New-York tribune., 1907-10-06

This account of Philippine history is a narra-
tive Of embassies and quarrels of voyages Of
discovery and massacres by natives and others.
AS early as the beginning of the thirteenth CEN
tury, two hundred and fifty years before the
Spahiards went to the Orient the Chinese knew
about Spain. y member of the imperial family
at this time, collector of customs at an impor-
tant Chinese port. wrote book upon informa-
uon gained from Indian. Persian. Assyrian ana
arabian merchants, in which he described Spain
and Portugal. The island of Iuzou Of course
was known To them long before the Spaniards
reached tie Orient and While America was ruled
by the ancestors of the Indians Not until 49,
however, says the historian, did the first en-
baSSy from the Philippines arrive in China with
tribute, bat TINS fact points to a long CONNER
cIiI intercourse between the two peoples.
Here is a thirteenth century Chinese descrip-
ton Of what has been recognized as several of
the Philippine Islands. one OF them probably
Luzon.
ION each island lives different tribe. Each
tribe consists OF about thousand families As
soon as foreign ship comes in sight the natives
approach it 20 barter They live in rush hutS
AS there are no springs in the mountains, the
women carry two or three jugs at the same time
on their heads, in which they fetch water from
the springs in the plain. and with this load they
ascend the mountains a easily as if they were
walking on level ground. In the most hidden
valleys live people called Haitian (Negritos).
ihey are of small stature have round brown
eyes ana trlZZled hair and their teeth shine be
tween their lips. They live high up in the tops
OF trees, where they dwell in families of from
three to five individuals. Crawling through the
thickets of the forests, they shoot from ambush
dt passersby; wherefore they are much dreaded;
but If a porcelain cup is thrown toward them
they rush on 1t, shouting with joy and escape
with their spoil"
ferhaps still earlier official mention of Fill
pinos, says DIR. Laufer. is the following:
Near the FormOsans is the lana of the Pi-sia-
ye Visaya), whose language is not understood
They 60 naked, and from the way they stare one
would say they are not like other people In the
latter part OF the twelfth century the chief of
that country daringly took some hundreds of
his men and appeared in the Bay of Fuhkien
Province. In several villages they committed
outrages and murder In their pIundering they
looked chiefly for iron implements. spoons and
chopsticks. When people shut their doors they
deslsted, and only cut off the rings of the
doOrknObs When spoons and choIsticks were
thrown TO them they stopped TO gather them
When they saw rider clad in iron they strug-
gled among themselves to cut of his armor.
then, joining forces, they slew him mercilcssly
OiO9c
spears, 10 which a rope of more than a hundred
feet in length was attached. with which to
handle the weapon for they save their iron and
do not reckessly throw it aside. They had no
boats or oars. but RATS made OF bamboo poles
tied together. Hurriedly they carried these off
jointly, set them afoat and disauI cared"
The interesting story of a big voyage Of dis
covery into the Indian ocean. many times more
stupendous than the trip Of Columbus, is told
follows:
IN 1907 Chang-ho undertook a memorable
expedition. accompanied 10y a fleet of sixty-two
large ships, carrying twenty-seven thousand
eight hundred soldiers; and his crusades,
repeated several times in the space Of about
thirty years. he visited number of countries
in the Indian Ocean far the Arabian Gulf
and obtained the nominal allegiance Of their
rulers.
""Then Vasco de Cana had not yet navigated
around the Cape OF Good Hope; no European
sail had yet been visible the Pacific and
Indian oceans. of which the Chinese and the