ss them. They have priests who, at their sacrifices, make many
contortions and grimaces, as if possessed with a devil. The first man and
woman, they say, were produced from a bamboo, which burst in the island
of Sumatra; and they quarrelled about their marriage. The people mark
their bodies in various figures, and render them of the colour of ashes,
have large holes in their ears, blacken and file their teeth, and make an
opening which they fill up with gold, they used to write from top to
bottom till the Spaniards taught them to write from left to right,
bamboos and palm leaves serve them for paper. They cover their houses
with straw, leaves of trees, or bamboos split in two which serve for
tiles. They hire people to sing and weep at their funerals, burn benzoin,
bury their dead on the third day in strong coffins, and sometimes kill
slaves to accompany their deceased masters.")

The latter account is more particular, and appears of modern date.

They held the caiman, or alligator, in great reverence, and when they saw
him they called him nono, or grandfather, praying with great tenderness
that he would do them no harm, and to this end, offered him of whatever
they had in their boats, throwing it into the water. There was not an old
tree to which they did not offer divine worship, especially that called
balete; and even at this time they have some respect for them. Beside
these they had certain idols inherited from their ancestors, which the
Tagalas called Anita, and the Bisayans, Divata. Some of these were for
the mountains and plains, and they asked their leave when they would pass
them: others for the corn fields, and to these they recommend them, that
they might be fertile, placing meat and drink in the fields for the use
of the Anitos. There was one, of the sea, who had care of their fishing
and navigation; another of the house, whose favour they implored at the
birth of a child, and under whose protection they placed it. They made
Anitos also of their deceased ancestors, and to these were their first
invocations in all difficulties and dangers. They reckoned amongst these
beings, all those who were killed by lightning or alligators, or had any
disastrous death, and believed that they were carried up to the happy
state, by the rainbow, which they call Balan-gao. In general they
endeavoured to attribute this kind of divinity to their fathers, when
they died in years, and the old men, vain with this barbarous notion,