meal-time they set various articles of food there in dishes. Beside
the men were laid their weapons, and beside the women their looms or
other implements of work" (Colin).--_Rizal_.

[162] _Kasis._ This is another instance of the misapplication of this
Arabic term, which means exclusively a Christian priest.--_Stanley_.

[163] This custom has not fallen into disuse among the Filipinos,
even among the Catholics.--_Rizal_.

Lieutenant Charles Norton Barney, of the medical department of the
U. S. Army, has an article in _Journal_ of the Association of Military
Surgeons for September, 1903, on "Circumcision and Flagellation
among the Filipinos." In regard to circumcision he states that it
"is a very ancient custom among the Philippine _indios_, and so
generalized that at least seventy or eighty per cent of males in the
Tagál country have undergone the operation." Those uncircumcised at
the age of puberty are taunted by their fellows, and such are called
"_suput_," a word formerly meaning "constricted" or "tight," but now
being extended to mean "one who cannot easily gain entrance in sexual
intercourse." The "operation has no religious significance," nor is
it done for cleanliness, "but from custom and disinclination to be
ridiculed," probably [as Morga proves] having been learned from the
Moros. The friars were unable to check the custom. Among the Tagáls
the operation is called "_tuli_," and the method of circumcising
is described at length. The author derives his information from a
mestizo and a full-blooded native. The custom is mentioned by Foreman.

[164] Appellation given to their ecclesiastical sages by Mahometans.