The evening times., 1900-03-14


and tribes. mineral resources. agriculture
exports and imDorts, forests. and harbors
of the Philippine Islands
Under the caption OF Historical Sum-
mary" the report recites: "The Philip
pines were discovered by Magellan on the
10th of March, 1921, on the day CT St Laz-
arus. but it was not until 1861. after sew
eral expeditions had failed. that Legaspi
succeeded, with five ships. which he took
from New Spain, in taking possession Of the
archipelago in the name OF Philip II. The
discoverer had called the islands after St
Lazarus but this name was not commonly
in use. The Spanlards called the western
islands Islas del Poniente and the Portu-
guese islands Islas del Oriente Legaspi
gave them their present name in honor
Of Philip II. who, on his side. added later
the title Of New CASTLE to the group.
"Afterward Legaspi took Cebu and then
Pauay and six years later he conquered
Manila which was az that time a village
surrounded by palisades. and began al
once the construction Of a fortified city.
The conquest Of the remaining provinces
T Of Luzon was so rapid that at the time OF
B LegaSpi's death, In August 1872 the work
was practically ended: but numberless wild
tribes ir the interior. the Mohammedan
States of Mindanao and the Sulu group
have kept even TO-DAY their independence.
Character of the Population.
The character Of the population, as
/ well as their political tendencies, favored
I Legaspi's conquest. There was no power
fu kingdom. no old dynasty. no influential
priesthood to overcome and no national
pride to crush down The indigenous
races were either heather or supericially
and recently converted 70 Islsmism and
lived under many little chiefs, who ruled
with great tyranny lighting with one an
other and therefore easily overcome by
the Spaniards. Such a community Is
Barangay. and il forms even today though
in a very altered form. the basis Of gov
ernmeut among the Indigenous races. The
1 Spaniards limited the power OF the native
. chiefs and abolished slavery. They accom-
pIished these changes however. with fore
sight and very gradually.
/ The conquest and pacihcatiOn Of the
( Philippines was performed for the most
part by Juan de Salcedo. called he 'COrteZ
OF the Philippines. BE was the grandson
OF Legaspi and was a man OF great courage
f and energy In addition 10 many eNplana-
F tions and discoveries and much lighting
with hostile natives be defeated in a Sc
ries OF engagements an invasion OF Luzon.
which was attempted by about 1000 Chi
nese under the command Of Lima hong,
a Chinaman who had been eXiled from the
Empire on the charge Of piracy. This was
. in the year 1872. In 1876 Salcedo died and
iu 1850 Portugal and all her colonies pass
ed BY conquest TO the Crown Of Spain.
This was the period OF the greatest power
in the Philippines. II was not 10 endure,
however. and in 1G40 Portugal again be
came independent. and her many colonies
L.. rrT from
Manila.
/ The later history of the Philippines is
not OF any particular general interest and
is not important enough 10 enter in,2 IN
detail. Fruitless expeditions against pi-
rates. constant trouble with the Dutch.
and inCessant strife between the spiritual
and temporal forces in the islands NIL
. long series OF years.
/ In 1852 Manila was seized by an En-
. gIish feet and held for 4 time as a war
measure On the conclusion Of peace il
was again returned 10 the Spanlard5
From then until its final cession to the
United States the only events worthy OF
remark have been several Instructions in
. the Island Of Luzon against Spanish rule,
which were all successfully reDressed'
The Last Census
In the section on population the report
saws in part. The following is quota
tion from an article by ". F. Wilcox, Of
the United States Census Bureau. II 10
well 10 notice that the last official census
was iu 1857 and that the figures of that
census. though probably Understanding
the population Of the islands, are the ones
which in default Of better. we are obliged
TO take a. final. IL IS probable that these
are an Lnderstatement Of the true popula-
tion OF the Philippines for several reasons,
. ythT ah nF oh
Wilcox and which is therefore mentioned
It is. OF course, only suppOsition, but is
at least suggestive For every adult count
ed in the census the officials were obliged
to return a poll FAX Thus, for instance.
If 100. 200 persons we're counted 100000
/ pCsetas would have TO be returned TO the
treasury. II has therefore been supposed
that the officials counted, say 100000 and
returned only 100000 pesetas and 100000
names
"Mr Wilcox says the population OF tbs
islands in 1872 was stated in letter from
! Manila BY Or. A. B. Meyer, who gives the
I latest not yet published statistics as his
. authority. The letter gives the pOpula-
/ ton Of nine islands. as follows, Luzon,
4.467111; Panay 1.O52,5S6; Cebu. 1886;
I Leite 2S5. .495: Bohol 2S3.515; NegrOs,
! 255 ST2: Samar. 25O 062. MinJanaO, 191 SOP,
and MindOro. 1926.
On the subject Of ethEOgraphy the re-
port says that the inhabitants of the ISL
and belong to three sharply distinct races.
| the Negrito race. the Indonesian race and
. the Malayan race.
1T is universally conceded that the Ne
gritos OF today are the disappearing rem
nants OF people which once populated the
( entire archipelago
Habits of the Natives.
Centuries ago they were driven from
the coast regions into the wilder interior
portions of the islands by Malay invaders.
and from that day to this they have steadi-
| ly lost ground in the struggle for exist
| ence. until but a few scattered and numer-
ically insignificant groups Of them remain.
! As a rule they are to be met with only on
/ the fOrestClad sides of the higher noun
| taIns of Luzon, Panay, Negros, and Min
danao. although in the northeastern part
! OF LuZon they are said to still inhabit the
| wooded loWlands near the coast. They
| lead a nOmadic life, wandering almost
| naked through the forests, and living on
! fruits. tubers. and such game as they
can bring down with their bows and pOis-
| oned arrows. II is believed that not more
| than % .0CO of them exist in the entire ar
| cEipelago. and the race seems doomed 10
| early extinction. Within a comparatively
| short time il has completely disappeared
from several of the islands which it for
merly inhabited, and it is said that the
birth rate is now considerably below the
| death rate.
THE great majority Of the Inhabitants
OF the Philippines are 9f Malayan