Note 31 — Letters from Father Mateo Gisbert to the Reverend Fathers and Brothers of Veruela

The Mamanuas (man-banua, “inhabitant of the country”) are the true indigenous aborigines of the country.31 Their color is dark, and their hair is oily, woolly, and curly. They are nomadic and go naked. They pass the night where it overtakes them, taking shelter under an improvised hut of palásan32 or of any tree branch. Their food is the fruit and the roots of the forest and the flesh of deer, boars, monkeys, snakes, and reptiles. Their weapons are the bow and arrow, spear, and knife. They have an idea of God and of a worship, as well as some maxims of natural law. They are timid, and miserable creatures, moved by necessity, and loving of ease. They inhabit the small peninsula of Surigao and extend to Tago through the mountains. Their chiefs generally contract marriage with the Manobo women. This race is almost extinct in consequence of the privations incident to their wandering life. Four small villages of Mamanuas exist in the parish of Mainit and another in that of Gigáquit. The total number of this tribe does not exceed two or three thousand. Those baptized number about five hundred. In the map they occupy color number 2.