On his side, he wore a dagger with a long handle, all of gold, with its scabbard made of carved wood. With this he wore upon him scents of storac and binoin (benzoin). He was tanned and his face was all painted... The painted king was called Colambu and the other Rajah Siani." (Blair & Robertson)

Although Pigafetta was describing what could have been the representative of the upper crust of Leyte's social structure during the period of discovery, the observations of the early Jesuits here, particularly Chirino and Alzina, did not seem to vary too much.

Alzina saw that there were distinctions in the way the natives dressed compared to their chiefs. "Men wore red bajag or pinayusan down to their knees, chiefs wore theirs longer; one end of this cloth fell to their knees, the other end is passed between the legs. They bring it up to the waist and wind it once until it joins with the end that comes from below. Thus joined, they wind the cloth around the stomach once, twice or even three times, until the end in front and that in the back are even, such that both the front and back ends cover all the body from waist down..."(Alzina)

As for their ends (called ampis in the vernacular), "...one should be much longer than than the other". The upper portion of the body was covered with baro, with"... sleeves fitting, neck hole wide and round, reaching the knees. Some are open in front, others are closed. People merely fold a strip of cloth and cut a hole in the middle through which to thrust their head. But the sides are sewn, leaving on the bottom side slits a palm long more or less."(ibid)

Men's attire were not complete without the head turban or pudung. Among the poor, this was made of abaca, wound twice around the head, with the top uncovered. But the chiefs wore linen ones, completely decorated with silk, and wound many turns around the head. Those who had records of valor wore colored pudung called pinajusan.

Some natives had hats made of straw or palm, flat and with no crown. They walked barefooted.

But that was not the complete picture of the native Leyteño at the end of the 16th century. Without the indelible paint etched on his dark brown skin, he would not be considered man enough. "Pintados" was the name given to the natives here because of their body paintings.

"The Bisayans are called Pintados because they are in fact so, not by nature although they are well-built, well-featured and white, but by painting their entire bodies from head to foot as soon as they are young men with strength and courage enough to endure the torture of painting. In the old days, they painted themselves when they had performed some brave deed. They paint themselves by first drawing blood with pricks from a very sharp point, following the design and lines previously marked by the craftsmen in the art, and then over the fresh blood applying a black powder that can never again be erased.

They do not paint the whole body at one time, but part by part, so that the painting takes many days to complete. In the former times they had to perform a new feat of bravery for each of the parts that were to be painted. The paintings are very elegant, and well proportioned to the members and parts where they are located. I used to say there, captivated and astonished by the appearance of one of these, that if they brought it to Europe a great deal of money could be made by displaying it. Children are not painted. The women paint the whole of one hand and a part of the other." (ibid)

Legaspi in 1565 made a similar observation when he set foot on Leyte. " The torsos, thighs and arms of the men were tattoed with pigment deep in the flesh; most of them wore only bahag to cover the loins; gold pendants hang from their ears; and the chiefs also wore gold anklets."(Documentos Ineditos)

Women's attire. If the men's attire of bahag was a bit shocking to the Catholic Spaniard, the women were somewhat too scantily dressed in view of the strict Spanish morality.

Generally, women wore short skirts. But those of the upper brackets of society wore their skirts a little over or below the knees. The slaves had even shorter skirts. Common folks made theirs of abaca, while the high-born women had silken ones, probably of Chinese origins.

Their breasts were covered with baro (or jackets) so short that they did not reach the waist. When their arms were raised, part of the breasts were exposed. Some wore kerchiefs that barely covered their heads; high-born ones had bigger kerchiefs reaching down to the shoulders.

Between the men and women, the latter seemed to have more time to make themselves beautiful. And of all the parts of their body, it was their hair that was most attended to. Observed Alzina: "Women grow their hair long, care for it more than any part of the body. In some instances, hair grows down to the floor.( Cutting it meant one was in mourning.) They wash it with a bark of a wood like soap, dress it with fragrant oils, the most common being sesame oil. They adorn their hair with flowers and sweet-smelling leaves"

The women of the upper crust on the other hand used civet, amber and musk, adding different flowers and sweet-smelling leaveas called "tagonibaisat" (Meaning, something that adds beauty).

