[A barbarous execution.] [281]” * * * Impelled by a very common and, perhaps, excusable curiosity, I rode out with some friends one day to witness the execution of a mestizo soldier for murder.  The parade ground of Bagumbayan was the theater of this tragic comedy, for such it may be trully called, and never did I experience such a revulsion of feeling as upon this occasion.  The place was crowded with people of all descriptions, and a strong guard of soldiers, three deep, surrounded the gallows, forming a circle, the area of which was about two hundred feet in diameter.  The hangman was habited in a red jacket and trousers, with a cap of the same color upon his head.  This fellow had been formerly condemned to death for parricide, but was pardoned on condition of turning executioner, and becoming close prisoner for life, except when the duties of his profession occasionally called him from his dungeon for an hour.  Whether his long confinement, and the ignominious estimation in which he was held, combined with despair of pardon for his heinous offense, and a natural ferocity of character, had rendered him reckless of “weal or woe,” or other impulse directed his movements, I know not, but never did I see such a demoniacal visage as was presented by this miscreant; and when the trembling culprit was delivered over to his hand, he pounced eagerly upon his victim, while his countenance was suffused with a grim and ghastly smile, which reminded us of Dante’s devils.  He immediately ascended the ladder, dragging his prey after him till they had nearly reached the top; he then placed the rope around the neck of the malefactor with many antic gestures and grimaces highly gratifying and amusing to the mob.  To signify to the poor fellow under his fangs that he wished to whisper in his ear, to push him off the ladder, and to jump astride his neck with his heels drumming with violence upon his stomach, was but the work of an instant.  We could then perceive a rope fast to each leg of the sufferer, which was pulled with violence by people under the gallows, and an additional rope, to use a sea term, a preventer, was round his neck, and secured to the gallows, to act in case of accident to the one by which the body was suspended.  I had witnessed many executions in different parts of the world, but never had such a diabolical scene as this passed before my eyes.”

* * * * *

PART V

The Peopling of the Philippines

By Dr. Rudolf Virchow

(Translated by O. T. Mason; in Smithsonian Institution 1899 Report.)

Since the days when the first European navigators entered the South Sea, the dispute over the source and ethnic affiliations of the inhabitants of that extended and scattered island world has been unsettled.  The most superficial glance points out a contrariety in external appearances, which leaves little doubt that here peoples of entirely different blood live near and among one another.