[Marriage age.] The women seldom marry before the fourteenth year, twelve years being the legal limit.  In the church-register of Polangui I found a marriage recorded (January, 1837) between a Filipino and a Filipina having the ominous name of Hilaria Concepcion, who at the time of the performance of the marriage ceremony was, according to a note in the margin, only nine years and ten months old.  Frequently people live together unmarried, because they cannot pay the expenses of the ceremony. [115]

[Woman’s work.] European females, and even mestizas, never seek husbands amongst the natives.  The women generally are well treated, doing only light work, such as sewing, weaving, embroidery, and managing the household; while all the heavy labor, with the exception of the beating of the rice, falls to the men. [116]

[A patriarch.] Instances of longevity are frequent amongst the Filipinos, particularly in Camarines.  The Diario de Manila, of March 13th, 1866, mentions an old man in Daraga (Albay) whom I knew well—­Juan Jacob, born in 1744, married in 1764, and a widower in 1845.  He held many public posts up to 1840, and had thirteen children, of whom five are living.  He has one hundred and seventy direct descendants, and now, at one hundred and twenty-two years of age, is still vigorous, with good eyes and teeth.  Extreme unction was administered to him seven times!

[Snake bite and rabies remedy.] The first excretion of a new-born child is carefully preserved, and under the name of triaca (theriacum) is held to be a highly efficacious and universal remedy for the bites of snakes and mad dogs.  It is applied to the wound externally, and at the same time is taken internally.

[Infant mortality.] A large number of children die in the first two weeks after birth.  Statistical data are wanting; but, according to the opinion of one of the first physicians in Manila, at least one-fourth die.  This mortality must arise from great uncleanliness and impure air; since in the chambers of the sick, and of women lying-in, the doors and windows are so closely shut that the healthy become sick from the stench and heat, and the sick recover with difficulty.  Every aperture of the house is closed up by the husband early during travail, in order that Patianac may not break in—­an evil spirit who brings mischief to lying-in women, and endeavors to hinder the birth.  The custom has been further maintained even amongst many who attach no belief to the superstition, but who, from fear of a draught of air through a hole, have discovered a new explanation for an old custom—­namely, that instances of such practices occur amongst all people. [The itch.] One very widely-spread malady is the itch, although, according to the assurance of the physician above referred to, it may be easily subdued; and, according to the judgment of those who are not physicians and who employ that term for any eruptions of the skin, the natives generally live