Mountain Provincewith whom he
l9l4 madefield work Qf that kind practically had lons discussions (Gusinde1962:212).During a
impossible. After the war Schmidt took the short visit to Cebu, he undertook field trips to
energelically hisown hands.
into Panayand Mindanaoin the companyof Marcelino
matler
Macedd. Pandy met sevenlNegrilogroups
ln he in
the intenor of the Provinc€of lloilo. A secondtnp
took him tothe yamanua in northeastern Mindanao.
The year 1925 saw the b€ginningof the field His plan to do field work among the Philippine
work of Father Moric€ yaioverberyh, C.l C M., as Negdtos the following year unfortunately did not
alreadymentioned,amongthe Negritosofnorthem materialize.It would have been very desirableto
Luzon; of Father Peter Schum acher, among the haveGusind€'s viewson the racialproblemsthat the
PygmiesofRuanda(s/p'a);and of FatherSchebestd' Ne8ritosof the Philippines pose.In tlis connection
among th€ Semang N€gritosofMalaya. During the refercnce may be made'to Sch€besta's opinion that
following years,thesethree missionaries continued the eye is a mor€ reliableguide(in mattersof racial
their {ield work. In particular,Schebesta devoted characteristics) than dead measurcmentdata
his whole life to r€search among the Semang, the (Schebesta 1938. l:x). lt may be sald that both
Pygmies of central Africa, the Negtitos of the Gusinde dnd Schebesta did hate a keen eye in
Philippines well as to the subsequ€nt
as preparation
matlers of race (conceming the oft-mentioned
of comprchensive scientific publications on these Papuan racialelement amongthe PhilippineNegdtos,
populations. During the years I926'28 Viktor seeRahma,l1n Maceda1955:820). may men_
and We
khzelter did field work amongthe Bushmen (Kala-
lion fuflher lhdl Cusinde bnefl) Save viewson
his
hari Des€rt, south Africa), which was continued the 'Aera". views lhat are largelystill valid today,
during the yea.s l95l and 1953 by Father Martin in 1962:239-242.
Cusinde(Rahmann1956:7 f.). How€ver,Gusinde s
Gusinde did his last field work in the Schrader
life work concentratedon the vanishing Indiatr Ran$ of eastem c€nt.al New Guinea durlng the
trib€sofTienade Fuego, calledFuegians, after tleir
niddle ofthe year 1956.He felt that he had veri{ied
habitat, the southemmost part of South Amedca.
the a.sqrmption that the short-statured people living
Even befot€ Vanoverbe$I did the field wotk
in isohtion in those hi8hlands ll/erc Pygmies. He
mentioned above,Gusindehad begun(in l9l8) to
called them, after thek habitat, Ayom Pygmies
organizehis field work amonSthe Fuegians. had He
(Gusinde 1958; 1962:252).As early as the third
been in Santiago Chile since 1912, and among
de
decadeof this c€ntury, the New Guineamissionary
other duti$ he had at the time he held the position .Fraiz Kirschbaum,S.V.D., had dealt with these
of a S€ction Chief of the Museo de Etnologa y
Antrcpologia of the Chilean capital. Th€ Chilean rygmies in severalbrief publications;Lord Moyne
grant_ also wrote about them (cf. Gusinde 1958:503;
Covemmentand the Archbishopof Santiago
rcgarding Kirschbaum alsoRahmann1956:9).
s€e
ed finarcial support (Gusinde1931, I:66f). ln th€
May I be pemitted to mention here tlat I met
Preface to the first volume of his great wotk on the
Fatler Gusrnde the Manila lntemational Arrport
at
Fuegians Gusindewrites (p.viii) that FatherSchmidt
plan of when he arrived in the Philippines in the secondhalf
had included the Fu€gians his far'ran8ing
in
of July 1955. I wasth€n on my way to Switzeiland
promoting .esearch among$e ethnologicaliy oldesl
primrtrve peoplewhenhe {Gus:inde, still a slu-
was in order to work for some yean in the editoial
offrct of Anthopo'lA the s€cond halfofS€ptemb€t
dent (in St. Gabriel'sMissionSeminary,M,Mlin8,
1956, I had the pleasure meetingGusinde,then
of
near Vienna, where Schmidt was a memberof the
alr€ady a septuagenarian,at th€ airport ofwashing-
Faculty and edltor of AnthoPos). when Gusinde
ton, D.C., upon his retum from his just-mentioned
.Eportedto Schmidtat the end ofworld War I about field work in New Guinea.
hisfield work. the latter encouraged unr€s€rved-
him
ly and gaye support. Gusinde stayed anong the

4. Rahmann THE PHILIPPINENEGRTTOS
/ 20'7
- Tbe r-discovery of the Africa+ pygmies the expedition leader to have the dwarf well
add studiesgenented theteby. guarded lest he find his death in the waters of
.: iill be usefulto realizethat W. Schmidt's the Nile. He furthermote inslmcts him to re-
..::,rrl interestin the "Pygmy peoples"was port immediately to his court, after his retum,
: :Li:rply accidental. The scientific trends together with the dwarf. In his letter, he al-
readywelcomesthe dwarf with the words: ..To
:---:j durirg the first half of this century the Heavenly Darcet greetings-Salutations to
- tr-:::! pan of the keen interest which him who makes the heart glad, to whom the
-<tci--asrs. physical anthropologists first King Neferkara . . . sendshomage"(quotation
Jd- b -a,i for somedecades thesesho - in from Ballif I 955: l5 ). PharaoirPhiopsmentions
i-a: ;.< ril.s. generallyconsid(''edtemnants in his letter that at an earlier time, under KinB
d ri] ::rkind. That intercst was arousedin Asosi, a dwarf had come to the coud of the
I E._..n the Germar explorer, Georg pharaoh. This was, according to Gusinde,who
loer::::nir. re{iscovered the African had more specificsourcesat his disposal,about
t!3o:-. I meeting some of them in a Negro one hundred yeals ea ier! around 2460 B.C.
dr€ r: rie northern Congo. It is true that Gusinde comments on the mentionjng of Asosi
E t.:.:-: ea.liertire FrenchAfrican gxplorer, by Phiops that the coming of a dwarf to the
ta :, C:raillu. claimedto haveseen Pygnies court of the pharaoh at Asosi's time musr
! l5: triaa. near the C)!!owe river. However, have left a deep impriit in the minds.of the
r;: :: Chaillu's report wassomewhat roman- Egyptians. The Pygmies' ofdancinglis
a.t even
'-! : : i:rr'. Europeanscholarshesitated to be- today astonishingand their joy in dancmg so
r;: .:r: the authority of Schweinfurthdis- great that Eugen Fischer speaksof a dancing
--.; ii doubts. Since thcn reports of ex- mania. He believesthis extraordinary vitality is
::.=:,. lr'hose main intercst were! however. du€ to the dch intakc ,.f insect food by the
pi =.i:Ic- about their meetingwith Py€mies Pygmies. Thiskind bffood contains the vitamin
:t -.L... more and morc nunerous. Finally, in complcx T which producessuch effects (Fischer
::i, Schcbesta )began his systematicfield 1 9 5 5 : 3) .
