ceremonies more or less gross and material; but the uncultured Ilocanos also have superstitions inherited from their ancestors, the more prominent being those which relate to marriage and illness. And this people, while they can not be called rich, are not plunged in the poverty that brutalizes the poor in the great cities of Europe, their poverty consisting solely in suffering, from time to time, a difficulty in securing grains when the annual crops fail for two years in succession through bad weather or by the destruction wrought by insects, in which case, as in the present year, the price of rice and corn is three times the ordinary price that obtains during normal years. The actual cost of living is on an average 1 peso per day for each family of the middle class, a rate that varies but little in either the towns or barrios.1 Governor-supervisor, province of Pangasinan (Pangasinanes, Ilo canos): The inhabitants of this province are as a rule industrious, peaceable, patient, lawabiding, and anxious for peace and progress; almost all of them are Catholics, religious, but not free from superstition. There are no large fortunes here, but neither is pauperism known, because property is very much distributed. * * Governor-supervisor, province of Zambales (Zambalans, Ilocanos): The inhabitants are Christians of different origins and have also different dialects, the principal being the Zambal, Ilocano, Tagálog, and Pangasinan. Notwithstanding the heterogeneous character of the inhabitants, there does not exist any animosity between them, but, on the contrary, they live in utmost harmony, having almost the same customs and habits, and especially because they profess the same religion—that is, the Catholic. Their manner of life is extremely simple. Uneducated males wear trousers and a shirt, and no shoes, but hats; the educated dress in the European style and have the same customs as the Spaniards, with whom they have lived a long time. The poor and uneducated women wear a shirt waist with wide sleeves and skirts of ordinary black cloth, a handkerchief of black or white stuff on their heads, and no shoes except on feast days. The educated and well-to-do wear shoes, dress with more luxury, and also wear rings and earrings of gold with diamonds or pearls, and other valuable jewelry. They usually wear a handkerchief around the neck and a silk garment over the skirt. With the exception of the very poor, they are usually clean, the men as well as the women. They live on rice, meat, fish, and vegetables, the prices of which have risen considerably since the revolution. The charitable character of the inhabitants of this province is proverbial. Any beggar coming to their doors never leaves without something given him with much pleasure. It is also customary to admit any traveler in their houses who asks their hospitality, without requiring payment or remuneration of any kind, and treating him very cordially. They have much faith in the Catholic religion, which they profess, although most of them not by conviction, due no doubt to the fact that the friars during their monarchal sovereignty in these islands have not instructed them in nor shown them the sublime doctrines of Christianity, confining themselves simply to converting them into fanatics by the dazzling history of the life and miracles of the saints. The uneducated people have some superstitions. One of them is the belief that the devil enters the body of man, who becomes very ill and remains so as long as this evil spirit has possession of him; and to expel the spirit they exorcise the sick person with holy water, pronouncing at the same time some unintelligible words with which they ask the evil spirit to leave the patient. If the latter regains his 'The average size of the family in the Province of Abra is 4.2 persons. health some days afterwards, they attribute it to the virtue of the exorcism, but if he continues sick, they repeat the same operation, and if he does not recover, then they no longer attribute the disease to the influence of the devil, but to that of other spirits whom the patient may have unconsciously offended, and in order to placate them they perform the "anito," which consists in the killing of a chicken, which is boiled without salt, and when cooked they take it on a plate to the woods and leave it under a tree, together with a plate of cooked rice, called "malagquit," inviting the spirits to eat this substance offered them on behalf of the patient. They also believe in the "mulam," which means that some persons can communicate to others some disease, even without touching them or administering any substance injurious to the health, calling such persons "mangcuculan," who are generally an object of fear to the ignorant people. The case occurred of a husband whose wife being ill, suspected that her disease was the effect of the "mulam," and calling the person he considered responsible therefor, he forced him to cure the patient, threatening him with death if he failed to do so; whereupon the reputed "mangcuculan” had recourse to the courts of justice, filing a complaint against the husband of the patient, accusing him of grave threats. Some of the educated people also have superstitions, as, for example, the belief that it is dangerous to sit at a table with thirteen people, as it is said that one of the thirteen will die within a year after the occasion. These superstitions were brought by the Spaniards, with many others which it would take too long to mention. The inhabitants of this province are, as a rule, in the habit of bathing often and, with some exceptions, always have their habitations clean. Although there are some addicted to the use of intoxicating beverages, which are not in the majority, they