Other women wear blue cotton jackets, in the fronts and back of which are many artistic embroidered designs.  Their hemp cloth skirts, like those of the Bagobo, are made tube-like and are held at the waist by means of belts.  They are very careless about the hang of these garments and one side may be above the calf of the leg while the other drags on the ground (Plate LXVII).  No head coverings are worn, but quite elaborate combs (Fig. 48) are thrust into the knots of hair at the back of the head.  Wooden ear plugs (Fig. 49) ornamented with incised silver plates and with bead and silver pendants fit into openings in the lobes of the ears.  Like the men they wear necklaces of beads, sweet smelling herbs, and seeds.  Many of the latter are considered to have medicinal value and are eaten to cure pains in the stomach.  One or more silver disks are worn on the chest or over the breasts, while anklets, such as are used by the women of the other tribes, are frequently seen.  Both sexes are fond of bracelets of brass, shell, or vines, as well as of finger rings of tortoise shell and silver (Plate LXXI).

FIG. 48.  WOMAN’S COMB.

FIG. 49.  FAR PLUGS WITH BELL PENDANTS.

None of the garments contain pockets, and in order to make up for this deficiency the men carry bags (Plate LXX) suspended on their backs by means of bands which pass over the shoulders.  In these they carry their betel-nut outfits, tobacco, and the like.  Small covered waterproof baskets (Plate LXVIII) serve the same purpose for the women and are carried at the back or at the side.

HISTORY.

Probably no wild tribe in Mindanao has received so much mention in histories, reports, and books of travel as have the Mandaya, but these references have been, in the main, so vague and often so misleading that they are of little value for our purposes.  Quite in contrast with this mass of material are the excellent reports of the late Governor Bolton, and Mr. Melbourne A. Maxey,[1] who for a number of years has been closely associated with the members of the tribe residing in the vicinity of Cateel.  In the preparation of this paper frequent use has been made of the notes gathered by these two gentlemen.

[1] Published in the Mindanao Herald.

When the first white men visited the tribe they found that the neighboring Moro were making frequent raids on their villages and were carrying away women and children whom they sold to the Bagobo and other tribes of the Gulf.[1] At the same time it was learned that they, in turn, were slave holders and were eager to purchase captives from the Mohammedan raiders.  The great distances traveled by the Moro in their raids make it possible that slaves from distant islands may thus have been introduced into the tribe.  Later we shall see that it was difficult for a slave or a descendant of a slave to become a freeman, yet it was by no means impossible, and it is likely that a considerable part of the tribe are descendants of