624 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



of the Interior, J. R. de la Puente ; Minister of 

 Finance and Commerce, I. Rev ; Minister of Public 

 Works, Senor Butler. A Government commission, 

 appointed in January to discuss the basis of an ar- 

 rangement of outstanding differences with the Pe- 

 ruvian Corporation, consisting of Senor Candamo, 

 Dr. Arenas, and Carlos Pierola, could come to no 

 agreement with that company, which had a conces- 

 sion of all the railroads, guano deposits, lands, and 

 mines for sixty-six years. After the opening of the 

 regular session of Congress on July 28, President 

 Pierola proposed a liquidation of accounts between 

 the Government and the British company. The 

 proceeds of the salt monopoly, amounting to 784,000 

 soles, enabled the Government to pay the first in- 

 stallment of 1,000,000 soles for the ransom of the 

 provinces of Tacnaand Arica, which Chili had agreed 

 to restore to Peru. A law was enacted providing 

 for the establishment of a gold basis and the coin- 

 age of Peruvian sovereigns. The importation of 

 silver coins has been prohibited since May 10, 1897. 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, an archipelago in the 

 western Pacific Ocean, formerly a colony of Spain ; 

 occupied by the naval and military forces of the 

 United States in June and July, 1898, and ceded to 

 the United States by the treaty of peace concluded 

 with Spain. 



Area and Population. The islands extend from 

 5 24' of north latitude up to 19 J 38' and from 

 117 21' to 126 8' of east longitude. There are 

 more than 1,400 islands, but all except a few 

 are barren volcanic rocks. The total area is esti- 

 mated at 115,528 square miles, and the population 

 is variously estimated at 8,000,000. Of the main 

 islands the most important is Luzon, with an area 

 of 57,505 square miles and nearly 5,000,000 inhabi- 

 tants. Panay, with 4,742 square miles, has about 

 1,000,000 inhabitants. Mindanao, which is 38,000 

 square miles in extent, has scarcely 200,000. An- 

 other of the larger islands is Palawan. Of less 

 extent, but more populous, are Leyte, Mindoro, 

 Samar, Negros, Cebu, Masbate, and Bohol. Of the 

 Negritos, or Papous, the original inhabitants of the 

 islands, only a few thousands remain, scattered in 

 bands through the mountains and forests. The 

 Malays, who conquered them, form the bulk of the 

 population, mingled with Chinese, who settled on 

 the islands for trading and industrial purposes even 

 before the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, and with the Spanish immigrants. The 

 Spanish residents, exclusive of the military, do not 

 exceed 8,000. Including the Chinese, there are not 

 more than 80,000 people of unmixed foreign blood 

 in all the islands. The Malay Indians are divided 

 into three main branches, the Bisayans, the Itocans, 

 and the Tagals. In some of the "numerous tribes 

 into which they are subdivided is a large infusion 

 of Japanese and Chinese blood, in others Papuan 

 and Polynesian. The Manthras are a cross between 

 the Malays and the Negritos. There are over 200 

 different tribes living alongside each other, severed 

 only by race distinctions and customs. The people 

 are industrious agriculturists and skillful sailors. 

 The Chinese mestizos, sprung from the intermarriage 

 of Chinese with the native women, number several 

 hundred thousand in the island of Luzon, and these 

 were the most active element in the rebellion 

 against Spanish rule. The Spanish mestizos are 

 less numerous. Before the Spanish conquest the 

 Malays were Mohammedans. Forcible conversion 

 to Christianity has left not more than 500,000 ad- 

 herents of the ancient faith. 



Manila, the capital, has about 250.000 inhabitants. 

