The-Great-White-Tribe-in-Filipinia.pdf

We struck a faint trail leading to the foot-hills where the barren ridges overlooked the sparklingsea—a vast cerulian expanse without a single fleck of a white sail. The trail led through the greatfields of buffalo-grass, out of which gigantic solitary trees shot up a hundred feet into the air. Therewere no signs of life, only the vultures [81]in the topmost branches of the trees. Wild horses, takingflight at our approach, stampeded for the forest. Nothing could be seen in the tall grass. Even in oursaddles it was higher than our heads. The trail became more rugged as we entered the big belt offorest on the foot-hills. A wild hog bolted for the jungle with distressed grunts. It was a world ofwhite vines falling from the lofty branches of the trees. The animal life in some of the great treeswas wonderful. The branches were divided into zones, wherein each class of bird or reptile had itshabitat. Around the base were galleries of white ants. Flying lizards from the gnarled trunk skatedthrough the air. Green reptiles crawled along the horizontal branches. Parrakeets, a colony of saucygreen and red balls, screamed and protested from the lower zones. An agile monkey swung fromone of the long sweeping vines, and scolded at us from another tree. Bats, owls, and crowsinhabited the upper regions, while the buzzards perched like evil omens in the topmost boughs.Just when our throats were parched from lack of water, we discovered a small mountain torrent[82]gushing over the rocks and bowlders of the rugged slope. Leaning across one of the largebowlders, from a dark pool where the sunlight never penetrated, we scooped up refreshing hatfulsof the ice-cold water. Here was the world as God first found it, when he said that it was good. It wasimpressive and mysterious. It seemed to wrap us in a mystic spell. What wonder that the pagantribes that roamed through the interior had peopled it with gods and spirits of the chase, and that thetrees and rivers seemed to them the spirits of the good or evil deities? The note of the wood-pigeonsounded on the right. The padre smiled as he looked up. “That is a favorable omen,” he declared.“In the religion of the river-dwellers, the Bagobos, when the wood-dove calls, it is the voice of God.Hark! It is coming from the right. It is a favorable sign, and we can go upon our journeyundisturbed. But had we heard it on the left, it would have been to us a warning to turn back. Ourjourney then would have been unpropitious, and we would have been afraid to go on farther.”“Does it not seem like a grand cathedral,” [83]said the padre, “this vast forest? In the days whenNorthern Europe was a wilderness and savage people hunted in the forests; in the days when theundaunted Norsemen braved the stormy ocean in their daring craft,—here, in these woods, the pettychiefs and head men held their courts of justice after the traditions of their tribes, just as they do today.Here they have set their traps—the arrows loosened from a bamboo spring—and while theywaited, they have left the offering of eggs and rice for the good deity. Here they have hunted theirblood enemies, lying in ambush, or digging pitfalls where the sharpened stakes were planted. Tama,the god of venery, has lured the deer into their traps; Tumanghob, god of harvest, whom they haveinvited to their feasts, has made the corn and the camotes prosper; Mansilitan, the great spirit, hasdescended from the mountain-tops and aided them against their enemies.”We knew that it was growing late by the deep shadows of the woods. So, taking our bearings with apocket compass, we turned east in the direction of the coast. There was no trail to follow, [84]and weblundered on as best we could. We had now been in the saddle for ten hours. The ponies stumbledfrequently, for they were almost spent. The moon rose, and the hoary mountain loomed up justahead of us. “We seem to be lost,” said the padre; “that is a strange peak to me.” But neverthelesswe kept on toward the east. Soon we had passed beyond the forest, which appeared behind us agreat dusky belt. The numerous rocks and crags made progress difficult, almost impossible.