Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-19
PHILIPPINE PYGMIES
Some Curious People Of Our
New Possessions.
ARE CAVE JEWELLERS
OFTEN THE SLAVES OF CHRIS
TIANS AND MoRoS.
Have Many Queer Observation-Disclosures
and Marriage-Are Great
Hunters.
ARE CAVE JEWELLERS
Copyright, 1902, by Frank G. Carpenterl

Copyright, 1902. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
Written for The Evening Star.
Have you ever heard Of Uncle Sans
pygmies? They are to be found in the
wilds Of the Philippine Islands, and they
are wilder and more savage than the re-
gfons in which they live saw something
Of them during my stay In Luzon and I
give you here an unpublished chapter from
my note book written in the heart Of their
country.
II am in the land Of the Negritos, in the
Zambales mountains, in the wilds Of west
ern Luzon. Trees as big around as hogs
head and two hundred feet high tower
over me. A dense jungle Of tropical vege-
tation surrounds me and the clear waters
of mountain torrent make music as they
tumble over the rocks through a gorge at
my right The air is filled with strange
sounds and strange odors. Orchids by the
millions hang from the trees, and monkeys
gibber at me from the branches.
Il am with Gen. Fred Grant on an in
spection tour in the land of the Negritos,
but the forests are SO dense that We see
but little Of them and the little brown
men flee at our approach. They hide be-
hind the rocks and peep out at the troops
as we pass. They dread the Filipinos as
well the Americans, and 1t is only now
and then we can get near enough to learn
much about them. Not far from our
camp is a hut in which two Negritos lie
dead. and on our way up the mountains we
and then pass their little shacks and
caves. We have a party Of scouts going
In front of us to prevent ambush. and
now and then the scouts meet the Negri-
tos. The little brown men look at them
from a distance, but generally scamper
they approach. The result is that it is al
most impossible to get pictures of them in
Ioir c+nt no6 fy1 Hnr,1+ 70
make snap shots of such as are serving
as slaves.
A Nation of Slaves.
Yes, as slaves. The Negritos are a ma
ton of slaves. They are in servitude not
only in Mindanao, but in every one of our
islands. They are owned by both Christians
and Moros. I have already described how
four children were offered to me for $50 in
the lower part Of the Philippine Islands.
The woman who tried to sell them was a
Christian. She had not Mohammedan
hair In her head and I have since learned
that the holding of slaves on that island
is common among the Christians.
at Is the same throughout the archipela-
go. There are planters not far from Ma
Mia who have NegritoS working for them.
I have seen them among the house servants
Of the farmers Of the great central valley,
and in a trip which I made through the
province of Papanga I stopped at sugar
planters house and was there waited upon
by these little Negritos who were in slav
cry. I asked the planter what they were
worth. He told me they had cost him
about 500 apiece and when proposed that
1 take a snapshot of one Of them he con-
scented. The boy I selected was named
Manuel He was nineteen years old, but no
taller than our boys of ten. He was hardly
three feet in height, was as dark as stove
backing and his little round head was COW
cred with black curls. His master proposed
that he pose for the camera, but as soon
Manuel fled with terrified howl and he
not in sight during the rest of my
stay.
IT succeeded, however, in getting photo
gra phi of Negrito slave nurse girl and her
little Filipino master and mistress. The
little slave seemed to be on an almost even
footing with the planters children, and I
am told that this is the case in most fam-
lies The slavery is seldom onerous or
cruel
MANY of the Negritos so sold are orphans
There are no asylums for such little ones
in the woods, and the head men of the tribe
turn them into money by selling. Other
slaves are taken in battle by the stronger
Of the savage tribes, and some children are
Sold I am told. by their parents. 1t is
only the little ones that are so disposed Of"
Uncle Sans Pygmies.
But who are these Negritos?
They look much like the pictures of the
dwarfs which you find in books of African
travel, and they are, so far as know the
only race Of dwarfs outside the Dark Con-
tinent. Many Of them, when full grown,
are SO small that they can walk under the