THE PHILIPriNE ISLANDS Go 



The revenue is derived from various sources, the most 

 important being the passport tax above mentioned. 

 Customs dues (considerably raised in 1891), State 

 lotteries, post and telegraphs, excise on palm-wine, and 

 licenses for cock-fighting — the ruling passion of the 

 islanders — are the chief items. The Budget shows 

 generally a deficit. In 1886 the expenditure was 

 £2,326,000, the revenue £2,300,000. The estimates 

 for 1891 are given as £2,145,763 and £2,119,467 

 respectively. 



10. Population and Provinces. 



The population of the Philippines has been very 

 variously estimated. It is chiefly arrived at by the 

 number of those who paid the capitation tax. The 

 last statistics of these given by Dr. Meyer show that 

 1,232,544 paid tribute in 1870, and the total popula- 

 tion was estimated at six times this number, or in round 

 numbers about 7|- millions. The persons living between 

 the ages of 16 and 60 (the age of taxation) are usually 

 about half the total population, so that the Christian 

 natives and Chinese would together only amount to 2|- 

 millions. The official census — if it can thus be termed 

 — of 1877 gave 5,559,020 as the population of the 

 Philippines, and 75,000 as that of the Sulu group. The 

 latest estimate of the Archbishop of Manila places the 

 total number of the inhabitants of the archipelago at 

 7,500,000, and calculates that of the Sulu group at 

 200,000 more. This latter is without doubt much too 

 high an estunate. From the subjoined table given by 

 Eeclus, which claims to be calculated from the latest 

 available data, the total numbers appear as 6,142,452. 