 Other cities are Laoag with 30,642, Lipa with 43,- 

 408, Banang with 35,598, Batangas with 35,587, 

 Leyte, and Cavitc. The Augustinian, Franciscan, 

 and Dominican orders furnish the priests, who 



were the real rulers of the country until the natives 

 rebelled against their authority. Their foundations 

 comprise nearly a third of the cultivated land in 

 the Philippines. Missionary priests of the Jesuit 

 order, not powerful and wealthy like the others, 

 living among the remote and savage tribes and de- 

 voting themselves to Christianizing and civilizing 

 these, never have provoked the hostility of the 

 natives. 



Finance. The Spaniards have collected a rev- 

 enue of $8.000,000 a year. In addition to customs 

 duties, which almost shut out all manufactures and 

 other imports except those of Spain, the people were 

 taxed in every possible way. On cotton goods and 

 on petroleum the duty was equal to 100 per cent. 

 There were taxes on stores and shops, on factories 

 and professions, on horses and carriages, on houses, 

 on every animal slaughtered, and each person ac- 

 cording to his wealth and station had to pay a 

 personal tax, ranging up to $25 a year. The 

 Chinese paid a special tax. Even from cockfights 

 a considerable revenue was obtained. Tobacco, 

 hemp, and other products were made to pay duties 

 on exportation. With a revenue of 2,715,980 in 

 1895, the estimated expenditure was 2,656,026 

 sterling. 



There are 720 miles of telegraph in the islands 

 and 70 miles of railroad. 



Commerce and Industry. Besides agricul- 

 ture and fishing, the native Indians practice somo 

 fine branches of industry, such as the manufacture 

 of ornamental mats and the weaving of fabrics from 

 cotton, pure or mixed, pineapple fiber, abaca fila- 

 ments, and other materials, the making of cigar 

 cases, etc. The cloths called pinas are woven from 

 the fibers of the pineapple leaf and exquisitely em- 

 broidered. The industries are mostly in the hands 

 of the Chinese. In dyeing and in basket and metal 

 work the natives are skillful. Great numbers are 

 employed on an industrial scale in the Government 

 cigar factories, in the making of cordage from 

 abaca fiber, and in the preparation of hemp and the 

 manufacture of sugar and copra. Sugar, hemp, 

 tobacco, and copra are the chief exports, and rice, 

 flour, wine, cotton cloth, clothing, coal, and petro- 

 leum the largest imports. Other articles are linens, 

 iron, machinery, hardware, woolens, earthenware, 

 and umbrellas. Rice is grown on the islands, and 

 the cultivation can be indefinitely increased. Millet, 

 maize, and sago are other food products, besides 

 fruit in unequaled abundance and variety. Indigo 

 and coffee are successfully cultivated. Dyewoods 

 and gums abound on all the islands. The carabao, 

 or water buffalo, is domesticated for husbandry, and 

 hardy and active horses of a small breed are com- 

 mon. Pigs, sheep, goats, and poultry are reared. 

 Edible swallows' nests are gathered in the chalk 

 cliffs. The rivers and lagoons abound in fish. Th<3 

 soil is wonderfully fertile. A vast supply of lignite 

 underlies some of the islands, but is as yet un- 

 touched. Other minerals are gold, copper, iron, 

 quicksilver, lead, sulphur, and saltpetre. From the 

 sea are obtained mother-of-pearl, coral, tortoise 

 shell, and amber. The woods found in the forests 

 include ebony, logwood, ironwood, sapanwood, and 

 cedar. The orange, mango, tamarind, guava, and 

 cocoanut palm grow everywhere. Some of the 

 minor cultivated products are cotton, vanilla, cjissin, 

 ginger, pepper, cacao, pineapples, wheat, maize, 

 cinnamon, and betel. 



The small commerce is carried on by Chinese , 

 while the export and import trade is in the hands 

 of English, Germans, and Americans. The port of 

 Manila has a trade of $36,000,000 a year. Its ex- 

 ports include $8,000,000 of hemp. $6,000,000 of 

 sugar, $2.000,000 of tobacco. $2.500,000 of gol.i, 

 and $1,250,000 of coffee. Besides these staples the 