never reach a point of intoxication where they make disturbances in the streets. Governor-supervisor, province of Nueva Ecija (Tagálogs, Ilocanos, Pampangans, Pangasinanes): The manner of life of the population, as a rule, is pacific and to a certain extent timid and mistrustful, particularly in the northern towns. Their habits are temperate and simple, and they are quite superstitious and therefore easy victims to the sermons of demagogues and impostors. The population is, as a rule, for the present poor, due to the results of the war, the epizootic, cholera, locusts, and other public calamities. The price of provisions is very high, being more than twice the price that obtained six years ago, the average living expenses of a family composed of four persons being $1 Mexican per day in the towns and barrios. Governor-supervisor, province of Tárlac (Ilocanos): The population of this province is quite heterogeneous, and it is difficult to make a report regarding their customs, manners of living, etc., being one of the newest of Luzón, the creation thereof dating back only to the second third of the past century. It is composed of townships ceded by the adjoining provinces, that of Pangasinan on the north, Pampanga on the south, Nueva Écija on the east, and the mountains of Zambales on the west, in which range, in Bambam, O'Donnell, Ooriones, Santa Ignacia, and Camíling are distributed in various settlements, a considerable number of Aetas or Negritos belonging to non-Christian tribes. To the difference of origin of its inhabitants is due also the difference of the dialects they speak-Pampango by those of Pampanga, Pangasinan by those of said province, 1 The cholera epidemic was attributed by many Filipinos to the Americans, who thus sought to kill them.-Director, Tagalog by those of Nueva Écija, and Zambales by the Aetas and Negritos, and also Ilocano, by reason of the large contingent of families from the Ilocos provinces. Hence their customs and manners are all so different. The Tagálogs and Pampangans are relatively better educated and live in a more modern style than the Ilocanos, who as a general rule belong to poor families who have emigrated from their province in search of relative prosperity and who first established themselves here, working in the "caingines" or woods, and who, on account of their large number, may be said to form the low and uneducated class of this province. With regard to the Aetas or Negritos, who constitute the minority, they still inhabit the mountains and have their own religion, superstitions, and idolatrous beliefs. The low class have also their superstitions, such as the belief in apparitions or ghosts, of good and evil spirits which have an influence for fortune or misfortune, the health or disease of men, thus producing that timidity which they instinctively feel when alone or in the dark, and that almost fatalistic character in regard to their life and interests. As a rule the people are accustomed to cleanliness in their persons, and not a week passes without their bathing three or four times and changing clothing after the bath; but with regard to their homes, especially of those living in the country, they are so deficient that they are hardly a protection against the weather, and most of them are located in unhealthy spots. The use of alcohol and other intoxicating beverages is not very general among the people; this can not be said of the betel, tobacco, smoking or chewing, as almost 70 per cent of the adults use the same, as well as the so-called "basi," consisting in the fermented juice of the sugar cane, to which the Ilocano people of this province are much addicted and which produces a stimulating or intoxicating effect if taken in large quantities. The belief is general among them that the betel, chewing tobacco, and basi, used together or singly, tones up the stomach and makes them capable of resisting the effects of work and hunger, and this is so true that many of them eat only twice a day and do not fall ill or become weak, and it even appears that it preserves them from toothache. Due to the very primitive customs of their inhabitants, family relations are very close-to such an extent that many, even though they have married sons or daughters, do not permit them to leave home, and are very sorry to part from them if they do, so that it may very frequently be observed that in one house there live the grandparents, children, sons-in-law or daughters-in-law and nephews; and due also to these patriarchal customs, the young girls are watched and advised by their near relatives, and it is a rare thing for any of them to commit any indiscretion, and when they are ready to marry they contract a legal marriage before a priest of their religion, and frequently without leaving the house of their parents or the bosom of their family by reason of such love. As a natural consequence of this general custom, illegitimate unions and, consequently, illegitimate births are insignificant in number, being, so to say, an exception to the rule. Governor-supervisor, province of Bulacán (Tagálogs): The character and habits of the population in general of this province may be described by the favorable statement that they have no common vices and that grave crimes do not occur with frequency, a character which reveals at once sobriety, honesty, and good customs, the superstitions which they formerly had having disappeared. Agriculture constitutes their principal source of wealth, although for some years past it has suffered, and although this province can not be called a wealthy one, it can not be placed in the class of the poor provinces. By reason of the new order of things, the price of food products has followed the fluctuations of the dollar, |