Hugh Alexander Webster

“ Chinese immigrants, in spite of massacres and administrative restrictions, form a powerful element in the Philippines; in Manila alone they numbered 30,000 in 1880, and there is hardly a pueblo of any size in which one or more of them is not to be found. The petty trade and banking are nearly all in their hands. Chinese mestizos or half-breeds (Mestizos de Sanglay, or Mestizos Chinos) are numerous enough to form separate communities; in 1867 they were said to be 211,000 strong. The European element has never been numerically important—some 8000 or 9000 at the most ”

“ Nor is it in regard to the area alone that our knowledge is defective. Though for three centuries the greater part of the territory has been nominally in Spanish possession, the interior of some of the larger islands has never been surveyed; several of the native tribes, especially in Mindanao, are altogether independent; the geology of Luzon, the best known of all the archipelago, is to a large extent matter of conjecture ”

“ The principal ranges have a tendency to run north and south, with a certain amount of deflexion east or west, as the case may be, so that the orographic diagram of the archipelago as a whole would have a certain similarity to a fan with northern Luzon as its centre of radiation. The geologist finds his task in the Philippines exceptionally difficult, owing to so much of the surface being covered with a dense vegetation, which often obliges him to be contented with no better indication than the pebbles of the alluvium. ”

“ Besides, certain districts were bound to furnish a certain quantity of the leaf, and the peasant was thus often forced under severe penalties to devote himself to the tobacco crop when he would have obtained better results from something else. The best tobacco comes from the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, and it is there that the cultivation is most systematically carried on; but the plant is also grown in other provinces of Luzon (Union, Ilocos, Lepanto, &c.) as well as in the Visayas Islands. ”

“ Earthquakes.—Earthquakes are sufficiently frequent and violent in the Philippines to affect the style adopted in the erection of buildings; in 1874, for instance, they were very numerous throughout the archipelago, and in Manila and the adjacent provinces shocks were felt daily for several weeks. The most violent earthquakes on record in the Philippines occurred in July 1880, when the destruction of property was immense, both in the capital and in other important towns of central Luzon. ”

“ To the west of the flat region the country rises into the considerable Cordillera de Zambales, which contains a number of peaks 5000 or 6000 feet high, and terminates northwards in a great peninsula forming the Gulf of Lingayan and southwards in a similar promontory (Sierra de Mariveles) which helps to form the Bay of Manila. To the east and south of this bay the general configuration is again hilly and even mountainous; but the large area of 350 square miles is occupied by the Laguna de Bay, connected with Manila by the Pasig, on which small steamers ply. ”

“ The smaller are cultivated by the proprietors with the assistance of their families and relatives, and less frequently of bond or hired labourers. A tendency has shown itself since 1870 to create larger estates, and to import better machinery; but it will be some time before the Philippine sugar-crop is generally treated according to scientific methods. The finest Manila quality is sent to Spain, and the secondary qualities to England; for the Iloilo sugars the United States are the principal destination. ”

“ Products.—Mangoes, plantains, mangosteen, jack-fruit, medlars, and in general most of the Malayan fruits are to be met with; the lanzon occurs in the north, and the durian in the south, more especially in the Sulu Islands. Rice is the staple food of the natives, but, though it is extensively cultivated, the supply is not always equal to the demand. ”

“ Agriculture, and especially the cultivation of rice, is the Tagal's staple means of living; they are also great fishers and keep swine, cattle, and vast numbers of ducks and fowls. Externally they are mostly Roman Catholics; but abundant traces of their old superstitions may still be observed. Cock-fighting and theatrical entertainments are in great favour with the Tagals; they have quite a passion for playing on musical instruments, and learn to execute European pieces with great success. ”

“ The rearing of horses is the principal occupation. The chief settlement is San José de Ibana in the island of Batan. Camiguin, the southernmost of the Babuyanes, is about 30 miles from the coast of Luzon.
Luzon or Luçon, with an area of 40,885 square miles, is the largest island in the whole archipelago, and as the seat of the Government at Manila it is the most important. The northern trunk, so to speak, extends north and south for 340 miles. ”

“ 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. The Negritos [12] seem to have been driven into the more inaccessible parts by successive invasions of those Malay tribes who in very different stages of civilization and with considerable variety of physical appearance now form the parti-coloured but fairly homogeneous population of the islands. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Much more important are the gold-washings of Misamis and Surigao in Mindanao, the former of which yield about 150 oz. per month. Neither the mercury nor lead veins discovered at different times have proved of economic value. [3]
Climate.—As the north part of Luzon is as far from the south of the Sulu Islands as the north of England from the south of Italy, and as the archipelago is divided by the line of the ecliptic, the climate of one region differs considerably from that of another, though the general characteristics are everywhere tropical. ”

“ Tapa, or sun-dried deer s flesh, is a favourite food with the natives. The statement that the horse has become wild in the interior of several islands is founded on a mistake. The ordinary domestic variety, probably of Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese origin, is “generally small, but well-shaped and hardy, the largest and best breeds coming from Batangas, Albay, and Camarines, the smallest and probably the hardiest from Ilocos” (D. M. Forbes) . For all kinds of field work the buffalo (“carabao”) is employed ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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, [11] 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. ”

“ The rodents comprise only a few squirrels, Sciurus philippensis, &c., a porcupine, and two or three rats. Of bats there are between twenty and thirty species. The wild boar is regularly hunted in all the islands; the natives throughout the archipelago keep large numbers of black pigs ”

“ Dirty and savage-like in person, they are none the less industrious agriculturists—laying out their fields on artificial terraces on the mountain sides, and constructing irrigation canals with remarkable skill ”

“ In Manila, Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, Morong, Infanta, Tayabas, and Bataan they form the bulk of the population, and they also appear in Zambales, Principe, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Mindoro, Marinduque, Polillo, &c. Their language (Tagalog) especially has made extensive encroachments on the other Philippine tongues since the conquest. The Tagal is physically well developed, has a round head, high cheek bones, flattish nose, lowbrow, thickish lips, and large dark eyes. The lines from the nose to the mouth are usually strongly marked. The power of smell is of extraordinary acuteness. ”

“ But those that still have the credit of being working volcanoes are comparatively few.
Monte Cagua (3910 feet) , discovered by Claudio Montero on the north-eastern promontory of Luzon, appears to discharge smoke continually, and the Babuyanes group (to the north of Luzon) contains several orifices belonging to the same centre of eruption,—a regular volcano in Babuyan Claro, a solfatara in the Didica rocks, and a volcanic island thrown up in 1856. Of greater importance are the three burning mountains of southern Luzon—Taal, Albay, and Bulusan. Taal lies 45 miles almost due south of Manila. ”

“ The first extends from November to February or March; the winds are northerly, and, though there is no need for fire, woollen garments can be worn with comfort in the mornings; the sky is for the most part clear and the atmosphere bracing ”