He Proved, However, An Arrant Coward, And, Like Most
Filipinos, Lived In Great Fear Of The Negritos.
When out with me
in the forest he would start, if he heard a twig snap or a bamboo
creak, and look fearfully about him for a Negrito.
He told me that
the Negritos will kill and rob you if they think there is no chance
of being found out, and he mentioned a case of an old Filipino being
killed and robbed by these same Negritos a few months previously. I
managed to string together the following absurd story from his broken
English. He said that if you heard a twig break in the forest once or
even twice you were safe enough, but if a twig snapped a third time,
and you did not call out that you saw the Negrito, you would get an
arrow into you. He said that once when he heard the stick "break three
time" (to use his own words), he called out "Ah! I see you Negrite,
and the Negrite he no shoot, but came out like amigo (friend)." His
English was too limited for me to point out the many weak and absurd
points of the story, as, for instance, why the Negrito should make the
twigs break exactly three times, and why he should not shoot because
he thinks he is seen. I only mention this anecdote to illustrate the
credulity of the Filipinos. The next day, when we were out collecting
in the morning, I suddenly saw him start when a bamboo snapped, so I
called out, "Buenos diaz, Senor Negrite." This was too much for my man,
who ran off home and refused to follow me in the forest that afternoon,
and when I returned that evening he was nowhere to be seen, and I
found out later that he had returned to Florida Blanca.
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