bows and arrows which he constructs with some degree of skill he has
no ingenuity, and his few other products are of the most crude and
primitive type. The bows of the Negritos of Zambales are superior to
any the writer has seen in the Philippines. They are made from the
wood of the well-known _palma brava_ and are gracefully cut and highly
polished. The strings are of twisted bark, as soft and pliable and
as strong as thongs of deerskin. Although made from the same wood,
the bows of the Negritos of Negros are not nearly so graceful, and
the strings consist simply of one piece of bejuco with a small loop
at either end which slips over the end of the bow, and, once on, can
neither be loosened nor taken up. The Negritos of Panay generally use
a bamboo bow, much shorter and clumsier than those of _palma brava._

Also, while the Negritos of the southern islands generally use
arrows with hardwood points and without feathered shafts, those
used in Zambales are triumphs of the arrow maker's art. In either
case the shafts are of the light, hard, and straight mountain cane,
but instead of the clumsy wooden points the Zambales Negritos make a
variety of iron points for different purposes, some, as for large game,
with detachable points. (See Pl. XLII.) The shafts are well feathered
with the feathers of hawks and other large birds. Three feathers are
placed about the arrow and securely wrapped at each end with a thin
strip of bejuco or some strong grass.

The war arrows, in addition to having more elaborately barbed points,
are further embellished by incised decorations the entire length of
the shaft. These incisions consist simply of a series of lines into
which dirt has been rubbed so that they offer a striking contrast to
the white surface of the arrow.

The women weave some coarse baskets out of bamboo, but they are
neither well shaped nor pretty. Sometimes to adorn them one strand
or strip of bamboo is stained black and the other left its natural
color. Other objects of manufacture are their ornaments, already
described in Chapter III, and musical instruments. (See Chap. VI.)

The Negrito knows that the people of the lowlands for some reason
have more food than he. He can not go down and live there and work as
they do, because, being timid by nature, he can not feel secure amid
an alien people, and, besides, he likes his mountain too well to live
contentedly in the hot plains. He makes nothing that the lowlands want,
but