Sec.  III

Customs of the inhabitants of that island

Coming to the customs of the inhabitants of that land, we have to note their common tradition, namely, that the first inhabitants were blacks.  Their barbarous descendants are preserved in the thickest forests and in the most retired mountains.  They have no regular house, but stay where night overtakes them.  They go almost naked, for they only cover the shame of nature with the bark of certain trees.  Some of them have been seen to wear certain cloths made from cotton, called bahaquer.  They use the bow and arrow, and very keen knives, with which they can sever the head of a man from the body at one stroke.  Their employment is to go in search of Bisayan Indians, who live in the districts nearer the rivers and seashore; for they hate the latter with fury because these have, as they give out, usurped their own land.

It has been learned from serious and trustworthy persons that tall and very ugly men have been discovered in those dense forests, whose feet are turned backward.  They live on the flesh of wild game, tree-roots, and fish, without doing any work.  The very sight of those men was so terrifying that he who unfortunately chanced to see any one of them was left cross-eyed and squinted forever, just like those whom we call vizcos [i.e., “cross-eyed"].  An eyewitness of this piece of information confirmed this, who declared that he had seen and known certain Indians who were almost squint-eyed from the effect produced by the glance of those monstrous men.  Those Indians say that their speed is such that they can catch the swiftest deer by running; and that upon catching those said Indians, the wild men talked very confusedly among themselves, but afterward left the captives hanging to some trees—­whence they descended with great risk, and were left squint-eyed, because of having looked at those enormous barbarians.  Some years later, another eyewitness who had experience in the affairs of that island added that such monsters, called tecmas, had been seen with ears misshapen because of their size, and that their mouth was like that of a dog; while they were so hideous in face and teeth that they caused great fright.

According to this information, these Indians have languages that are very diverse, with peculiar characters.  But they almost universally talk the Bisayan, which is common and peculiar to Zibu, the head of the other provinces called Pintados.  Those Indians and the Caraghas, with their other neighbors, go partly naked; for they cover the lower part of the body, while they wear certain twisted cloths on the head in the manner of a crown, or the duliman of the Turks, but without the little bonnet that the latter are wont to wear.  The women are entirely covered, while, to protect themselves from the sun and other inclemencies of the weather, they use curiously woven hats of palm-leaves.