5
r:1 :mong the P,gmies of Ccntral Alrica
Therole of dancers the Pygmies rre couns
of at
t::tstr 1 9 3 8 . : 3 0 f ; 3 6 f .) .
l of thepharaohs prcvid€d title of a bookby Noel
t}le
ixebestachos€ all AincanPygmies nalne
for the Ballif,l€aderof French
a expedition thePygmies:
to
:.i::iuti seeSchebesra 1938,I:24-26. theBush-
ln Lesdahsews Dieu,whichappeared 1954.
de in Tire
-.: hc sces Birmburoids ibid.355f. followingyear an Englishas well as a cerman
.: :: iorrect to say that Scnweinfurth r€{is- translationappeared under the respective
titles:
- 1:::J lhe Afric:m Pygmies.Thousardsof I'he Dorcet al Cod (see Refercncet), Die Taenzet
:i,r r.lorc him, the ancientEgyptianhad a
-r , lood knowlcdge ofthe dwartt in tropical Grcek-Roman antiquity had a raUter ex,
-:: :i wllo wcrc lri!:lrl,v cherjshed cultic dancers tensive, although vague. knowledge of the
- :'- : aourtof the pilaraohs. lctterolpharaoh
A African PygmieslPhoeniciallmerchantstraded
: :;.s II of thc Sixth Dynrsty (2500-2300 amulets that represented Pygmiesto l,leditena-
: cf. Sellman 1960:63) is of specialim- nean countries, especially to Cyprus. In the
' :irircc tbr our knowlcdge of the Atrican literary sourcesit is shown that the by tllen
:_ ;nies. The letter is addressed the leader to laBely fabulous Pygmies had come to the
,r expeditionwllo was returnidgflom the attention of the Greeks itnd Romans. Even at
.:r and wl)o had, tlrrouglr a specialmes- the time of Homer (ca.800 B.C.),Pygny tales
. iljr roported to the pharaohiiom one of must have been already widespread in the
. i)alting placcsthat he was bringingalong Greek-spealing world because the third song
in
- il the Tree and Glrost Couitry (tropical of the lliad (lll, 2-7) Homer explains the fight
-:n.a) a dwarf who could dqncethe dMcesof of the Trojans against the Greek by referring
-rJ. The pharaohis erthusiastic. cnjoins Hc to the craneswhich, flying from the cold and

5. 208 PHILIPPINEQUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
rain (from the north towardsthe south they 1950: 184.186; Schebesta l : 142-150.
l94 Hos-
still fly every autumn from northem Eurcpe ever.thehut ofthe formershows. Schumacher
as
to the swamps the Nile), threatenthe small
of points out, influences of the farmeG and
race of Pygmieswith death and destruction. herdersin their teritories). Accordingto [r
There may be a factual element in Homer's Roy (around1900:242; also238 ff.) the
see
tale. The big flocks of this largewadingbird, Pygmies of westem Africa arc occasional
whichsuddenly appeared everyautumnin their troglodytes but the caves formed by over-
arc
habitat,pFsumablyconsumed fruits from
the hangingrocks, and I-e Roy iound it pleasant
which the Pygmiesobtainedtheir livelihood, (p. 239) to spend a night in them when
and they, in tum attecked the birds, which lravelling. It can be deducedfrom I,e Roy
must havebeenfor themalsoa source meat.of (238) that the Pygmies whom the five adven-
with their weapons, Could it furthermorebe turousyouths in Herodot'sreportsaw(supra),
that the irritated cranes,which probablywere were troglodytes.A further commentwould
much morc numerous in the then thinly be difficult to make; the matter must be left
populatedworld, attacked on their part the at that.
Pygmies largeformations?Whatever
in may be Only one more question may be asked.
the truth of the matter, the antique story Aristotlewritesthat the cranes flew in autumn
about the enmity betweenPygmies cranes
and from Scythia to the swamps the Nile. May
of
becamea nligratory tale that got as far as we concludefrom this statement that onepart
Japan. of the birds flew in sp.ing to the Black Sea
Cenainlynot all suchnarratives shouldbe regions (andnot to northem Europe)?
considarcd belongingto the realrnof fairy
as The Romanwriter, Pliny the Elder (23-79
tales.A report of Herodot(5th century B.C.) A.D.). considemin his Ndtrrdlis Histotia the
speaksof five adventurous young men who Upper Nile r€gionthe home of the Pygmies.
crcssed Lybian desertand sawsouth of it
the Thereis alsoa reportin Greekantiquity about
little men who were below medium stature. the existenceof Pygnies in lndia. It is by
Of special intercsti$whatAristotle(+322B.C.) Ktesias, physician ofthe Persian King Artaxerxes
writes in his Historia Animalium (Yll, 12) II (405-358 B.C.). Peftaps Ktesias was in-
whenhe speaks aboutthe migrationofbirds: fluencedby reportsaboutthe AfricanPygmies
(although there must have been Negritosin
In some cases they lthe birds] migrate from India in formertimes;cf. Fuchs1973:27l,').
placesnear at hand; in othersthey may be said to
In this srrveyonereportshouldnot be over-
come from tha endsof the *orld, as in the careof
th€ cranei fo. these birds migrate from tie stepp€s looked;it is that ofNonnosus, Byzantine
a Jew
of Scythiato the marshlands south ofEgypt where whorn EmperorJustinian entrusted aroundthe
the Nile ha! it! source.And it is herc, by the way, year 533 A.D. with an ambassadorial mission
that they ar€ said to fight with the Pygries; and the to the Ethiopians othernations.
and Nonnosus
story is not fabulous, but thereis in lealit a raceof reports that along the southem part of the
dwadishrnen,and the hors€s little in proportion,
are (westem)coastof the Red Sea,there existed
and the men live in caves underground.
