laufer] RELATIONS OF CHINESE TO THE PHILIPPINES 281 



other problems, should be solved by extensive physical research. An 

 ethnological question of great importance would be a study of the 

 traces of Chinese material culture, still remaining, in the life of the 

 Philippine tribes. Such research requires, of course, a deeper 

 knowledge of Philippine ethnology than is available at present, and 

 more extensive and better-classified collections than are now at our 

 disposal. From a cursory inspection of the Philippine material in 

 the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, it seems 

 to me that Chinese influence is particularly to be observed in con- 

 nection with the industrial crafts of the Christian peoples, as in agri- 

 culture, fishery, navigation, pottery, and weaving. The types of 

 Philippine footgear almost seem to be derived from China. 



Another important problem in connection with the history of 

 Chinese-Spanish-American trade would be to determine what influ- 

 ence objects of Chinese culture may have had on the peoples of 

 Mexico and Peru. This question has been ventilated by Dr. Walter 

 Hough, in his paper "Oriental Influences in Mexico." 1 Dr. Hough 

 refers to a number of useful plants which were at that time intro- 

 duced from the East into Mexico, probably by way of the Philip- 

 pines, like the cocoanut, the banana, the plantain, the mango, and 

 others. 2 He mentions, further, some evidences of contact in the 

 industrial arts, as the making of palm-wine, the close resemblance 

 in construction and shape of the rain-coats used in Mexico to those 

 of China, and other items. To obtain a satisfactory solution of this 

 problem, first of all, the ancient Spanish sources on South America 

 and Mexico should be diligently searched for all references con- 

 cerning early Chinese trade and imports ; secondly, such remains of 

 these as exist should be eagerly sought for and collected, particu- 

 larly in the line of ceramics and textile manufactures ; 3 and, finally, 

 the actual influence, if any, of these on the corresponding industries 

 of American peoples should be investigated. 



1 American Anthropologist, 1900, pp. 66-74. 



2 See, however, O. F. Cook (The Origin and Distribution of the Cocoa 

 Palm, Contributions from the U. S. National Herbarium, vol. vii, No. 2, 

 Washington, 1901, p. 259), who contradicts this view. The cocoanut-palm is 

 doubtless indigenous in America. 



3 The following notice is interesting in this respect : "Grau y Monfalcon in 

 1637 reported that there were 14,000 people employed in Mexico in manufac- 

 turing the raw silk imported from China. This industry might be promoted 

 by the relaxation of the restrictions on trade. It would also be for the ad- 

 vantage of the Indians of Peru to be able to buy for five pence a yard linen 

 from the Philippines, rather than to be compelled to purchase that of Rouen 

 at ten times the price" (from Documentos ineditos del archivo de Indias, in 

 Blair's and Robertson's The Philippine Islands, vol. 1, p. 69). 



