200 MERRILL. 



1,'^00 feet o]i tlic lidge between the Alag and Binabav and at al)()iit 5 or 

 (! miles from the nearest Tagah^g settlements, one finds traces of the 

 Mangyans in ek^arings, oeenj)ied or deserted. It is the enstom of tiiese 

 people to clear a given area by chqpping down the trees and brush and 

 after bnrning it over they plant upland rice, corn, and other crops. Such 

 clearings will be occupied for one or more years until the soil shows 

 signs of exhaustion, until the slopes are denuded by erosion or until the 

 e\ul)erent tropical vegetation becomes too great an obstacle to tlie 

 primitive agriculturist. He then clears another ])iece of ground and the 

 deserted one soon reverts to its former forested condition. Aftei' a term 

 of years the same land may be cleared again by the same methods. Every- 

 where on the more gentle slopes from the Binabay River to an altitude of 

 3,500 feet on Halcon, we observed clearings in all stages, from those 

 freshly cut and not yet burned to those in cultivation, and from those 

 recently deserted to clearings in all stages of reversion to forest. Some 

 of these were very extensive and must have entailed a great amount 

 of labor, for many of the trees felled were 3 feet in diameter, and the 

 only tools possessed by the Mangyans are working bolos and very small, 

 narrow axes. 



From a forestry standpoint, practically all the forests in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of Halcon have been ruined by the above methods of 

 clearing, for it seems evident that the Mangv'an selects virgin woods for 

 his work of destruction, doubtless because he has found from experience 

 that the soil is better than in those localities wliere he lias jireviously 

 cleared and which have reverted. 



The tioristic conditions '" of the lower forests indicate liigh and con- 

 tinuous humidity, shown by the numerous ferns, mosses and epiphytes. 

 As higher altitudes are readied these ejiipbytes become progressively more 

 abundant, until on the exposed crest-line ridges, beginning at 4,000 feet, the 

 trees are found to be completely covered with a dense mass of mosses and 

 epiphvtes. so thick and close that frequently the bark of the tree is not 

 visiMe. Tbe eliaracter of the vegetation entirely changes, the constituent 

 species of the lower forests disajipear and others totally different in aspect 

 take their place, ^'al•ious s])ecies of oak and one species of maple are 

 abundant at intermediate altitudes, but on the ridges the vegetation is 

 largely characterized liy certain species found in such habitats throughout 

 Malaya. Epiphytic ferns and orchids and other plants become more 

 ])lentiful and there is a greater diversity in species; mosses are imu-h 

 thicker and more luxuriant, eiiwra|)piiig even the branches and branchlets 

 of the trees and forming a deep, soft, soil cover. fre(|iienlly a foot in 

 tliiekii(!ss. I^|)i|ih\tie shi-nhs and vines are ahundant and gi\f an added 

 characti'i' in the \cgetalii)ii : rimdodendi'oiis. hiieklehei'ries. raspherries and 



'" l'"(ir iiii account of tlic i'loia of Mount Ihilcon sec Mcirill. litis .foiniKil 

 ('. Bolany ( HH)7 ) , 2, 2;')!. 