whole peoples who looked like humanbeings
The horses mostprobablyan unhistorical
are but wer€ of very short stature.l,€ Roy, who
part in this report although the Hyksos,a gives details of Nonnosus'rcpof, remarks
peoplefrom AsiaMinor, brogghtthe horseto (p. 13) that it could, in its entircty,beapplied
Egypt around 1700 B.C. Thit those Pygmies to the Pygmies whom modem tnvelersrcdis-
werc (as a mle) cave dwellers(troglodytes), covered.Two points ar€ of special intercstin
and even undergroundones, can hatdly be Nonnosus'repoft. first is that he sawthese
The
reconciledwith the fact that they lived in a dwads,and many of them,alongthe southem
swampyregion.Nowadays typicaldwelling
the (western) coastof the Red Sea.This seems to
of the Pygmies eastemandcentralAfricais
of provethat the teritory ofthe Pygmies str€tched
the beehive hut (seerespectivelySchumacher at that time rather far to the northeast theof

6. Rahmann THE PHILIPPINENEGRITOS
/
ljocan continent, even to the s€a.The second Thelast scholarlyconcem about the Pygmies
'her :,jint is that these Pygmieslived on sea shells beforemodem times,namely that ofAugustine
NCI
.rJ Ush washed ashore. This seems to be a and Albert the Great was, in a vaguesense, aof
Le .-rod example of the ability of foodgathercrs racial nature. This was the uppernost concem
he : adapt themselvesin their economic life to again, but now on a modem scientific basis,
)al : _.3 cnvironment. after the rediscovery of the Pygmies by
:r- Ir is of special inte.est that St. Augustine Schweinfurth; and this concem reflected the
|rlt -+30) and St. Albert the creat (+ 1280)also prevailing scholarly atmosphereof the second
-,1 some knowledgeol the existence half of the last century. It should, howeve., be
en of the
)y l gmies.Augustine (The eity of Cod, XYL8 noted that in spite of the modem scientific
n- ::jkons them amongthe human monstrosities approach, it look some time belore the racial
,r.i asks whether they are descendantsof peculiarities of the foodgathererswer€ more
'. rh and ultimarcly of ALlam. clea.ly seen.A better understandingwas gained
ld Alberr sees in
' :m. after some hesitation, beings only after some erToneous
ft that are to views had been ex-
- placed (of cou6e, not in the senseof the pressed; this should be a consolation ano ar
- rdem theory ofevolution) between man and the same time an incentive to humility for
d.
'': b.ute animal.Apparently,
n thesetwo great scholarsof our day-
v :.istian thinkers faced the theologicalproblem The staiing point was the biogenetic law
1 : iow the existence sucha racewould be
of advocatedby Emst Haeckel(then accepted
a :npatible with the universality redemption
of but later rejected), according to which each
' Christ,the SecondAdam. Le Roy remarks human individual repeats in the development
-;-rl (p. 12) that Augustire looks at the ol his body the development the human
) of
9 -:ition solelyfrom a dogmatic viewpoint. raceassuch (ontogenyrecapitulates phylogeny).
From the beginning of the seventeenth Applying this soralled law, the Swissanatomist,
t -.-tury until about the middle of the last J. Kollmann, advocateda specialevolutiona.ry
-,:rurv. the Pygmiesare occasionallymen- theory. According to him the oldest racesof
,s r:d in travel reports; but this had no effect mankind were dwarfish or. pygrnaean. was lt
, . : r the scientific world. This changes sudden- lrom lhese shorl-slatured rvces thar the tall
t .:rer the re-discovery the African Pygmies
of racesslowly developed,and this in such a way
-. Srhweinfurtlt. that each pres€ntday tall race was prcceded
by a correlatedpygmy race; and Kollmann con-
sidercd the pygmies of our time the last rem-
F,rr the precedings€ctionof this article see
..:e.lallyGusinde1962:21l-224, Royca.1900:
L€ nants of the o.iginal pygmy .aces (Schmidt
:.:I l. andSchebestaI938:l-l4i furthermore Wotf l9l0r2). Father Schmidt was also of the
-l: 445-514, Hennig1944:357-361, Fischer opinion that the Pyfrny peoples rcpresent an
r:i l-37 and 1958:61l{14, andScheb€sra 1957: infant stageof the human race. ln bontrasr to
: -: l:. Kollmamn, however, he assumed that therc was
J,rhn GaFan, with whom a larse parr of this
originally only one uniform Pygmy race (cf.
,i:r,lc will deal, devotesChaprer32 (seeAppendix
;'rlrd)ofhis manusc.ipr the PhilippineNegiitos Schebesta 1938, I:217. Here as in the para-
on
' rhe knowledge of
the Egyptiarls and to the graphsimmediately following, I use some per-
. r.*ledge as well as (fabulous) stories of other sonal notes which I compiled about twenty
..jrent peoplesabout Pygmy races,and, further- years ago). It may be added that Father
-rR. to the existence reat or allaged
of Pygniesin Schmidt's view in this matter wasprobably(as
ir lime. In his article of August 1934 (s€e in the cas€of Augustineand Albert the Great)
i.:lirences) Garvansivesas the date of the above,
-entjoned l€tt€r of the pharaoh ca_4400 B.C.;
infl uencedby theologicalconsiderations.
'--.at it was written "some
6334 yean ago." ln Opposed to Kollmann's (and W. Schmidt's)
liapter 32 of his manusc.ipt(Bomemann's mrcre views were those of anthropologists who saw
:ilm edition), the dateis co.rect. the Pygily populations as the outcome of mcial
degenemtion. Among Kollmann's foremost

7. /
2ro PHILIPPINEQUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
critics arc c. Schwalbe and E. Schmidt. The Philippine Negritos (Aeta) belong to the
best-known advocateof the degeneration Negdtos.
theory is the physical anthropologist and 2. The Negritosare a short-statured bybut Li
pionee! in studieson human heredity,Eugen no meansdwarfish goup of mankind;some
Fischer. is of the opinionthat humanization
He characteristicsexhibit themasNegoid.
could not have taken place in the virginal *
3. Basicto all Negritogroups a (pygmoid)
is
forest. Accordingto him, it took placein the racial complex (dark skin, curly hair,
steppe,and hlst humanbeings
the werehunters brachycephalism, short-stature,
with somcun- i :
of big game. Consequently, the lilb of the differentiatedcharacteristics),
found amonglne
African Pygmiesin thq vi.ginal forest is, in threegroups, although varyingcombinations.
in
the opinion of Fischer,of a secondary naturc, Thercby the similarity of the tacial rmagels
and they developedtheir presenteconomy, accountedfor. -[he differencesresult from li
namely,foodgathedng, only whenthey moved otherracialcomponents throughracialmixture. e-
from thesteppe into the viryinalforest(Fischer 4. The Negritos not a homogeneous
are race. F
1955:1-35). viewis opposed Schebesta
This by Since prehistoric times, racial elementsof F
(1957:24-32). holds that Bambuticulture
He melaresoid, Veddoid, premongoloidand le
is of a primary-primitive nature; i.e., it australoidorigin, together with the negroid I
developed within the virginal forest. But he base, haveentercdinto the constitutionof the n
admits that therc was a mutation towardsa Negrito race. at
bodily pygmaean growth. Rudolf Martin, who 5. The Aeta exhibit morc geographically -
in 1897 did field work among the inland limited groups(localandregional groups), each A
tribes of Malaya(see Schebesta 1952:35), with its typical pattern whilst among the
ageespartly with Kollmann's
the low stature of the Semang
views.He sees in Semang racial mixture strctches horizontally 7
Negritosof throughtheir entfe habitat in a moreuniform
Malayaan originalelementthat waspreserved way.
