n in the
confessional, because of their fear of the reprimand that surely awaits
them. I have talked to many about these things, some of whom at the
beginning began to laugh, and to joke about the poor fools who put
faith in such nonsense. But when they saw that I was treating the
matter seriously, and with the spirit of inquiry as a real thing,
they changed their tone, and made no difficulty in assuring me of
the existence of the fabulous beings described above....

"The second class consists in various practices, like that of burning
incense under the balete tree; putting ashes at the door of the house
where a person has died, in order that they might recognize the tracks
of the soul of the dead one; leaving a plate for the dead man at the
table, etc.

"When Don G. Pineiro went to Culamba in 1841, for the purpose of
climbing a lofty mountain, he encountered innumerable difficulties
in getting people to accompany him, in spite of the orders of the
superior government; and he had to desist and climb from the village
of Los Banos accompanied by the cura, who had the road opened for
him. The reason for that, as the said religious assured me, was the
fear of the Filipinos for the anito, although the excuses that they
offered were quite different.

"In the said village of Los Banos, they believe that there is an
antinganting in one of the hot water springs, which has water at 67 deg.
Reaumur. This consists in the Divine Child, who appears and hops
about in the water on Good Friday; and he who catches Him obtains
the antinganting. This last year, 1841, a man tried to get too near,
and fell in. His entire body was scalded, and he was bled; but not
one drop of blood could be drawn from his body, and he died on the
following day.

"The third, and to me the most remarkable, class is found not in
certain personages or superstitious and determined proceedings, but
in sudden and capricious scenes, and in improbable and inexplainable
apparitions.

"There is scarce a Filipino, even the most enlightened, who does not
tell marvelous things that have happened to him--wondrous visions,
mute and speechless; ghosts, goblins, strange figures; dead people;
dogs, and fabulous and never imagined animals; castles, and balls of
fire, that have appeared to him; frightful noises of all sorts that
have scared him; and, finally, the most improbable stories and bits
of nonsense that could be invented by the most raving maniac.

"On hearing t