This
is somewhat more than can be said of the dance of the women with the
camote sticks, pestles, and spun thread. The women in no way "act"
-- they simply purposely present the implements or products of their
labors, though in it all we see the real beginning of dramatic art.
Other areas, and other pueblos also, have different dances. In the
Benguet area the musicians sit on the earth and play the gang'-sa and
wooden drum while the dancers, a man and woman, pass back and forth
before them. Each dances independently, though the woman follows the
man. He is spectacular with from one to half a dozen blankets swinging
from his shoulders, arms, and hands.
Captain Chas. Nathorst, of Cervantes, has told me of a dance in
Lepanto, believed by him to be a funeral dance, in which men stand
abreast in a long line with arms on each other's shoulders. In this
position they drone and sway and occasionally paw the air with one
foot. There is little movement, and what there is is sluggish and
lifeless.
Games
Cockfighting is the Philippine sport. Almost everywhere the natives
of the Archipelago have cockfights and horse races on holidays and
Sundays. They are also greatly addicted to the sport of gambling.
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