It
by heredity, and consequently not a folm of 6. The Negritos not Pygmies
are sincethey
t:
degeneration. Like Kollmann,he alsoassumes in their presentdayappearance differ from the
that a ligh age must be ascdbed the low_
to Bambutiin most ofthe charactedstics. Negrito
statureforms of the humanracebut he rejects and Bambuti arc two short-staturcd racesof
the restof Kollmann's conclusions. the neg'oidform complex.
Rudolf Poech (Vienna) distinguished from 7. Thereis, howevera possible geneticcon-
the viewpoint of race five groupsof pygmy nection between the dwarfish more light
peoples: the Southeast Asian Negdtos; skinned and brachycephalic Negrito element
the centralAfrican Pygmies; Bushmen;rne
the with peppercomhair and the brachycephalic
Lapps; the Veddoid. He does not, how€ver, Bambuti component.
assume their racialunity. Among the Negroid Schebesta's morc explicitviewsseem con-
to
peopleshe numbers low-staturc
also the (moun- cur with what A.L.Kroeber wrote aboutten I
tain) peopleof New Guinea. (Thislast assump- yearearlier 1943:41):
( I
tion may be said to have been confirmedby a
It is . - . certain there a close
that is similarity
Gusinde's field work mentionedabove. to As betweenthe East lndian [Southeast t
Asiai]Negdtos
the rest, I refer the reader to the extensive and the Negrillosor pygmy blacksof Cen tral Africa.
(
summaryabout the wholeproblemin Martin- Most studentsaI€ inclinedto identify thesetwo far- I
Saller 1959:79G792) flung groups as membersof the samerace.This of
Schebesta made(1952:458479) thorough
a cou.se makes the queslion of their origin and dis-
study of the poblem of a racialaffinity be- persionstill morc mysterious.
tween the Negritosof Southeast Asia and the Kroeber then goes on to say that "several I
African Pygmies. The main points of his con- theorieshavebeen propounded explanations"
in I
(p.
clusions 478f.) arc: but he did not consider profitableto discuss
it
l. Only the Andamanese, Semang and the tnem.

8. Rahmann THE PHILIPPINENEGRITOS
/ 2ll
the
Regarding th€ term N€grillosused above by Ardrew Lang's vtork, 'fhe Mahiflg of Religion,
(roeber. it is, of course,derived from the French which had appearedin 1898. In his work Lang
by ..{/tll"s (see the title of Le Roy work in rh€
surprised scholarsof England and other parts
?:ferenc€s)which has the same meaning as the
of the world with his assertionthat belief in a
:.rnish ,ejr'or. It has in the meantimebecome
d) _:rrer gen€rally accepted terminology to hilCr god existed among the materially low
speak
ir. r:out Southeast AsianNegdtosand African Pygnies tribes of Southeast Australia and (besides
rr Barnbuti). Schebesta (1938:21?f.) rejects the other peoples) among the Andamanese (cf.
he ::lTn Negrillos. Schmidt 1926:134 ff.). Since the publication
ls. of Lang's book, the question of the belief in
concems Wilhelm Schmidt, hrs m:un the existence of a high god or (still more
m i::rest in the h'gmies did not involve racial sharply formulated) a Suprcme Being among
:-:itions they were for him only the starting the primitive peoples has agitated the minds
:ir:1!-but the culture of these peoples.In of anthropologistsand scholarsspecializingin
_.f :::ircular, his attention was drawn to their the various fields of studiesin religion. Against
J : .... i ln the cistenceof a h igh goJ or Supreme this background it is understandablethat it
ld :..:rg. The data, largely the result of the became Schmidt's resolve to collect all the
-i- re-mentioned field work, whicirhe amassed available data about the high-god belief and
ihis belief among the "Urvoelker" (primor- the religious cults of those peopleswhich werc
-the
) : .. peoples)of the two Americas.of Asia, thouClt1t be
to rcpresentativesof earliest
.h i,llralia and Africa are dealt with in volumes mankind; they arc now frequently called food-
l.: oi his twelve-volumework Der tlrsprurg gatherers(or wildbooters; seeKem 1960).
) :' tiatteli.lee(Schmidt 1926-1935). Volume Laterin hislife Schmidt collected cores-
also the
n .916) is an historical-critical positive
and ponding data about the herdsmen civilzations.
r-,.r ()1 the various theories about the origin Thesedata arc contained volumes
in 7-ll of his
' .:ligion. Ursptufg Cottesidee.
d.r Volume12,posthumously
The last chapter of that volume
:,..i with the cultural-historical method in published F. Bomemann,
by contains synthesis
the
ofVolumes 7-11.
!-:r:ropology. Volume 6 contains the final
. -:')csis. The PhilippineNegritos are dealt Whatever the shortcomings of Schmidt in
. : o n p p . 2 8 G 3 l 7 i n V o l u m e2 ( 1 9 3 1 ) .A t certain respects may be, it cannot be denied
-- -: lime Schmidt had rather that he has iunassedan impressivearnount of
scanty material
.i: :ls disposal,ashe admits in his introductory material about the existenceof the belief in a
-:-rrks. Volume 5 (1934)hasan Appendixof high god or Supreme being among preliterate
i::w pages (800-804) on the Philippine peoples. It is hard to see how Urose anthro-
::nloS. pologstswho cannot find anything but "super-
l--lcre is strong evidence that this specific natural powers" or "supematurals" among
::::.st of Schmidt was aroused through these peoples can do justice to the facts. The
,-.:rli from without. At the beginningofthis acceptance the frequency of the belief in a
of
:,-:un the former Mission bishop in West personalgod (whatever the details about him)
r:::al1 and then Superior C'eneraloi the does not, of course!mean that it is found
:rrgation of the Holy Ghost, Alexandrc [,e among all "Urvoelker" or prclitemte ethnic
: :,. publislredhis Les ltgmdes Nigtilles c!' groups in general.lf Schmidt erred (and which
-:..lre et Ndgritosde I' Asid. Schmldt re- scholar does not? ), the anthropologrstswho
: *:d this work in the first volume of simply reject or ignore Schmidt (and perhaps
' .*.'po{ (l90ot in the very firsl book review never read him) err likewise. It may be appro-
-:rcaring in the new pedodical (pp.389-392). priate to quote herc Schebesta who, although
- :..rreviewScllmiJlgives special prominence very close to Schmidt, was certainly always
' Lc Roy's description
of the Pygmies'belief alert to the necessityoi being objective and
- ' high god (un Dieu peNonelet souve.ain). critical. He states that Schmidt, in his attack
. ,'onnection with this he refershis rcaders to against mechanical evolutionism, may have

9. w
2t2 PHILIPPINEQUARTERLY OF CULTURE
AND SOCIETY
pushedthe high-god belief too vehemently to Th€re is no need of m€ntioning Scheb€sta this
in
the fore but that he (Schmidt)wasperfectly
right with his thesisof the existence a high-
of It was through Bomemann'sefforts that the
god belief among the oldest peoples Garvan manuscript was rcscued from the near
(Akuoelker).He addsthat Schmidt's into which it had fallen.To him we also
Ursprung
frlst, and tluly keen, analysis of Gaffan's
der Cottesidee awarm-hearted
is apolory;how- manuscriptas well as most of what we know about
ever not an apolory for Christianity,but for Gaivan himself. Bom€mann collected these data
primodial man (Urmensch)whom Schmidt soon after World War II in Washington, D.C.. they
did not consider a merc animalbut asfully
as weremainly obtainedfrom the papeBof the former
human (Schebesta 1954:689). Burcau of Insular Affairs (Bomemann 1955:907,
What Father Schmidt (and probably most fooinole 9). The photographicportrait ofGa an,
firsl published by Bomemannand reproducedin
ofthe European anthropologists) not know
did this article,wasalsofound amongthesepapers.
