The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-10-24

~ uH0tE the prOteCtlOn Oh inc
stars and stripes IL Uncle
i u Sans commissioners, now in
Paris negotiating a treaty Of
peace with Spain. shall decide to re-
tain possession of the Philippine is
lands. Not only will the United States
have TO take under its wing some OF the
most peculiar beings that live, but some
who have sailed under the black flag of
the pirates whose depredations in that
section Of the world are only equaled
by those of the freebooters who once
infested the Spanish main. The inhab-
itants OF these islands. which occupy a
large space i'm the eastern seas, are
composed OF many different tribes and
mixed races. While little is known OF
the history OF the people found there
by the Spanish explorers IL is believed
that they We're negroes. small in stat
ure, but very powerful. Now nearly
every race or kind OF people can be
found there, from the civilized white
man, TO the savage whose traits and
characteristics are similar to the abo-
rigines. The islands, more than !. 200 in
number are situated near the main
land OF China. Siam and the Malay PEN
insula, while TO the south and east are
the islands of Java, Sumatra, New
Guinea and Borneo, from which fiocked
adventures and the lower class OF
criminals and desperadoes in search of
riches that were supposed to be stored
In abundance in the hills and mountains
OF the Philippines. These people not
only pillaged the natives within the
borders OF their land. but sent out pi-
rates from their shores TO prey upon
the merchant marine Of the surround
ing country
IL may be said that there was little
work other than piracy among the
tribes people at that time, and from
what can be learned OF them they also
seized each others vessels and destroy
cd each others property. The islands
have been the center OF piracy ever
since they were known. and records
show that the deeds OF desperate dar-
ing committed by some OF the chiefs or
kings were only equaled by the famous
Black Flags of China (some OF whose
members and descendants are supposed
To have emigrated to the islands), the
pirates OF the Barbary states on the
north coast OF Africa and those of the
Spanish main.
The Spaniards under Magellan dis
covered the islands in the early part OF
the sixteenth century. In 1866 they
started TO establish colonies and con-
quer the natives Their struggle to get
control is so well known that IL would
be useless to chronicle il here. For
more than three centuries Spain has |
been fighting 10 get rid of the pirates |
and subdue the natives of that section |
of the world. and now that her nominal |
sovereignty at least over some of them |
is to cease it may be truthfully stated |
that many of the tribes, especially |
those in Mindanao, Tawi Tawi and |
some OF the smaller islands are as in |
dependent of Spanish rule today as |
they were when Magellan first set foot |
on Zebu, the first of the group to be dis
covered.
There are nine large and more than
200 small islands. The large ones are
Luzon, Panay, Zebu. Leyte, Bohol, Ne
gros, Samar, Mindanao and Mindoro.
There are nearly as many different |
tribes as there are islands. The Chi
nese and Malays next 10 the native
Tagals and Visayas predominate. Wild
Malay tribes, from whom sprung some
Of the early pirates, are found in large |