THE ASCENT OF MOITNT HALCON. 181 



Tlio name Mindoro is of Spanisli origin, taken from MiDa rlc ova. 

 moaning mine of gold, applied hv tlie earlier Spanisli explorers. 11 

 came no doubt from tales inipart(;d to (liciii by the natives of the fabidous 

 mineral wealth of the island, yet for over three and three-quarters cen- 

 turies this reputed golden treasure has remaiiunl nndiscovered. 'V\\v 

 ancient native name of the island was Mait. 



Topographically, Mindoro is exceedingly rough and the interior is 

 very imperfectly understood ; it is known locally as "the Africa of the 

 Philippines." The mountains in the north culminate in the Ilalcon 

 Kange, the highest peak heing exceeded among Philippine mountains 

 only by Apo and Malindang, both in Mindanao. 



The census of the Philippine Islands taken in 1903 gives the total 

 population of Mindoro as 28,361, of which 21,097 are classified as civil- 

 ized and 7,264 as wild. As comparativelv little is known ree-ardino- 

 the Mangyans, tlie aborigines inhabiting the interior, the latter figure 

 must be considered as approximate rather than exact. The civilized 

 inhabitants are confined entirely to tlie coast region, the Tagalogs pre- 

 dominating in the north, the Visayans in the south. 



Undoubtedly the Negritos are the aboriginal inhabitants of the island 

 and the lAIangyans are the descendents of Negrito and Malayan stoc-k. 

 Tiiey are confined entirely to the interior of Mindoro, except in the 

 southern part, where one or two towns of semicivilized Mangyans are 

 ](K-ated on the coast. Capt. T^ G. Offley,* United States Army, Governor 

 of Mind(n-o, states that they are non-Christian but not savages by nature 

 or habit, that they will run at sight of a stranger if his coming and inten- 

 tions have not previously been announced. They are divided into several 

 groups, the chief among which are the Buquit, Bangon and Batanga- 

 nes; these roam in bunches or by families, the oldest acting as chief; 

 they are willing workers, but they have no knowledge whatever of agri- 

 culture, and the Christian Filipino avails' himself of the fact that they 

 do not know the value of money by giving a handful of salt for a banca, 

 while the price of a small working bolo to a Mangyan has been known 

 to be ten years of servitude. The best description of these people which 

 I have seen is that given by Dean C. Worcester,'^ to whose book the reader 

 is referred. In regard to the Mangyans as a whole. Captain Oftley's 

 statement is inaccurate in some respects, for the ones we encountered on 

 the north slopes of Halcon have fairly permanent habitations and also 

 possass a decided knowledge of agriculture, although it is of a very prim- 

 itive kind. We saw but three representatives of these people on the en- 

 tire trip, an old nuui, a Ijoy and a girl, but we passed through numerous 

 clearings, some of tbem st-veral hundreds of acres in extent where there 

 were liouses; however, the inbabitants fled at our approach. In one 



* Census of the Pliilippine Islands (1903), 2: 547. 



"^Tlie Philippine islands and their People (1901), 375-377; 406-418. 