when he madehis appealin l9l0 to study the Garvan'smanuscript is now availablein book
Pygmy peoplesof the earth wasthe fact that form. thanks to the efforts of Father Hermain
rather intensive field work was alreadybeing Hochegger. S.V.D., who undertook the task at the
done on the Negritos the Philippines.
oi Even- sug€eslionof Schebesta, professorduring his
his
tually presumably after WorldWa. I Schmidt seminary days in Si. Gabriel's at Moedling, near
leamedthat therc existedin Manilaa bundle
(Konuolit) of rnantscripts the Negritos. The critical investigationinto the morc recent
on He Negrilo res€aich by my junior Spanishconfrere,
wrote several times to the Bureauof Science Father Azcona,is a hishly €rudite contribution to
but his requeslswere taken care of, as he the subj€ct matt€r. This is all the more admirable
statesironicallyin a footnote,by givinghim no since the author has never been in the Philippines
answer (Schmidt I :280).
193 Perhaps Schmidt's and has. consequently, no field experience
had with
letterswerc passed to Beyer,
on who apparent- t}le N€gritos.For the past two years,in answer a to
ly was not very good in correspondence (cf. requestmade to me, I had beenthinking of writing
this prcs€ntarticl€ but variousother dutiesmadeit
Rahmann Ang 1968:3).
and dimcult to carry out that purpose earlier.Azcona's
extensivestudy, actually his doctoral dissertation,
For the part of this paper that now follows, I has geady facilitated my task and I an profiting
draw very largelyupon two important publications fully from hisprcsentation and insights.
which, because they are written in Crerman, may tr€ In passing, would like to mention that I have
I
prcfered an approach somewhat different frcm that
lessaccessible to a largernumberoJ anthropologists.
Thesepublicationsare Bomemann'sarticle (1955) of Azcona,vE., to "direct attention to the salient
on the Gawanmaterials toSether with his microfilm contributions to the advancein ideas and know-
edition ther€of, as well as Azcona's critical ledge." This was the approachadoptedby Anenio
examination of the more r€cent NeSrito reearch Manuel on the occasion of tJle symposium held in
with special regardto Garvan(Azcona l9?5). honorofH. Otley Beyeron the occasion ofhis 82nd
juncturc it should be pointed out that birthday at the University of the Philippines (Manuel
At this
Azcona implicitly limits the term Nesrito to the 196'7:23.
dark-skinn€d short-6taturedpopulationof the Philip-
pines. Only so can the title of th€ study (the
Philippinesis mentionedinthe title) be corr€ctly
not
understood. However, sucha nanowins down ofthe
term Negritorunscounterto the currently accepted
terminolog/, and an explanationby Azconawould
have b€en desimble. Referencemay be made to III. Negito reseatchin tlre Philippines
Kroeber (1943:40 f.) who, however,also includes IIl. A. l. The Bureau Non{hdstian Tribes
of
the short-staturcd people of New4uinea fslprd, and DavidP. Barrows
amongthe NeSrito6 (to8etherwith the Aeta, Semang
and Andamanese). Recendy Geoffrey Benjamin
caled the S€mang "Malayan Negritos" (see I mtissionset uP1901 the U.S.of Non{hristian
InOOctober
"The Bureau
PhilippineCom-
Benjamin's Inhoduction (p. vi) to Schebesta 1973). i'
Tribesfor the Philippineldands." ln view of

10. Rahmann THE PHILIPPINENECRITOS
/ 213
1 this r, Sreat progressthat the new scienceof (marked "Paper Nr. l2l") of
Questionnaire
.-::ropology had made in the United States which I obtaineda copy from Professor Beyer
.t dre
!: ^rrJs the end of the last century it was,so a little over twenty yea6 ago and which is
t lleak. but natural that Ame.icananthro- entitled "Preguntas para el estudioetnologico
! 'lrsts wanted to get as complete possible
as de las tribus." lt is PublicationNo. I of the
.r : .,rurc of the ethnic situationof the Philip- Bureau of Non{hristian Tdbes, and dated
Jata ;--: rrcbipelago. David P. Barrows, the Chief Manila 1901.Thisdate shows that thepromised
!hey c- :l]. Burcau just mentioned, did not let the detailed yllabus as not long in coming.
s w
.r07, E:i! grow under his feet. In December the of Tlle.e are no lessthan 390 questions, num-
not
i:.:. year. l90l, he p;bfished a "Circular of be.edconsecutively, separately each
but for of
ts: rrmation" which contained "lnstructions the 3l sectionsin which they are arranged.
::: 'olunteer Workers" (Barrows l90l). It That the questionnaire wordedin Spanish
was
:.. be assumed that these volunteerswere iseasil, underslandable: in lhe beginning
it was
i::tr;hed to "The Museum of Ethnology, of this century still the better-known language
.irrill History and Commerce" (sec title pagc of the prospective recipients. choiceol the
Tlle
! his : :.reCircularand pp. l5-16). It hardly needs language also shows that an all-aroundpar-
-.rr{ that these instructionswere not con- ticipation of the Filipinos in the large-scale
-:J lo field work among the Negritos. ethnographic
How- endeavor desired expect-
was and
: -.. tl)ey are the first ethnic groupsof which ed.
