said to give true judgment according to their customs. If the
controversy lay between two chiefs, when they wished to avoid war,
they also convoked judges to act as arbiters; they did the same if
the disputants belonged to two different barangays. In this ceremony
they always had to drink, the plaintiff inviting the others.

They had laws by which they condemned to death a man of low birth
who insulted the daughter or wife of a chief; likewise witches,
and others of the same class.

They condemned no one to slavery, unless he merited the
death-penalty. As for the witches, they killed them, and their
children and accomplices became slaves of the chief, after he had
made some recompense to the injured person. All other offenses
were punished by fines in gold, which, if not paid with promptness,
exposed the culprit to serve, until the payment should be made, the
person aggrieved, to whom the money was to be paid. This was done in
the following way: Half the cultivated lands and all their produce
belonged to the master. The master provided the culprit with food and
clothing, thus enslaving the culprit and his children until such time
as he might amass enough money to pay the fine. If the father should
by chance pay his debt, the master then claimed that he had fed and
clothed his children, and should be paid therefor. In this way he kept
possession of the children if the payment could not be met. This last
was usually the case, and they remained slaves. If the culprit had
some relative or friend who paid for him, he was obliged to render
the latter half his service until he was paid--not, however, service
within the house as aliping sa guiguilir, but living independently,
as aliping namamahay. If the creditor were not served in this wise,
the culprit had to pay the double of what was lent him. In this way
slaves were made by debt: either sa guiguilir, if they served the
master to whom the judgment applied; or aliping namamahay, if they
served the person who lent them wherewith to pay.

In what concerns loans, there was formerly, and is today, an excess of
usury, which is a great hindrance to baptism as well as to confession;
for it turns out in the same way as I have showed in the case of the
one under judgment, who gives half of his cultivated lands and profits
until he pays the debt. The debtor is condemned to a life of toil;
and thus borrowers become slaves, and after the death of the father
the children pay the debt