Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/187

 and the other was free; if four, two were slaves, and two free; and so on with any larger number. If the children were able to pay their father's debt afterward, they were set free.

It was a law that he who killed another must die; but if he begged for mercy he would become the slave of the dead man's father, children, or nearest relatives. If four or five men were concerned in the murder, they all paid to the master of the slave the price which the slave might be worth; and then the judge sentenced them to such punishment as he thought just. If the men had not means to pay the fine, they became slaves. If the dead man were a timagua, the penalty of death was incurred by those who were proved to be his murderers; but if the condemned men begged for mercy they became slaves. Accordingly, after they were sentenced the culprits might choose between death and slavery. If the man slain were a chief, the entire village where he was slain must, when that was proved, become slaves, those who were most guilty being first put to death. If the murderers were private persons only, three or four of the most guilty were put to death, without any resource in mercy; and the rest, with their children, became slaves.

When any person entered the house of a chief by night, against the will of the owner, he incurred the death penalty. It was their custom that when such an offender was caught he was first tortured, to ascertain whether any other chief had sent him. If he confessed that he had been thus sent, he was punished by enslavement; and he who had sent him incurred the death penalty, but might be released therefrom by paying a certain amount of gold for the crime.