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The
Tagalogs. The
Boxer Codex titles this section as "Custom and Usages
of Moros," but explains these people are actually the
Tagalogs.
They
wore cotton cloths without collars from the calf to
the knees they wear chainlets often made of brass called bitiques,
which are only for men who also have ten or twelve of
these if they were chiefs. They also have a headdress
wrapped around the head. Unlike the Bisayans they do not
have ear holes.
 Men
and women have many bracelets and chains of gold on the
arms but not on the legs. They do not paint their bodies.
Again, there is mention of jewelers and other artisans.
Women
of the chiefly class wear on their heads over their hair
diadems made of gold, others made of tortoise or conch
shell.
Dr.
Antonio de Morga carne to the Philippines in 1595 from
Acapulco, was appointed senior auditor (justice) and
returned to Mexico in 1603. His book on the
Philippines was published in Mexico in 1609. His book on the
Philippines was published in Mexico in 1609.
His observations should more or less be a follow-up
of those found in the Boxer Codex of 1590. Morga's Sucesos
de Zas Islas Filipinas was thoroughly annotated by Jose
Rizal. The annotated version carne out in Paris in 1890.
Morga
says that before the corning of the Spaniards, the natives
of Luzon were dressed thus (Morga 1609: 244-245):
For
the men,
clothes made of cangan fabric without collar, sewn in
front with short sleeves extending down to beyond the waist,
some blue and some black, while the headmen used red ones
which they called chinanas and a colored blanket
wrapped around the waist and between the legs, in order to
cover their private parts. In the middle of the waist they
wore the bahaque, the legs being bare and the feet
also bare, the head uncovered with a narrow kerchief tied
around it tightly over the forehead and temples, called potong.
Around the neck they wore a long chain of engraved gold
links...some links being larger than the others. On their
arms they wore thick and engraved gold bracelets called colombigas
made in different designs. Some men used strings of
stones, red agate, and of other colors and blue and white
stones, which to them are valuable. As garters, they used on
their legs some strings of these stones and some strings
painted black and tied around their legs several times.
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