Baler; Bataan (49,999), Balanga; Zambales (94,551), Iba;
Pangasinan (293,291), Lingayen; Union (113,370), S. Fernando;
Ilocos Sur (201,049), Vigan; Ilocos Norte (156,715), Laoag; Abra
(42,647), Bangued; Cagayan (72,697), Tuguegarao; Isabela (38,616),
Tumauini; Nueva Vizcaya (16,107), Bayombong; Nueva Ecija
(123,771), San Isidro; Laguna (132,504), Santa Cruz; Cavite
(132,064), Cavite; Batangas (275,075), Batangas; Tayabas (53,668),
Tayabas; Camarines Norte (30,661), Daet; Camarines Sur (156,400),
Nueva Caceres; Albay (257,533), Albay.
To the south-east of Luzon lie the Visayas—Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros, and Panay, with various smaller islands.
Samar (area, 4367 square miles) is separated from the Albay peninsula by the Strait of San Bernardino, 10 miles across. From north west to south-east it is 120 miles long; its greatest breadth is 60 miles. The provincial capital is Catbalongan on the west coast, on a bay difficult of access. The island is watered by a number of considerable streams—the Catubig, Loquilocum or Ulut, Suribao, &c. At Nipa-Nipa on the south-west coast there is a remarkable series of rock-caves in which the people were wont to deposit their dead in coffins.[1] The narrow but extremely beautiful Strait of S. Juanico separates Samar from the island of Leyte. The lesser islands of Buat, Parasan, &c., are included in the province of Samar (178,890 inhabitants). Leyte (2716 square miles) is 100 miles long and 30 miles wide. The chief town and port, Tacloban, lies at the eastern entrance of the Strait of S. Juanico. Sulphur for the Manila powder-factory is obtained from the solfatara at Monte Manacagan. According to Jagor, the east coast is rising and the west is suffering from the encroachments of the sea at Ormoc to the extent of fifty yards in six years. South-west of Leyte is Bohol (area, 1496 square miles); the chief town is Tagbilaran, at the south-west corner. The province (226,546 inhabitants) comprises Siquijor and other islands. The important island of Cebu (2413 square miles; provincial population, 403,405) is 135 miles long from north to south, but only 30 miles broad at the most. The chief town, Cebu, is the capital of the Visayas group and is next to Iloilo in the matter of commerce. It is only along the coast that cultivation is easy, and none of the villages lie far inland. Parallel with Cebu and separated from it by a strait 15 miles wide, is Negros (4670 square miles; population, 204,669), with large sugar plantations, but only one large town, Jimamaylan, and no good ports. Bacolod is the administrative centre. North-west of Negros lies Panay (4633 square miles), which is divided into the three provinces of Antique (124,103), Iloilo (410,430), and Capiz (243,244), in accordance with its physical conformation. Iloilo is the chief town and the seat of the see of Jaro. Off the south-east coast of Panay lies the island of Guimaras (215 square miles).
In a line with the peninsula of Tayabas (Luzon) and the island of Leyte is Burias (190 square miles), which forms a province by itself (128 inhabitants), and Masbate (1211 square miles) and Ticao (121 square miles), which, comparatively sterile and thinly peopled (17,170), are united together. West of these islands is a considerable cluster, I. de Tablas (327 square miles), Sibuyan (159 square miles), Romblon, &c., constituting the province of Romblon (28,154). Mindoro (3934 square miles), one of the largest of the Philippines, lies only 10 miles south of Luzon, but its interior, peopled by about 30,000 Manguianes, a race of doubtful affinity, is practically unexplored, and its eighteen “Spanish” villages are scattered along the coast at great distances from each other and with no proper means of communication. The principal settlement is Calapan, on the north-east coast. Marinduque (348 square miles), included in the province of Mindoro (58,128), is a flourishing island with 48,000 inhabitants exporting various staples. South-west of Mindoro are the Calamianes (17,041 inhabitants), a great cluster of very small islands, the two largest being Busuanga (416 square miles) and Calamian; and beyond these extends for 230 miles in a south-westerly direction the island Palawan or Paragua (4576 square miles), which nowhere exceeds a width of 30 miles and sometimes narrows to 10. It is little visited, and apart from Puerto Princesa, the chief town (578 inhabitants), there are few Spanish posts. The Sulu or Joló Archipelago[2] (948 square miles; about 100,000 inhabitants), annexed by Spain in 1878, consists of about 150 islands divided into the Balanguingui, Sulu, Tapul, Kecuapoussan, Tawi-Tawi, Tagbabas, and Pangutarang groups. Many of the smaller islands are uninhabited, but the larger are occupied by an industrious Mohammedan population. They formerly constituted, along with a portion of northern Borneo, an independent state with an hereditary sultan and a regular nobility of great political influence. The highest hill in the principal island, Buat Timantangis, or Hill of Tears, is so called because it is the last point visible to the natives as they sail away from their native land. Sulu, the present capital, lies on the north coast of the island of Sulu.[3]
The whole chain of the Sulus is practically a continuation of the south-western promontory of Mindanao or Maguindanao (37,256 square miles), the second largest island of the archipelago, containing the Spanish provinces of Surigao (56,246), Misamis (88,376), Zamboanga (14,144), Davao (1695), Cottabató (1282). Since about 1876 much light has been thrown on this interesting island[4] by the Jesuit missionaries. It is remarkably mountainous, and appears to be divided by the Rangaya or Sugut Cordillera, which runs north west and south-east, and is continued throughout the great western peninsula of Zamboanga, and, at the other extremity, bends south to form the peninsula of Butulan. Between the Rangaya range and that of the Tiruray lies the valley of the Rio Grande, a river navigable as far as Matingcahuan (70 or 80 miles) and connected with two great lakes, Lingauasan and Buluan, which during the rainy season merge, or nearly merge, into one. On the north side of the Rangaya range and connected with the sea by the river Iligan is the great crater-lake of Lanao, which with its little group of secondary crater-lakes probably gave rise to the name of the island, Magitindanao, “Land of Lakes.” Towards the east and sloping northwards extend the valleys of the Cagayan, the Tagoloan, and the Agusan. This last is the largest river in the whole island. Rising in the Kinabuhan Mountains in the south-east, it pursues a very sinuous course for more than 200 miles and falls into Butuan Bay; in the lower regions it is navigable for craft of considerable burden. Mindanao is throughout well peopled, much of it being occupied by independent Mohammedan sultanates.