;.:rows givesa brief surveyand characterization On Augustl, 1912,Beyer wrote a Preface
: .l i.: seealsop. l0 f.). Hc is alsoawarethat to the Prcguntas. statestherein that they
He
:.1. existcnceof these little pcople in tlte were containedin "a mimeographed circular,
sr!h
?.lippines is given an added interestby the of which 1000 copies werc sent out to all
rng ::ij.nce elsewhere similarpygmies"(p. 4).
of ptesidentes municipalities other officials
ol and
::: thcn mentions the Semang the Malay
of throughoutthe provinces." further remarks
He
:.rrnsula, mistakinglycallingthem Sakai,and that it was DeanC. Worcester who prepared
: : .{ndamanesefor whom h€ usesthe name, the original list of questions.Of specialim-
Lirng - i obsolete, "Mincopies." portanceis Beyer'sstatementthat "Over five
hundredmanuscripts were rcceived answer
tn
About the Salai s€eSchebesta 1952:69-72.This to thc questions
that {]lay word hasthe meaninS "follower,retainer,
of
asked"and that ',most of
rependent (p.
associate" 7l). The word is usedfor these manuscdpts are still on file in the
.:rlanddwellers theMalaypeninsula with the
of (but Recordsof the Division of Ethnology." The
r.lusion of th€ Semang). Malaywouldconsider
A recipients the questionnaire
of were,asstated
rI an insult to be called Salai- In an earlier in Beyer'sPreface, besides presidentes
the ol
:nd iublication (1928) Schebesta calls the Sakai"a the municipalities,other interestedpersons
luel tlrange. enigmatical, and primitiv€ race" (see
-
suchas officersof the armedforces,students,
Schebesta l9?3, 2nd edition:13). The nane
Vincopies, whichcame into usetowards €ndof
teachers, Barrows"'Instructions Volun-
etc. for
the
the last cenfury,s€ems stemfrom a misund€r-
to teer Field Workers"in his Circrrarwasmeant
standing(Schebesta l7).
1952: for an even wider rangeof persons, including
inspectors the Insular
of Conslabulary, supenn-
ln the secondpart of his Circular,Barrows tendents of the Department of Public In-
Jves for investigators fewgropportunities"
"of struction, officials of the provincial govem-
nther inclusive "suggestions observations". ments, and other "persons who through
fot
Hefurthermore announces for investigatoN residence investments
that or havebecome familiar
*ho are able "to make an exhau$tive study of with the conditions thercprevailing."I leceived
3ny tlibe, a detailed syllabusis undet pre- from Beyer, togetherwith the pregtntas, orle
m- paration"and that this "will be sentassoonas of the original answe$ by Camilo Abrico,
an p.inted"(p. 9). dated June 13, 1902. h is a point-to-point
of This syllabusmust b€ identical with the answer about the "Mountarn People near

11. 214 PHILIPPINE OF
QUARTERLY CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Valderrama"(Antique, Panay), the second
and anthropology and language, Reed deals with
entry in the Beyer( Holleman)Collectionon them in Appendix A and Appendix B res-
the Negritos(seeAppendix I of this paper), pectively.
Here,the questioninevitablyarises to what
as In Appendix A, Anthropomo.phic Measure-
happened thoseanswers this leads to
to and us ments (pp. 75-77), Reed gives the measure-
the matterof the BeyerCollection; however, ments on 77 individualson standingheight,
before we deal with it, WilliarnReedmust be spanof arms.l."ngthof nosc,breadthof nose,
givendue attention. nasal index, and length of ear. lt is rather
obvious that in making these simple measure-
IIl. A. 2. William Reed
A. ments. Reed followed the instructions of
William Reedwas one of the earliest mem- Barrows(cf. Barrows 1901:10).ln general, it
be$ of the Bureau oi Non{hdstian Tribes may be said that Reedwas awareof the defects
(cf. Azcona:209). the strength the field
On of of his study. ln his Prefacehe states(p. 9) that
work he pursuedduring the months of May the short time at his disposal for the in-
and June 1903 (Reed l905r9), he wrote a vestigation is his "only excuse for the meager
monograph the Negritos Zambales
on of which treatment given some lines of study-as, for
was published underthe auspices the Bureau
of example, physical antluopology aad language."
upon the recommendation Albert Emstof In Appendix B, Vocabularies (pp. 79-83),
Jenks, Chief of the EthnologicalSufley. It Reed states in the introductory part (p. 79)
appearcd in 1905 in Volume tl of d1e thal the Negritosof Zambales "seem to have
Ethnological fl)eyPublicat
S iot1s. lesl entirely their own l-gtguageand to have
If 6ne consideB little time whichReed
the adopted that of the Chdstianized Zambal."
could spcndin gathering information
his and Beforemi iiig this statement,Reed refersto
the still rather unsatisfactory state of know- his previous remarks the language
on situation
ledge aboutthe foodgatherers gcncral,
in Reed's in Zambales: theserem.rrksare lbund on p. 28f.
work must be rated as a remarkable achieve- There. Reed expresscs his opinion that the
ment.As far asthePhilippine Negritos con-
are Sambalimposed their Ianguage the Negritos,
on
cemed, wasthe richest
it coherent outcome of and that they did so "thorougi y". Oneol the
the research work organized sponsored
and by evidences a former closecontact between
of
the Bureau Non-Christian
of Tribes. the Negritos and the Sambal, as Reed seesit,
(
Azcona 1975:209) a briefparagraph
has on lies "in the fact that the Neg tos of southem
Reed.After statingthat the results Reed's of Zambales who llave never personally come in
field work are mainly descripLions the of contact with the Zambal but only with the
material culture, goes to saythatphysical
he on Tagalog also speak Sambal with some slight
anthropologyand language not covered
are at v a r i a t i o n s... "
all ("ueberhaupt nicht behandelt") that and The (Malay)Sambal "much the smallest
are of
just as little attentionis givento the spiritual Christiai
therecocrized nationaliti€s." habitat,
Their
culture. Finally, so Azconaremarks, there are th€ Province Zambales, "somewhat the
of is off
no references ("Hinweise") sociallife and
to main tracks of communication," and they came
social structure (political organization, kinship, underthe Spanish "considerably thanthe
rule later
otherChristianpeoples. miShtbeexpected,
As they
andlegalsystems.).
thereforelag somewhat behind in their Seneral
About this criticism of Azconail must be advancement" (Kroeber 1943 :59).
said that it is largclyunwafiantable. although
lit must be admittedthat Reed's treatment ol Even now. what Reedhas to say about the
the various aspectsof the culture of these ., rssumed exislencc of a egrilo language in
Negritosis not asthoroughasmight havebeen Zambalesand the neighboring areasmay be of
desirable. llre casc llrr Negrit,rs'
In of spiritu;i/ interest. He himself secms rather inclined to
culture, Azcona himself refers pp. 6l-64 in'
to assumethat res€archinto an eventual original
Rced's monograph.As concems physical lanSuage these Negritoswottld not leadvery
of

12. Rahmann fiE
/ PHILIPPINENEGRITOS 2t5
t -- Rccd (p.
