The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-09

soon bring his business to a close. That
picturesque looking, fierce eyed pirate
of the south sea will soon pass away,
and his proa, felucea, venta' and pontine
Will be things of the past in very short
while.
But, generally speaking, the native OF
the Philippines is not a wild and blood
thirsty barbarian. The Islander, as
rule, is a mild, amiable and more or
less hospitable person, much given to
beliefs and predisposed to
religious =Observances. The aborigines
of Batangas, Cagayan and southern 1lo-
cos are better and more Industrious la
borerS than those of the other prov
inces, but nowhere is the Philippine Is
lander remarkable for his activity
Foreigners, as rule, are only too ready
to drop into wholesale condemna tor
of this trait of universal Incidence. But
it must be remembered that the warm
moist climate of the islands is an ex-
tremely enervating one and that even
the most active of Europeans soon eX-
hibits a strange languor after o. few
months sojourn in the country.
Another thing to be borne in mind is
the fact that nature in the Philippines
is so luxuriant and prolific that little or
no labor is required of the native to
supply his daily wants Clothing is
practically unnecessary for the aborig-
inc in his unsophisticated state, and
food grows in plenty almost without
cultivation. When it is a foregone con-
clusion that the outcome of ones labor
is merely to go toward swelling the
Golfers of band of rapacious foreign
oppresSOrS, there is neither philosophy
nor wisdom in sweating under a b,1rn-
ing sun when one can get along lust
about as well by taking life easy. Even
fighting Spanish infantry becomes tire
some work, and the war weary native
preferred going up to the mountains of
the interior and there eluding the fero
cious taxgatherer, living on roots. vans
and grubs, and at peace with the world
and his heather gods
me native woman, strange to saw,
is invariably the more active of the two
sexes. She has greater mental activ-
lty than the male and often carries on
trading and domestic work with mora
success than the men. Then native
wives sacrifice themselves cheerf,llIv
to whomsoever they may be attached
and even among the lowest type of ma :
tives the marriage vow is held in great
respect.
| The strangest and least known of all
the Philippine races are the Agitas, or
Negritos, so called by the. Spaniarfs
because of their striking resemblance
to the African negro. Three centuries
ago nearly the entire population of the
archipelago was made up of this dusky
skinneds kinky haired race. But cen
i tury by century they have been dwin-
ding away, and now there are but some
10000 of them left, these hiding them
selves away from contact with whites
in the mountains and more obscure
corners of the different islands Tn
their mountain homes they have re-
| tanned all their primitive aboriginal
traits and have for centuries kept uu q
continual warfare. either among them
selves, or; failing in this, with any BODY
of natives bold and foolish enough tn
stand against them.
In appearance the Negritos are so
small that they have often been de-
nominated dwarfs. Their dress con-
sists OF fringe of plated bark wrapped
about the loins, with copious tattoo or
lamentations. They make no attempt
at agriculture, preferring to live on fish
and game. wild honey, roots and sage.
Their weapons are spears and bows and