252 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 5C 



territory of Manila; 1 and speaks further of a country called San 

 hsi'r ("The Three Islands" — Ka-ma-yen, Pa-lao-yu, and Pa-ki- 

 nung). The sketch of the native population given by him is very 

 interesting. He says : 



On each island lives a different tribe. Each tribe consists of about a thou- 

 sand families. As soon as a foreign ship comes in sight, the natives approach 

 it to barter. They live in rush huts. As there are no springs in the moun- 

 tains, the women carry two or three jugs at the same time on their heads, in 

 which they fetch water from the springs in the plain, and with this load they 

 ascend the mountains as easily as if they were walking on level ground. In 

 the most hidden valleys live people called Hai-tan (the Aeta or Negritos). 

 They are of small stature, have round brown eyes and frizzled hair, and their 

 teeth shine between their lips. They live high up in the tops of trees, 3 where 

 they dwell in families of from three to five individuals. Crawling through the 

 thickets of the forests, they shoot from ambush at passers-by; wherefore they 

 are much dreaded ; but if a porcelain cup is thrown towards them they rush 

 on it, shouting with joy, and escape with their spoil. 



Then the mode of trading with the merchants of the Chinese ships 

 is related. The native articles traded were cotton, cotton goods, 

 beeswax, cocoanut, and fine mats, while the Chinese exchanged for 

 them silk parasols, porcelain, and baskets plaited of rattan. Even 

 in 1572 the inhabitants of Cagayan told the captain Juan de S'alcedo, 

 that their cotton weavings were bought up yearly by Chinese and 

 Japanese traders. Chinese-Philippine trade must therefore have 

 existed early in the thirteenth, and very likely in the latter part of 

 the twelfth century. 



Perhaps a still earlier ethnographical allusion to a Philippine tribe 



1 I am rather inclined to believe that the island of Mindoro is meant, which, 

 according to Blumentritt (Versuch einer Ethnographie der Philippinen, p. 6$) . 

 was called Mait in oldest times. In all likelihood the Chinese were acquainted 

 with Mindoro at an earlier date than with Luzon. It was on Mindoro that in 

 1571 Spaniards and Chinese met for the first time. The Three Islands are 

 probably Busuanga, Calamian, and Penon de Coran. Of other localities men- 

 tioned by Chao Ju-Kua. Pai-pu-yen may be identified with the Babuyan north 

 of Luzon ; Pu-li-lu with Polillo, eastward from Luzon. 



2 An island group of the same name is mentioned in the History of the Mon- 

 gol Dynasty as situated near Formosa, with a population of only 200 families. 

 In language these people seem to have been different from the Formosans, for 

 the latter could not understand the speech of an interpreter from there in the 

 service of the Chinese. The group is certainly not the same as that above 

 (see Yuan shiJi, chap. 210, pp. 4-5). 



8 The Tung hsi yang k'ao mentions a mountain range on Luzon by the name 

 of Fou-ting-shan. It says: "Wild barbarians dwell in nests on the top of 

 these mountains, and shoot from trees at birds and animals, which they eat 

 uncooked. One cannot follow their trails." 