writes 29): when peaceably scatteredthrough their mountains
.rth
eachhead of a family is a small autrocratand rules
[i rcs- Clos€study and specjal investigation the
into his farnily and thos€ofhis sonswho elect to rcmain
:::rinics of this region,carriedalsointo Bataan
with him. Whenhe dies the oldestson becomes the
:::: across mountain
the into Pampanga Tarlac,
and head of the lextendedl family. Usually,however,a
-:v throw more light oo this very interesting and
Sroup of familiesliving in one locrlty rccognizes
--:onant subjectand may revealtracesof an
: lsIt, one man as a capitdn. He niay be chosenby the
::rnal Negritodialect. Prominent nalives Zam-
of presidentof dre nearest pueblo or by the Negdtos
:..ri. whomI have questioned, who arefamiliar
and quick to rccognizein this way
'llller thenselves, who arc
- : r rhcsubject,
affirm Uratthe Negritos knowonly superior abiliry or geater wealth. The capit6n
:iure- : . Jialectof Zarnbal.Iidecd those not lacking
are s€ttl€sdisputes betweenfamilies.
r.i ol - r believe a blood relationship
in between the
r.11.
lt :Jilos and the Zambal, lhis beliefcannotbe
but
:: JCIS
May it also be briefly mentioned that the
ihat q.ed then gives a comparative vocabulary prcliminaries of a marriage and of the wedding
-' in- ,-: 30-ll3)of onc hundredentries(with some ceremonies of the Negritos of Zambales des-
:: rijions) tbr Zambal of Bolinao.Zambalof cribed by Reed (pp. 56-60) have their parallels
,. io, -:: Znnbal-Aeta, Z.unbalof SantaFe, Aeta of among other Philippine Negritos.
:-rra. Aeta of BataanProvince,Dumtgat of Reed's desc ption of the &ligi-on of the
r-5 ),
3
-q !-.".'an Province. The choiceol Reed's words Negritos of Zarlbales (under the heading
. ) r,: not his own. Thesewords were taken as "Superstitions")/appears to be somewhat in-
i i r i s t a t e o n p . 8 3 , f r o m M o n t a n o1 8 8 5 , n d
s a a-dlqlate in spilc of its relative lenliir
:: :t manuscripts c. J. cooke and E. J.
by (pp. 65-67). However,in his vivid description
: rl." i -:-,ns in "The Ethnological Suney" /inl;.lr. of their hunting activities (pp. 44-48), he gives
: to -_ jv case,Reedgavc consideringthe hme he proof (p. 48) of the existence what could
of
-i:::rt lbr his field work amongthe Negritos of bc called a "primitial" sacrifice or "first offer-
:f. Z-:bales. a good degree attention to their
of inc" (cf. Kern 1960:97; Koppers 1952:183).
-:i +age situationr' Tllr pmyer accompanyint the ceremony is
zcona is furthemore, as already stated, of clearly aprayer of thanksgiving.Reed thereforc
: rhe : - opinion that in Reed'smonosaph, any seems to give a partly wrong interyretation
: '. |rDcrs to sociallifc and socialstruclureire whcnhe saysthat the purpose the ceremony
of
:! ii.
-,ing. Ancnt this statementit may be said is to "fe€d and appease"the spirits (p.48;
-- ,i Reed entitles Chapter VI (pp.
55-67): cf.p. 65).
'- ,:neral
Social Life," and in previouschapters May it be said in conclusion that the use of
llrc . icals with suchmattersas t!.oup action in Reed'smonograph is made somewhat difficult
r:I I .-rring (p. 47), as well as with gamesand lor two reasons.The first is that the logical
::r.ing (pp. 49-51) which arc part of social araangement the report is rather poor. The
of
::. Reed might, asalready rematked, not have sccond,that tlle text proper of only 6l pages
:.in tully familiar with that kind of civilization contains 62 full-page illustrations on glossy
: $hich his Negritosbasically still belonged, papcr. Thus. one has to scarcha little for the
:-r .ven so he bearswitnessof the existcnce text pages. Furthemore, Reed'smonogaph
: Ihc local kinshipgroup amongthe Negritos is bound into one volume with Otto Scheer€r's
:: dre then (still) more rcmote areasof Zam- 'l'he
Nabaloi Dialect, uld Edward y. Miller,s
:rlcs. lt seemsto be advisable quote Reed to 'lhe
BatahsoJ I'dldwdtt. Thesehandicapsmake
a. 70) about thispoint at length: the use of Reed'swork in some measutetime-
tle
. consuming. concems Plates,
As the quite a few
lll ThoseNegritos still living in a wild statehave
rery simplegovemment. flrey simplygather
around of them may be uscful for future racial studies
lhe mostpowe ul man.whomthey recognize a as on the Philippine Negritos. Reed was accom-
ilo
sort of chief and whom they follow into raidson panied in his field work by a photographer,
rnal
rhe plainsor neiShborhg trib€sof Neerit6: But (p.
Mr. J. Diarnond 9).
'.'ry

13. I
2t6 PHILIPPINEQUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
III. A, 3. The Beyer
Papers Two eventsintervenedto stop Beyerfrom
goingahead with his plansr onewasan "imti-
We now coms to the matter of the Bey€rPapers. cipatedgovemment on ethnographic
ban work
It is a difficult matter. and one cannot write about in 1914,"accompanied theabolition the
by of
it withoul the fe of making mistakes.Father existing machinery (ethnologicaldivision of
JosephBaumgartner givenme considerable
has help the Burcau of Science, elimination of
for this part of the articl€; however. any mistakes re-
employees and closingof the museum). The
main mine. I do hope that this whole article,but
especially this sectionot it will, in spile oi all short-
other was Beyer's appointment the newly
to
comings,be a contribution to the history of Philip- createdchair of Anthropologyand Etltnology
pine ethnotogy. lt is my tunher hope that other, at the University the Philippines.
of
in pariicular younger Philippine r.nthropologists, By 1917, with tlre routine work ofteaching
will takeup the mattr ed shedfurthcr light on it. and administering departmentfairly well
his
settled, Beyer was able to resumewherc he
The first question that a-riseswas already had left off in 1914. As he remarks(preface,
introduced above, viz.: f)id the Barrows papetr ilrtd.) "the impetusof ttre freshstad in Lgl?
become part of the Beyer Papers? There seems wassuchtllat during l9l8 and 1919no less
to be little doubt about the matter. As Beyer than forty-five volumes of text and plates
was to explain in his introduction to Set 20 werecompleted boundupJand a number
and
ol the Philippine Ethnographic Serles (Manuel of other volumespartially prepared''(Manuel
1958:48),henceforthPES, "There wastumed 1958:47f.). Eventually therewouldbe a total
over to me at this time [i.e., ca. 19l7] by the of "about 150 volumes"(Manuel1967r24).
