Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-22
tanning Man Eating EiIipinos.

'~NttAAAt
------
Tanning Man Eating Fiiipinos.
To civilize race of wild people which
lived III the tops of trees and ran when
ever a white man approached them was
the duty assigned a few years ago 10
Lieut.. +. a. Gilmore, a KALAMAZOO
youth who is serving in the regular ar
my in the philippine Islands. Some of
these people were cannibals.
On the Island of Mindanao, 1100 miles
south of Manila, right on the. equator,
was the place to which Lieut.. GilImore
and II men in his charge were sent. To
reach the three wild tribes he was to
teach the ways of civilization it was
necessary to cut a path $50 miles long
through a thick jungle. Reaching the
place where the 10000 wild people lived,
the young officer established camp. The
savages ran away when they saw the
white men put up their tents.
For three days Liuet. Gilmore sat on
the top of small mountain unarmed,
trying to induce the natives to come to
him, but every advance resulted in Il
wild stampede among the natives. Some
even jumped to their deaN over cliffs,
ly Lieut.. Gilmore discovered that if any
one was seen with the women and chill
dren and were making no effort TO steal
them, that person was regarded as
friendly. Gathering large number of
women and children about him, Lieut..
Gilmore succeeded in reaching some of
the wild men. able to make them I'M
derstand through d slight knowledge of
their dialect, the officer conveyed the
knowledge to the saVages that he had
not come to steal their wives and chill
dren, but to be friends with them and
teach them the ways of his country.
For time they regarded him with fear,
but, seeing that he made no attempt to
steal the women and children, the ma
tiyes began to regard the officer as a
friend
When Lieut.. Gilmore set the slaves
free he nearly produced a revolution,
and it took many months for him to inn
press upon the natives that to capture
and keep women and children in bondage
was wrong
1.-The tribes preyed on one another" he
said in a report. ut was a case of the
survival of the fittest Men from one
tflDt Wuulu Iiidht Idlu Oh diiOtlitT, MIL
ing off the men and capturing the wo-
men and children. The successful tribe
would take the women and children back
to its district, and place them in slavery.
lone of the things that aided Inc
greatly in my work was the fact that
not one of the three tribes in the interior
of the island had chief or leader. They
seemed to live in groups, marriage be-
ing the only thing which held the groups
together. The tribes were known as the
Mandayans. Divavans, and Mauguan-
gans. In the three tribes there were
about 10000 people. We succeeded in
getting to about 10000 of them.
Our first object was to get the wild
men and women to live in settlements.
When We first went into the interior the
natives We're scattered all over the
island. You were liable to find one of
their homes in the trees anywhere. They
lived on game, vans. and mountain rice,
the women and slaves being forced to
do all of the work. Each man had sew
eral wives. Each wife had separate
piece of ground to cultivate. The hus-
band did not permit his wives to work
together. We showed them how to raise
othti Nt6tldDltS btSiut y ANS, anu tOlH
them how they could do their work
easier.
The natives had not the slightest idea
of money. If a silver piece fell into the
possession of one of the islanders the
money would be beaten up into some
kind of an ornament. We told them how
money could be used to trade for clothes,
beads, and other articles they liked. The
natives had no idea of what trade
meant and for time it was a difficult
task to teach them how to buy and sell
in one of the villages, after it had
been established, some one got into one
of the houses and took $3.50 in silver
that lay on a box Beside it was $500 in
bills. Only the silver was taken, the
thief not knowing the value of the paper
money. The natives were called togeth-
er and told about the theft and the
wrong in taking property that belonged
taken up and the $3.50 returned to the
| owner. The natives were told that if
another theft occurred. they would be
forced to assist in paying back the
| money. No other theft ever occurred in
that village
AS far as known, Lieut.. Gilmore was
the first white man to visit the interior
of the island of Mindanao.