The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-11

the police In the town of Davao, which was practically wild at the time l visited the islands, there is an agricultural and industrial school, attended by the boys of the surrounding tribes. Military drill is given and the boys are taught farm ing
 When we took possession some of the
 Bagobas had little farms and they raised hemp for their own use They tore the
 fibers apart and woVe their own clothes
 from them ] saw hundreds of men and women who were dressed in grass jackets
 and pants The pants of both sexes reached only to the knees, and the men
 wore strings of bells about the leg at
 the same place that the American girl wears her garter.
 They Raise Hemp for Export Today the Bagobas are farming in earn est. Major Gilsheuser says they are now
 bringing in something like 15o,ooO pounds. of hemp a month and that his whole dis tret exports ten times that amount. Many of the other tribes bring in guns and wax, and not a few of the wild men are laboring on the plantations owned by the Christians. The greater part of Mindanao is wild, and some of the people far in the interior
 are so savage that very little has been done with them. There are 15 different tribes near payao some of whom still live in trees, making their homes in the branches 40 or 90 feet above the ground. These people are much afraid of the for eigners, but they are gradually beginning to have confidence in the new eonuitons and to learn that they will not be robbed or murdered.
 The government has been opening up
 trails all over the Mindanao. It is mak- ing roads and clearing out the rivers and streams, so that the wrd people can go 1 from place to place in their canoes. There are mounted police almost everywhere, ! and life and property are now compaIa- ! lively safe. Tn some places the wlu men are used to police their own country. llu-
 man sacrifices are being done away with,
 and this is also true of the animal sacri- | fees Down at Davao roads and bridges l have been made throughout the whole dis
 trict. There is a wireless telegraph sTa-
 ton there and telephones will soon ,be put 1 In.
 Work Among the NcgritOs
 Before | speak Of the work which has ! been done in Luzon and other large is lands where there are semi-clVilized tribes, l l want to tell you about the Negritos,
 These little people are about the lowest
 and most barbarous of our Philippine ! cousins
 1 They are the aborigines. and are much l ilkh liit DlSltlfS ul int AilNttiildl lsldilu- l and the little dwarfs which inhabit the
 wilds of the Congo. They are about the i smallest of mankind l have met fully grown women who could walk under my
 arm. and have seen id men who did | not reach up to my shoulder. The officials
 of the census measured nine full grown
 men and the average height was four feet 1 eight inches.
 These people arc as black as your hat, and their hair is as woolly as that of the | little men of the Congo. They have wide nostrils, thick lips and flat noses. Their ! teeth arc black, made so by chewing the ] betel.
 The Negrtos are scattered all over tho | islands. They have no language cxceLt
 that of the people about them. They havo
 no tribal relations 10 speak of and it is hard to get hold of them except in isolatc.l eases. The government has enticed some into the schools, but they are usually