Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-09-02
LIFE IN THE PHILIPPINES.
The Easy Going Natives and Their Large
Families.

The seekers of strange Isodes of life and
the student of the habits OF people who
have had little contact with civilization
and have primitive homes can be satisfied
by visit to almost any Of the other larger
islands than Luzon In the Philippine
archipelago, us, for instance, Negros, Pala-
wan, Mindapao and Salnas. In any Of
these islands there can be found tens of
thousands of natives who like generations
of their ancestors, have never left their lit
tie island homes and have not the fainteSt
idea that there is any world beyond their
islands. Here the race is mixed and the
residents are almost of rs light complex
ions as the residents of Manila. The
young men and women are comcly, and u
great many of the women between the ages
of 10 and 20 are of striking beauty On
many islands there live the Bocals, who
are supposed to BIO the aborigines of the
archipelago snd to be of Malay origin.
They are an interesting race for any an
thropologist to study. Travellers who have
trotted about tho globe say that the Bocals
in the Philippine Islands and the Panays
in Borneo are aboUa the LATEST people that
live. They do absolutely nothing that is
unnecessary for living and dreaming
children in a house and >here are null
titudo Of cases of parents having Is and Is
boys and girls. Every family has its own
house, but s. will build large and su-
perior bamboo hut, and 81 will make a
better domicile than thousands of the Bo-
Gals own. The whole family, no matter
how numerous, is crowded into one room
at night, the sleepers reclining Oh heaps of
dried banana leaves Strange to -Uy, the
women are clearly people. They batho
every day and are expert swimmers. They
are proud of their teeth and take pains to
frequently polish them with rude brushes
made of the arocn tree. The poorer people
have no other cooking utensils than an
earthcn pot, and the aristocrats have few
cast iron pans and big rough carthen dishes.
The substitute for cotton and woolct
goods is called mouf1ia cloth, and it ic
made from the mouflia plant which is o
species of hemp. The fiber of this plant is
coarse, stiff and not at all pliable. 1t is
she white, inner surface of the long, thin
shoots that is used. The natives pull the
Gber out, wet the finger and twist the
thread, which, as q consequence, is uneven
asal full of little punches. Very little
mr'ltlla cloth is exported from the island,
~ u lltS al cktSuGlNc uOUlcStlC ust. Ii
takes an industrious woman several weeks
to nake u strip of mouffla cloth 10 feet
long md 3 feet wide. Flax being almost
unknown on the islands, the only other
material for cloth is silk. The Philippine
forests are full Of mulberries, and silk was
woven long before wnitc men came to the
islands. Some of the Philippine silk is as
fine rs the finest china silk. Much of 1t is
deliberately brocaded although the process
requires an immense amount of time, MS
the threads which form the pattern have
to be tied up each time separately. The
nambilla, a square piece of brocadcd silk,
forms the principal garment of the richer
natives on the smaller islands. This Is
feet wide by feet long and requires
about II months for its manufacture. A
Philippine weaver takes her child on her
back and weavcs for hHlf an hour, then she
goes down to the stream and draws Jug
Of water or down TO tho scashore for
swim in the surf. After weaving q few
minutes moro, she again goes to the brook
or to the shore and washes out some sin
gle article of clothing, never washing more
than one garment at time, so that dur
ing the day she probably puts in about six
hours at the loom. Manila Letter in New
York Times.