The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-05-26
FILIPINos AND SHARES.
Islanders Play Weird Melodies on q
Crude Flute.

/ In general, it may be stated that the
Filipino Indians are passionately fond /
Of Music. Some play the guitar or
mandolin, others the metal wind IN
struments, many the flute the violin, the
anti anti the sifion, the langueta, the
rave; but the flute or pitO of wood and
the pitO Of cane are the favOrites, and,
with the raves, are the characteristic
| Instruments Of the Indians who live In
the native settlements and form tribes
/ in the mountains.
The pito of cane is of especial interest,
! because it is the instrument by means
of which lovers are able to communicate
I with each other. It consists OF a small
/ piece of cane with tongue cut some
Z hVe centimetreS from knot, forming
/ the closed end. This tongue is seraped
until it is as thin as thick paper. Three
/ holes two centimetres apart, are cut
! in the cane.
The Indian places the reed ii his
mouth so that his lips cover the reed
! tongue, and with his finger covers or
1 uncovers the holes as he plays. With
/ this pito of cane he plays Waltzes,
/ polkds, schottisches and everything that
] he hears after hearing an air once. Upon
] this instrument he also makes MS pray
/ ers and suoplic2tiOns.
The pfto of cane serves, the Indian for
! all his festivals and merrymaking, and
particularly for serenadfng his sweet
! heart in the hours OF the night; above
+ all to announce to her from afar his
/ approach. Between them there IS
melody agreed upon beforehand and g.
/ code for conversing together.
/ The Indian plays his melody from
! afar, and at the end sounds a certain
note or series Of notes. asking her II
] she can come to him at the rendezvous
agreed upon between them She replleS
with the notes previously arranged for
the answering call The meaning OF
/ the notes is known to them alone.
When the parents Of an Indian maid
en- object to her keeping company with
her lover, and do not allow her to so
out, the two use pitos for eonversing
together. Beforehand the Indian has
taught his sweetheart a species of dia-
logue, or vocabulary, for conVerslng
without anybody being able to under
stand them. TRANQUILITY, therefore, IN
their cabins the two draw their pltoS
and begin to question and reply to each
other a much as they wish. That IS to
say, with the pitO the Indian forms an
alphabet and syllables.
The Indians in general are charmers
of reptiles; in particular, the
IgOrrOte youth of the GWiangan, who
live in settlements or tribes and in
Ia bit the mountains. These Indians
are almost all semi-savage, and when
they are maddened the only thing
which Will calm them is music. 1t is
a custom of theirs to spend hours in
tall trees, it may be, playing some
melancholy refrain with the wooden
flute, or playing warIike airs with the
pito of cane.
When in their wanderings they meet
a snake they Immediately raise the
pitO of cane to the mouth and play a
particular air to call to their help the
spirits Asnany, Alfalfa and Anani
They believe that on playing the fav-
Orite air Of the spirits these come run
ming to them. and that their touch
makes reptiles insensible.
Without fear the Indians approach
the snake and play on the wooden
Z a. ~
the snake. Then with small switch
in the right hand they give the snake
light blows on the head, without
w0unGing it. until it becomes leth-
argic. Instantly they seize it and
place it in a leather bag.
Having so captured a snake, they
carry it to their hut, placing it i'm
mediately in a depository to domesti-
cate it, and at the sound of music to
make it dance before the public and
in their family diversions. The recep-
tacle or depository is an eartllen jar
meter high. with a circumference Of
1.50 meters. This Jar has two handles.
To one Of them the cover is fastened
with thongs of leather. The cover is
/ crossed with thick fbers of the palma
bravo (wild palm) in the manner Of a
net.
The cover is of circular form. and
made, likewise. of the wild palm; this
wood is so hard that a lion cannot
break it with his teeth. It has q han
die like that of the jar, into which it
/ fastens.
The reptiles eat once a month, and
their meal consists of wild pigeons,
magpies, parrots and little monkeys At
/ times, when the Indian charmer is sick
/ or hunting on the mountains, or away
warning with another hostile tribe, and
! has forgotten to give the snakes their
meals at the proper time, they become
so lethargic that they appear to be
! dead.
/ When the Indian arrives with the
provisions and sees them in such a
| state he sprinl1les them with nipa palm
/ alcohol. draws his pito of cane and
plays it, changing the airs until the
( reptiles revive Sometimes it happens
/ that he finds remaining only one or two
/ Of the largest and most ferocious; the
| others have isappeared-eaten by the
1 big ones. This, however, rarely hap
/ pens.
| TIE Indian snake charmers are beIiev-
\ ed by the Spanish to possess a certain
/ power of naesmerizing all kinds Of rep
/ tiles, and to be able to do with them
I whatever they wish. There has never
| been, it is asserted. a case in which
! a charmer has been bitten by the
| stakes which he carried with him for
/ his exhibition, or by those he frequent
/ " encounters on the mountains and on
| the banks of the streams and rivers
| The Indian earns money by the exhi-
l bition Of his snakes. He has them