THE niiLirriNE islands 47 



in Mindoro the sole remnant of a pre-existing land which 

 was at one time unconnected with tlie great Malay 

 islands, and probably prolonged to the east and south. 



6. Inhabitants. 



The Philippines are inhabited, so far as the indigenous 

 population is concerned, by two distinct races of men — 

 the Negrito and the Malayan. Ethnologists are for the 

 most part agreed in looking upon the former as the 

 remnant of the aboriginal inhabitants of the group, who 

 have been gradually supplanted and driven to the moun- 

 tains by the more civilised and capable Malays. That 

 this invasion took place at a very remote period there is 

 every reason to believe. 



The Negritos are a diminutive, dark race, with crisp 

 and woolly hair and a facial appearance of a Negroid 

 type. They are found in Luzon, Mindoro, Negros, Panay, 

 and Mindanao ; probably in Palawan according to March e, 

 and possibly in Zebu. The pure race is now rare. Their 

 total numbers are put by Blumentritt at 20,000, an 

 estimate only 5000 short of that given by Crawfurd 

 forty years ago. Although wild, and living in districts 

 for the most part remote Irom civilisation, they have 

 mixed very largely with the pagan Malay tribes, and 

 traces of Negrito blood are very frequently to be seen. 

 In the pure Negrito the height is said to average 4 ft. 

 10 in., but Semper's estimate is two or three inches less. 

 The skull is brachycephalic, the chest small, the legs 

 without calves, and the feet turned inwards. Their 

 prognathous and deeply-lined faces give them an ape-like 

 appearance. The nose is broad and flat, and the nostrils 

 dilated, and the slender l)uild and small size of the body 