Administration, &c.—The Philippines are subject to a governor-general with supreme powers, assisted by (1) a “junta of authorities” instituted in 1850, and consisting of the archbishop, the commander of the forces, the admiral, the president of the supreme court, &c.; (2) a central junta of agriculture, industry, and commerce (dating from 1866); and (3) a council of administration. In the provinces and districts the chief power is in the hands of alcaldes mayores and civico-military governors. The chief magistrate of a commune is known as the gobernadorcillo or capitan; the native who is responsible for the collection of the tribute of a certain group of families is the cabega de barangay. Every Indian between the ages of 16 and 60 subject to Spain has to pay tribute to the amount of $1.17—descendants of the first Christians of Cebu, new converts, gobernadorcillos, &c., being exempted. Chinese are subject to special taxes; and by a law of 1883 Europeans and Spanish half-castes are required to pay a poll-tax of $2.50.
Ecclesiastically the Philippines comprise the archbishopric of Manila and the suffragan bishoprics of Nueva-Caceres, Nueva-Segovia, Cebu, and Santa Isabel de Jaro, which were all constituted by the bull of Clement VIII., 14th August 1595, with the exception of the last, whose separation from Cebu dates only from the bull of Pius IX., 27th May 1865. The Agustinos Calzados were established in the Philippines in the year 1565, the first prelate being Andres Urdaneta, and they have convents in Manila, Cebu, and Guadalupe. The Franciscans date from 1577, and have convents at Manila and San Francisco del Monte; the Dominicans (1587) at Manila and San Juan del Monte; the Recollects or Strict Franciscans (1606) at Manila, Cavite, and Cebu. The Jesuits, restored in 1852, maintain the missions of Mindanao and Sulu; and they have charge in Manila of the municipal athenæum, the normal school for primary teachers, and an excellent meteorological observatory. There are also sisters of charity, and nuns of the royal monastery of Santa Clara, founded in 1621.
Education.—A good deal has been done for the diffusion of primary education among the natives (every pueblo is bound to have a school), but the standard is not a high one. The press is under strict civil and ecclesiastical control, and all discussion of Spanish or general European politics is forbidden. Several daily papers, however, are published at Manila, El Diario de Manila dating from 1848.
Population.—As far as is known, the original inhabitants of the Philippines were the Aetas or Negritos,[5] so called from their dark complexion. They still exist sporadically, though in limited numbers (perhaps 25,000), throughout most of the archipelago, the Batanes, Babuyanes, Samar, Leyte, Bohol, and Sulu excepted. Their headquarters are the northern part of Nueva Ecija, the provinces of Principe, Isabela, and Cagayan. To their presence in Isla de Negros the island owed its name. They are dwarfish (4 feet 8 inches being the average stature of the full-grown man), thin and spindle-legged, have a head like a Negro's, with flattish nose, full lips, and thick frizzled black hair, and possess an extraordinary prehensible power in their toes. They tattoo themselves, and wear very little clothing. Cigars they often smoke with the burning end between the teeth—a practice occasionally observed among the civilized Indians. They have no fixed abodes. Honey, game, fish, wild fruits, palm-cabbages, and roots of arums, &c., constitute their food; they sell wax to Christians and Chinese in exchange for betel and tobacco. The dog is their only domestic animal.
- ↑ For the antiquities discovered there, see Z. für Ethnol., Berlin, 1869.
- ↑ See for full description in Geographical Magazine, 1875, and Bol de la Soc. Geo. de Madrid, 1878.
- ↑ See the elaborate accounts of Koner in Z. der Ges. für Erdk., Berlin, 1867, pp. 105, 142, and of Garin in Bol. de la Soc. Gen. de Madrid, 1881, as well as the old report of Dalrymple in Oriental Repository.
- ↑ See Montano in Bull. Soc. de Géogr., Paris, 1882, and Blumentritt's monograph and map in Zeitsch. der Ges. für Erdk., Berlin, 1884.
- ↑ In Mindanao they appear as Mamánuas.