Freed from the worries of making a living, these high-born women kept themselves shut inside their houses, so that they were called binocot. Some never stepped on the ground and were carried on their shoulders when they left their abodes. A lot of them were even as fair as Spanish women.

Not to be outdone, men in some places wore their hair long too, a custom they acquired from the Chinese traders. Some cut it down to shoulder length like the Javanese.

Both men and women wore earrings of gold called Panicas or Pamarang. These errings had spokes through the sides and golden flower through the center with pearls or precious stones. Some had nothing in the center but had edges extending out and designs carved on them. Some errings were made of carabao horn, ivory, sea shells and turtle cases. The biggest erring would be at the bottom of the ear, the smallest at the top of the ear lobe.

Completing their bodily decorations were gold bracelets, rings in fingers and necklaces, beads of gold garnets of several color and sizes. After a few years of Spanish occupation, cornelians were used as the Spaniards took much of their gold.

(These bodily decorations of the 16th century Leyteño underwent drastic changes after a few years of Spanish rule. By the middle of the 17th century, these quiant traditions were being superceded by the Spanish haircut and manner of dressing. The bahag disappeared and the short skirts to go too. The Jesuit missionaries were in a large measure responsible for their disappearance.)

A simple folk. Native innocence with its utter disregard for the western sense of modesty blended well in their plain, simple lifestyle. This Chirino noted:"The people are plain, simple and intelligent. They posess among other good and laudable customs, two in particular which are common to neighboring islands. One is that to travel or sail, they have no need to carry provisions with them since wherever they may arrive, they can be sure of being lodged or fed. The other is that whether the harvest be good or bad, the price of rice never goes up or down, the grain being sold by one to another always at the same price. Both practices derive from the spirit of good neighborliness that exists among them..."

Such simplicity was further reflected in their households. Their houses were usually built on six to eight poles (called harigue), some made of matured bamboo poles. The roof was made of palm leaves, straw or split bamboo. These houses measured three of four fathoms long, two fathoms wide and two fathoms high. But there were no doors as nobody would steal their belongings.

Once inside their houses, the natural propensity for comfort took over. They went about almost naked because of the heat: men enveloped themselves in blanket in which they sleep on the floor, while women knotted their mantles at the waist, without bodice or shirt. Some women wore skirts reaching to their feet, called lambong. Children under twelve ran about naked until they started to develop pubic hair.

Although every couple aspired to have their own house, it was customary for two or three couples to live in one house especially if they were related. Apparently, they were more concerned about their security, physical as well as economic, to bother too much about privacy.

The priest Fr. Alzina also observed that the natives "never knew the use of sheets and mattresses. Neither men nor women when sleeping had any sheet or bed but lay on the floor of their houses on small mats or palm that they call `petate'...they had other mats made of ratten, small palms with very long trunks; cut trunks into pieces of a fathom more or less and split them into strips which they tied closely together with a cord", a custom that still exists in many places to this day.

Their rattan mat was called "taguican" which was said to be nicer than "rampacan", which was fashioned from thin bamboo. But this second type of mat was more commonly used as it was easier to make.

Natives were not familiar with soft feather pillows, but they would use a block of wood for a pillow. As for blankets, in earlier days, it was sewn like a sack, open at one end and closed at the other. This was made of abaca.

Their bed or sleeping area was usually an elevated portion of the hut near their hearth. Nearby their cats, dogs and other domesticated animals also slept.The pigs however were used to clean up food leftovers and their human wastes left in some corner of the house.

In their kitchen, simplicity was again written all over. Plates and tumblers were made of coconut shells. These plates were called "paia", the tumbler "ongot". A few had chinaware, very thick and well-made, but these were used sparingly. They also tried making plates from clay but these were very crude. Despite these conditions, Alzina saw the people were happy and contented.