CHAPTER XVI

Some peculiarities of the customs of the Subanos

The customs of the Subanos or Indians of the mountains there is no reason for relating; for with more hideous extremes they maintain the evils of the Lutaos, while those peculiar to them are, as it were, the brutal creatures among other citizens. But that even will add praises to the changes that have resulted from the skill of the Omnipotent, and to the zeal of the missionaries, by whose means virtue produced the civilized and Christian conduct which now is theirs. Their dress approaches that of the inhabitants of the beach with whom they have communication. Accordingly, those who traffic with Lutaos or Moros dress in their style; while those familiar with the Visayan nations (such as the peoples of Caraga and the coast of Dapitan), through commerce with them, follow their custom. All their government is confusion, and they wage war, not some nations with others, nor one village with another, but all are, as it were, enemies of the human race. Armed against one another, without subordination or greater subjection than what the might and act of violence of the boldest obtained, they had no other laws in their causes that the might of the one provoked to avenge himself; and his rigor, even in the worst cases, was appeased by gifts. Thus when a Subano came to acquire a poor capital that would enable him to pay for a murder, he committed the murder with the greatest safety, in order that he might be enrolled in the number of valiant and to have authority as such to wear a red turban. Because of that barbaric vanity they would kill their best friend, if they caught him asleep or off his guard; for the barbaric courage of these nations does not consider posts of reputation, but those of security. In Caraga there was a more atrocious custom; for, in order to be able to clothe oneself in the dress of the valiant--namely, a striped turban, and breeches of their peculiar style (which they call baxaque) with similar stripes--one must have killed seven men. [69]

The peculiarity of this nation, and the thing that gives them some excellence and esteem, is that their women are more chaste and modest. They esteem virginity, and keep it inviolate, even to advanced age, for the vocation of matrimony. It is true that this virtue is aided by their natural disposition, which furnishes for the defense of chastity their native stupidity and shyness; but therewith they succeed in an undertaking which among Lutaos and the other nations of these islands is rare and difficult indeed. This has secured them so much esteem and confidence in this region that the chiefs of high standing among the Lutaos, in order to guard their daughters more safely, have them reared among Subanos; and they do not take them into the dangerous camp of their own nation unless it is to establish them in marriage, and with that station, in safety, as they think. Among this nation there is a class of men who profess celibacy [70] and govern themselves by natural law, and they are very punctual and perfect in their observance of it; and such is the feeling of security in regard to them, that they are allowed to go about among the women without any fear or suspicion. Their dress is throughout like that of the women, with skirts of the same fashion. They do not use weapons, or engage in anything else that is peculiar to men, or communicate with them. They weave the mantas that are used here, which is the proper employment of women, and all their conversation is with women. Therefore, the purpose of life which they follow comes to be more extraordinary by its peculiarity and by its perils, considering both the nature of that country, and the little regard that they give to their dangers. So satisfied do they live, either from their own purpose or from their natural disposition, that they have never discredited their position with weaknesses. They were, so to speak, hermits of their religion, and were held in high esteem. And in fact the constancy of their life and modesty of their customs, obliged one to have respect for them. In a nation so barbarous and who knew not God, it appears a prodigy worthy of wonder that one of the special providences of His Divine Majesty, to place such examples of virtue in a country where vice had absolute control, so that the experience of the eyes causes them to esteem what God's love did not obtain. I have known two of these men, and one of them I baptized, to my especial consolation, while visiting the coast of Siocon, which extends for twenty leguas from Samboangan toward Dapitan. His reputation reached me in a different village, for in his own they kept him closely concealed, whether it were for the sake of their ancient observances I do not know. Like a holy man of his law, or because of some fear, he also kept himself hidden; for, as he afterward told me, they had terrified him by telling him that if the Spaniards caught him they would put him in the galleys. By that means, to him whom the pathway of salvation was most easy, they filled it with such difficulties that they made it impossible for him. I knew that they would refuse to let me see him for those same reasons, and therefore made use of a trick and of a dangerous resolution, to catch him. For near the village, which was located on the beach in the shade of trees (the poverty of these barbarians not suffering more shelter), and where in a few hours they would suffer from hunger, having them all before me I told them that if the lavia [71] whom they had hidden did not come, then the mass would not begin. Labia is the name they give to those of this profession. The name of this one was Tuto. I added that no one must return to his house until he arrived, and that if he delayed too long, I would go to Samboangan with the chief of the village and the Subanos of importance. That was the same to them as if I were taking them to the galleys; so much does their wretchedness grieve to leave the wretchedness in which they were born, and their lack of intelligence to appear before reasonable people and Spaniards. Without allowing them to talk, or to question whether he was there or not, or where, but assuming that it was a well-known thing, I turned to a relative of the governor, and said to him: "Go for him quickly, for I shall not move from this spot until he comes." He departed without a word, and all of the people remained motionless, staring with fright. When they recovered their equanimity, their whole attempt was to excuse their negligence by empty excuses, which I accepted in order to calm their minds. Inside of an hour I found in my presence him whom I desired so much. He, seeing the love with which I received him, and how differently my purpose was declared from that which his fears gave him to understand, recovered his courage in full, and immediately offered himself for baptism--a matter which I was unwilling to defer, in order that I might leave him with his salvation assured. Consequently, after instructing him briefly, I baptized him, and called him Martin, as that happy lot came to him on that saint's day. [72] He satisfied my hopes and hastened to me every time when I afterward visited his village of Malande, very punctually, and always with some special refreshment both for me and for him who in my company had acted as his sponsor.

The other lavia whom I saw was in one of the Joloan islands, called Pangutara. [73] Him I found to be already a Christian, whom Father Alexandro Lopez, a great apostle of the Joloans, had reduced and baptized in Samboangan, and called Santiago. This man is naturally very well dispositioned and has no moral defects, and he is a man of a celestial peace and serenity. He is always bubbling with laughter, which is the effect of the security of his soul; for, when the conscience has nothing to fear, the heart has gladness to scatter abroad.

I must not neglect to tell one thing that I noticed in regard to the nature of the people of this profession, from what I could gather from the exterior of those two, which seems to me to be the reason that takes them along the pathway so unusual and difficult in a climate so hot, and lands so dangerous (as he who has had experience in these islands, and who knows the wretchedness of their natives in this region, will know). For the physiognomy of those men is that of eunuchs, and their natural disposition and condition are so cold, that it made me think that they must be so naturally, and that nature kept her virtue under control in this region. But since they behave in all other things with so blameless a life, I shall always consider them as prodigies of the divine Providence in favor of virtue. For no one despises virtue as a thing unknown, since even to barbarians virtue is painted in so natural colors that they respect it naturally, without more external credit than their native security.

This sole spark of good morals have I found among the so great darkness in which the Subanos live. However, they have another custom belonging to the same aspect of their lives, so vile that it is sufficient to obscure greater lights than those of that small spark; for among them is more acceptable the exchange that they make of their women with one another--the husbands mutually agreeing upon this exchange, and celebrating the hideous loan and the vile restitution with dances and drunken revels, according to their custom. Their feasts are like their customs, and one is the manifestation of the other.

##