The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1904-11-29

rote, who dimes on dog meat, and
visitors are entertained by Visayan
actors and actresses Nothing is lack
ing to make the show complete.
The Administration building is "a rep
.lica of the government offices in Ma
Mia, while the Art and Education
building reproduces In miniature the
cathedral within the walled city, even
the mellowed tints Of age being faith
fully rendered A section Of the an
cient but still serviceable town wall
has been reconstructed to serve the dou-
bic purpose Of a gateway to the show
and museum Of arms and war relics.
The other main edifces are types Of
Filipino homes, being built of undress
ed timber, bamboo and rattan, with
thatched roofs and broad verandas
Then there are the tribal villages
Nesting under the trees, some of the
houses perched high up among the
boughs, others on piles above the wa
ters of the Arrowhead lake, all of them
actual dwellings fashioned of native
materials by native workmanship and
illustrating the manners, customs and
pursuits Of their occupants. Here are
women weaving a coarse cloth on a
rude hand loom, others making bas-
kets, others tending irrigated fields Of
rice. One group of men are in village
council, trying an offender according
to their tribal laws; others are slowly
moving in circular dance to the thump
Of tomtoms and the clang of brass
gongs; others, again, are smelling iron
by the aid of primitive but most in
genious bellows, the constituent parts
of which are a bamboo tube and an air.
tight mop Of feathers working therein
like the piston Of a syringe. And these
are but few Of an almost endless va
iety of life pictures. @
The chronological problem is a some
what complicated one; but, although
there are no fewer than sixteen races
represented among the village dwellers.
the scouts and the constabulary each
race speaking its own dialect and fol-
lowing its own customs, all may be
roughly classified into four groups
the true aboriginals or non-Malays, the
pagan Ma1ays, the Christian Malays
and the Mohammedan Malays.
. The first are the dwarf Negritos with
dark skins and woolly heads, wearers
Of scanty raiment, proficient in the use
Of the bow and poisoned arrow. a race
of nomads and forest dwellers,s pagans
pure and simple. They live in their
own stockaded village.
Next to them are the Igorrotes,
whose origin is traced back to the first
wave Of Malay invasion. Here. again.
we have scanty clothing. amounting
almost to nudity, but copper colored
skins, long wavy tresses. pleasant fea
tured faces and fine physiques, even
though the stature be small Among
these pagan Malays are the head hunt
ers and the dog eaters. They are saw
ages, yet have their code Of laws and a
knowledge of several primitive indus
tries.
The Christian Malays. produced by
the second wave Of invasion. are fep-
resented by the Visayans,s a. tail and
handsome race, dressing well. living in
pretty homes, skilled in weaving, dye
Ing, basket making, hat making, wood
carving and other handicrafts. musi-
clans Of no mean merit. the one group
of natives who came early and thor
|oughly under the influence of the early
Spanish settlers.
Very different are the Moros, who.
swept into the islands from the Malay
peninsula last of all, bringing with
them their NJ Mohammedan religion. also
q knowledge Of gunpoWder acquired
with the Koran from the Arabs -fana-
tics like their teachers. pirates, blood
thirsty treacherous and vindictive felsss