Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-20

now and then the scouts meet the Negritos.
The little brown men look at them from
a distance, but generally sCamper as they
approach. The result is that it is almost
impossible to get pictures of them in their
savage state, and | find it difficult to make
snap shots Of such as are serving as slaves.
Nation of slaves.
Yes, as slaves. The Negritos are a
nation 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. | have already de-
scribed how four children were offered to
me fer $50 in the lower ps:; OF The Philip
pine Islands. The woman VINO tried to sell
them was a Christian. She had not n
ohammcd hair in her head and | hav,
since learned that the holding of saves
on that island is common among tn,
Christians.
1T Is the same throughout the archi-
pelago. There are planters not far from
Manila who have Negritos working for
them. / have seen them among the house
servants OF the farmers of the great central
valley, and in a trip which | made through
the provinces Of Papanga | stopped at a
sugar planters house and was there waited
upon by these little Negritos, who were in
slavery. / asked the planter what they
were worth He told me they had cost
him about $40 apiece, and when | proposed
that l take a snapshot OF one of them he
consented. The boy / selected was named
Manuel. He was 10 years old, but no
taller than our boys of 10. He was hardly
three feet in height, was as dark as stove
backing and his little round head was
covered with black curls. His master pro-
posed that he pose for the camera, but as
soon as the instrument was pointed at him
Manuel fed with a terrified howl and n
was not in sight during the rest of my
stay.
Il succeeded, however, in getting a photo.
graph Of a 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 | am told that this is the case in most
( miles. The slavery is seldom onorous or
cruel.
Many of the Ncgritos 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 SELL
ing other slaves are taken in battle by
the stronger of the savage tribes and some
children are sold, | am told, by their
parents. 1t is only the little ones that are
so disposed Of"
Uncle Sans PyRmIes.
But who are these NegritosZ
They look much like the pictures OF the
dwarfs which you find in books of African
travel aud 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 out
stretched arm OF the Average American
soldier without touching It. | have seen
but lew who are as much as four feet in
height and all are puny, lean and weak
looking. General Fred Grant has made
considerable OF a study Of them and some
q the material in this letter is from con-
versations with him,
Where do they come FROM
The Negritos were here when the Span
iards arrived They have given them the
name OF Negritos. or little negroes, and
that is just what they are. They are
negroes in miniature, negroes 30 small that
one OF the big black fellows OF our colored
regiments could almost swallow one and
not feel uncomfortable. Negroes with
black skins and big features! Negroes with
wide ~nostrlls, thick lips and fiat noses!
Negroes with black. woolly hair. not so
light to the head as that Of the African.
but OF the same wiry texture. They have