Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/159

 WAR SELECTION IN TEE PHILIPPINES 153

without fireamiB; and among whom warfare is either hand to hand or with projectiles which are aimed at individuals instead of masses, so that the essential elements of individual combat are still present. Phys- ically, these wild men contain the best people of the Archipelago. Judged in another way, by the strictness with which they observe their own ethical "code,** they are also better than the Filipinos. This strictness in observance of the tribal customs is always a function of conditions of constant struggle. In this respect, the pagan and the Moro are alike and the Christian is inferior, because, during the recent centuries, he has been largely spared the necessity of tribal struggle for existence. As to intellectual ability, we have not enough information about the wild men to justify valid conclusions. There have been in recent years a few Igorots of difEerent tribes who have acquitted themselves excellently as students. I have also known Bagobos, and Mr. Elmer reports a dif- ferent tribe from Mindanao, who have seemed to us to demonstrate de- cided intellectual keenness in their dealings with nature. But the fact that the Bagobo is keener in dealing with nature than the Filipino may reasonably be the result of his being placed where he has to be keener. Almost every American who has considerable contact with the Igorot regards him as the best man in the Philippines. Knowing both Igorot and Bagobo, I am disposed to rate the Bagobo of the hills above the Igorot. On the other hand, men thrown in intimate contact with the better class of Filipino scout the idea that the wild man of any kind can be compared with the Filipino. Leaving these opinions as matters of mere opinion, the fact is indisputable that the wild man is physically the best there is in the islands to-day. This superiority is not a ftmc- tion of the altitude. Lukban, for an instance, is an excellent Filipino town, and Lipa is another. These are in altitude between the Bagobo settlements of Sibulan and Todaya. The Bagobos could pick the Fili- pinos to pieces with their bare hands. There is an old Latin proverb which says that a sound mind goes with a sound body, and I am inclined to believe that their mere physical superiority, even reduced to nothing but better health, would give to Bagobos an advantage in fair intellectual competition, with equal preliminary training, with the Filipinos. To at least this extent, it is my opinion that we have among our wild people evidence of the positive value of personal combat, when the struggle for existence takes this form, as a means of racial improvement. These suggestions are of course sent merely as matters of collateral -interest as possibly throwing some light on the outer edges of a big subject.

It thus appears that the Moro originally excelled the Filipino in abil- ity; but has become distinctly inferior, physically and in ability to de- velop in civilization, as a result of several centuries of chronic war. The Bagobo and Igorot (in the broad sense) exemplify the good results of selection by primitive war on the scale of personal combat.

In this article, I do not venture, however, a prophecy that the

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