The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-05-16
Ibe KagavanS: Gbeir Life.
~~~e@~

NDG Nd$30yQlt~
Paper Read Before the Chaartaaqua Circle
@EVERAL weeks ago the Utica
Globe contained three-column |
4 article on The Kagayans of north |
ern Luzon, in which the author
described fewjfeatures of the tobacco |
industry in the Cagayan valley.
Altho the writeri;of this paper has
never been north of Manila, he has
been on several of thessouthern islands
of this vast group, and believing that
there still remain many features which
might prove interesting were they
mentioned, has decided to infict upon
-his hearers another paper on the Philip
pines, choosing the subject mentioned
as his theme.
Six hundred miles southwest of Ma
niIa in the southern part of the Sulu
Sea is very small group of islands of
which Kagaysn Sulu is the largest and
most important. The inhabitants of
the various tribes of this group, whoare
called Kagayans, belong to the Malay
race which include the fierce Moham-
medan tribes of Mindanao and the Su-
iu Archipelago. To say that these peo-
pie are savages would hardly be correct,
altho do say that they are among the
least advanced of the many Filipino
tribes today.
The establishment Of two small
posts on these islands early in 1900 was
of immense benefit to the natives, for
they not only caused petty warfare be-
tween the several tribes to cease, but
also stopped smuggling from Borneo'
Unlike the majority of the Filipinos
who were we'll supplied with bolos,
krisses and in many cases modern arms
and ammunition, we found these peo.
pie working with flint axes, chipping
out their Lsach-e-ans or canoes with
ADDE'S made of stone and tied to ma
hogany or ebony handles by means OF
cord made from the fiber of the cocoa
nut tree, and living life in which iror
and other metals played no part, for II
such a country, where the land is GOV
cred with dense jungle, it is very diff
fcult to find any minerals. Such peo
ple as these are interesting because
they are living today the lives that ou
own ancestors must have lived in th'
past. They have the same kind of diff
ficulties, the same tproblems, and IL
many cases the same solutions tina
other primitive people have arrived al
and this in spite of the fact that the,
live many miles from civilization AM
have been unable to communicate t.
any extent with the outside world
For this reason shall try to describ
to you the kind of lives they lead an
how they solve their social, moral an
religious problems.
The natural resources Of these island
are very good; the forests are vast an
consist of mahogany, ebony and man
other hardwoods in addition to orang
Zig, banana, cocoanut, bamboo, dat
palm and the mango trees so commo
in the tropics. The soil is fertile, an
altho the year is divided into a dry an
wet season, the natives receive amp
returns for their labor. It took us b'
q short time to become accustomed
the climate and consequently we WEI
hiking most of the time during the dl
season, which lasts from October unt
May. As previous paper described
few of the difficulties encountert
while hiking in the interior of the'
unexplored islands, will briefly sta
that as far as hiking is concerne
whether on Luzon, Panay, Negro
Mindanao or Kagayan Bulu, it is ju
the same.
The carabao or water buffalo is Il
beast of burden. During the tin
that our company was located on tt
group of islands the writer never SO
cabalya or pony of any kind. 7
favorite sport is cock-fghting and eve
village has its pit. As the Filipino
an inveterate gambler, there is never
feast-day or Sunday passes. without
great many fights being pulled off
each pit. The natives of these islam
also have string games for anotf
amusement. Every member OF Il
circle. knows of the game which
played by children with 9 string,
which one takes the string from