and Basao agreed, the villages meeting to discuss the matter. When
the claim was presented, Basao, to the unspeakable astonishment and
indignation of the offended village, at once admitted the justice
of the _reclama_, and handed over the damages--to-wit, one chicken
and pesos six (three dollars). This was an insult to the claimant;
for on these occasions it seems that each party takes advantage
of the opportunity to tell the other what cowards they are, what
thieves and liars, how poor and miserable they are, that they live on
_camotes_--in short, to recite all the crimes and misdemeanors they
have been guilty of from a time whereof the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary, this recital being accompanied, of course, by an
account of their own virtues, qualities, and wealth. The claimants in
this case accordingly withdrew, held a consultation, and, returning,
declared that in consequence of the insult put upon them the damages
would have to be increased, and demanded one peso more! The body is
always returned, and the damages cited are for a body accompanied
by its head; if the head be lacking, the damages go up, no less than
two hundred pesos, a fabulous sum in the mountains.

The highlanders [35] believe in bird signs and omens drawn from animals
generally. A party sent out to arrest a criminal had been ordered to
cross the river at a designated point. Returning without their man,
the chief was asked where they had crossed, and, on answering at
so-and-so (a different point from the one ordered), was asked why he
had disobeyed orders. It seems that a crow had flown along the bank
a little way, and, flying over, had alighted in a tree and looked
fixedly at the party. This was enough: they simply had to cross at
this point. Sent out again the next day, a snake wriggled across the
trail, whereupon the chief exclaimed joyfully that he knew now they
would get their man at such a spot and by one o'clock, that the snake