50 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL 



a moderate stature, an olive-coloured complexion, broad 

 nose, full lips, a head broader than in Europeans, and 

 hair straight, nearly black, and somewhat coarse. They 

 are divided into numerous distinct tribes speaking different 

 languages, of v^^hich there are twenty in the island of 

 Luzon alone. Many are doubtless still unknown, par- 

 ticularly m the unexplored recesses of Mindanao and 

 Palawan. The two chief tribes are the Tagal and Bisayan, 

 the former occupying the greater part of Luzon and the 

 whole of the islands Marinduque and Mindoro, and 

 numbering about 1,500,000 souls. They appear to be 

 increasing somewhat rapidly, more by the assunilation of 

 neighbouring tribes than anything else, and are the most 

 civilised of all the Indios. The Bisayans occupy all the 

 islands lying between Luzon and Mindanao, as well as a 

 considerable portion of the north of the latter island, and 

 number over 2,000,000. Their language is akin to 

 Tagalog, but is spoken with an infinity of dialects. 

 Formerly they had a peculiar alphabet, or rather sylla- 

 bary, but this seems to be now unused. The Tagalog 

 writing -system is still to be found, based like the other, 

 according to Mr. Keane, upon the archaic Devanagiri of 

 the Asoka inscriptions, though now departing greatly 

 from that type in form. The Tagbuanas of Palawan 

 appear to be allied to the Bisayans, and still make use of 

 a very similar writing system, writing from the bottom 

 of the page to the top in columns, and beginning on the 

 right hand. 



These two peoples will probably in time include and 

 assimilate their less powerful neighbours, but there are 

 still other tribes of considerable importance, numerically 

 or otherwise, in the archipelago, the chief of which are 

 the Bicols and Ilocanos. The former inhabit the Cama- 

 rines or southern peninsula of Luzon, the Catanduanes 