Director of Science,to dispose of in whatever According Azcona. 2l l, footnoteI l, the
to p.
manner I deemed best, all of the former re- completed Series consists 165volumes.
of
cords. papers, and corespondence of the old In his 1967 symposiumaddress, Manuel
Bureau of Nonthristian Tribes, The Ethno- briefly speaksabout another collection of
logical Survey, Division of Ethnology, and papers which Beyercompileddudnghis active
Philippine Museum. The massof these papers years. "Philippine '
Customrry Law. comprising
was considerable and tlleir condition deplo- I I volumes, which he editedtogether with Dr.
rable...". F. D. Holleman "a Dutch scholarof inter-
Beyer himself had started collecting ethno- nationalrepute" (ManuelrlrZunoft 1967:26).
graphicmaterial in 19l l. At first his intercst According to Azcona, Holleman came to
was foclrsed on the lfugao, but his searchfor Manila 1930for tlrree
in months;his work was
such matedal gave him a growing "insight into subsidized the American
by Cor-rncil Learned
of
the wealth of important and unpublished data Societies(Azcona l9'75:213. Accordingto
(mostly buried in Govemment and Church rc- Beyer,Hollemanseems havebeenin Manila
to
cords) relating to the neighbodng groups; and 1931. quoteBeyer
We from Manuel (1958:48
at the same time my interest was greatly f. ):
broadened through a clearer understandingof
the extensive inter-relationship and diverse ln l93l . . . the new period of intensivework on
mmifications of the different cultures." As my ethnographicseries was made necessary the
by
Beyer began to cast his net in ever wider customary law investigation-witil Dr. Holleman-
sweeps,an immens€ mass of papers began to which .esultedin the addition of a new ten{olum€
accumulate. The task of siftihg and ordering seton PhilippineCustomary to my ethnographic
Law
seriesdwing that year. In order to adequately get
them also became morc pressitrg.ln response
at and compile the customarylaw material,it was
to this need "a more or lessdehnite and work- necessary proceedwith the working and binding
to
able schemefor collecting information, classify- of my ethnogaphic seriesat an unusuaily rapid
ing and copying it, and finally having it bound rate.The rcsult,ofcourse, wasthe addition ofmany
up in usable form, was developedand put into completed volumesor pap€Nto my varioussets.. . .
execution"by Beyer.

14. Rahmann THE PHILIPPINENEGRITOS
/ 217
':l :.- -: drcngoeson to saythat due to lack of poratedin the Negritovolume. Among these
:iF
':: rrd the shifting of his ilterest to papersis an introduction, written by Beyer,
':k . .i i!g]. he had to suspendany special and a nine-page excerpt from Montano'sdes-
rie -. :r !he ethnograpllic seriesuntilnear the of (J.
cription theNegritos Bataan Montano,
of
- . q3l. trlanuel
addsthat due to Beyer's Rdpport dA1.le Ministre structioll
d'I Publique
.1 .';' ..nrentinPhilippinearcltaeology later
in sur une 'l,ission aux IIes Philippineset e11
rte :-- ::J .thnographicserieshad to suffer. Ilalaisle(Archives missions
des scientifiques
et
-- r:riarial accumulated from year to year litt6raires . . Paris1885); Montano1886;
. cf.
'-:,rrcd in raw form, uncopiedand un- viii).
: :-riLm to the "Philippine Customary
. :: nrr! be pointed out that its relation-
-.: : r.' PESis not entirelyclear.Holleman
-, :',ctcd to solcctpertir)ent materiallrom
- u0 pJplr und I', urJngc ir by regions.
,- ...:i oi llis labors, wllich lasted, already
as
. :-r. J b rc threemonths,arevols.3 to 9
( .jll.ctiorr. Vols. I and 2 were compiled
- : .: hinrsolf, with conlributionsliom his
. -:r rnd l)apc.swrittcn by his students.
I r s . l 0 a n d l l . w h i c h a c c o r d i n got
'h :)uit hrve formed part of the col-
:.'itained. I ilm not able lo ascertaii.
:. i:nilf speaksof l0 volumeslrrpl.r.].
: ) fl)flltarllrand Azconaknow of only 9
. l l f u n u e li r Z a n o r a 1 9 6 7 : 2 6A z c o n a
i
._' I I Ilrc pilrt of Hollemanin the com-
.ork sho!rld not be overestimated).
' r.;'i|l. Ji!r,.iun$r in nlyopinioD
- . -,..r in ordcr to know thc settingin wllich
: .-tnt{) papersappear.The part dealing I I I . B . J o h nM . C a r v a n
. : -' jlrritos is found in vol. 9 of lvlat, for
-- : .-, sake. I shall call the Beyer-Holleman (
L Biodata. Borncmirnn 1955:901f.), who
-iion (hcnccforth/tllc). The materialfor rnadea painstaking searchfor the biodataon
'L,rnrc was drawn liom thc PE.S, 17: set Gdrvan, states that wc poss€ss only a few
.. -- -..Ir. The lattcr consists a total of of vcritled data. Grrvan was born on November
' 'lurncs but vol. 4 consistsentirely of 19, 1875. No reliabledocumentaryevidence
:-: . Vcona docs not say anything about cxistsabout thc placc of his birth. Bomemann
r 1!irich,accordingto Manuel's list con- is iJlclined to assumethat Carvan avoidedmen-
:-:i 'iorc originalreports-Papers 9l-100). tioning his birthplacebccause did not want
he
' , rn!' way, to this material also belongs to draw attention to thc lact tltat he was not
r- --: 107 "Life of the MountainPeoplcnear bom in the Unitcd States. The (U.S.A.)
-i. Ir*n of Ceiinog. lloilo," rby Norberto "Official Rostcr ot the Civil Service of the
!<: :ucvo. Feb. 1924, 18pp. Possiblythis Philippines"mentions for 1904 as birthplace
r' -.:: rs a later addition to 1l-S that was not "Oregor"j tie Rosterfor l9O5 omirs the entry
-. -:^1. at the time the BHC wascompliod. whilst that foi 1907 mentions "lreland."
ri..inr listsin his Biblioefaphy total of43 r Ac(urJing to Bcyur.Crrvan w:rsborn in poor
:::-- -1 isre Appendix I of this article)which, circumstancesin a suburb of Dublin- llr an
_ .::t in the form of extracts,werc rncor- application datedMay 18, l903,tothe (U.S.A.)