The skin of the body is not tattooed or mutilated in any other way, but the eyebrows are often shaved to a thin line, and the teeth are filed and blackened.  Filing was formerly done with small stones but imported files are now used for this purpose.  The coloring is effected by chewing the roots of the anmon vine and applying to the teeth the “sweat” caught on a steel blade, held above burning bark of the magawan tree.  This practice seems to have no significance other than that of beautifying the person and saving the youth from the ridicule of his fellows.  To keep the teeth black, tobacco treated with lemon juice which has stood on rusty iron is chewed frequently.

Despite constant statements to the effect that the members of this tribe are light-colored and the assertion of one writer[1] that at least one division is white, observations made with the V. Luschan color table on more than fifty individuals showed that while certain persons are somewhat lighter than their fellows, as was also the case in other tribes, there is not an appreciable difference in color between this tribe and the others of the Gulf region.

[1] LANDOR, The Gems of the East.  It should be noted that the district from which the white tribe was reported is now fairly well known and there seems to be no reason to believe that the people residing there differ materially in color from the other natives of the island.

CLOTHING.

The ordinary man of the tribe wears a loosely fitting shirt and wide trousers made of white or blue cotton cloth. (Plate LXIX-LXX).  These garments are frequently decorated with embroidered designs and are finished at the shoulders and knees with a cotton fringe.  The trousers are supported at the waist by means of a belt, and below reach nearly to the ankles.[2] An incised silver disk is attached to the front of the jacket, while ornaments of beads, seeds, and alligators’ teeth encircle the neck.

[2] Along the coast this type of garment is now seldom seen, for the men are adopting the close-fitting dress of the Moro.

When on the trail the man covers his head with a little palm bark hat (Fig. 47).  This is sometimes conical, but more frequently is narrow and turned up at the front and back.  Painted designs, betel wings, and chicken feathers make the hat a striking decoration which compensates for its lack of utility.

FIG. 47.  MEN’S HATS.

A class of warriors known as bagam[3] dress in red and wear turbans of the same hue, while women mediums, ballyan,[4] may also make use of red cloth.

[3] See p. 180. [Transcriber’s note:  This is page 167.]

[4] See p. 174.