256 AUSTEALASIA. 



according to their religion and pursuits. Those who have accepted the authority 

 of the whites and the ministrations of the Catholic clergy are called Lidios, or 

 " Indians," and this class is gradually merging in a common nationalit3\ Those 

 of the south, who remain followers of the Prophet, are collectively known as 

 Moras, or " Moors ; " lastly, the tribes that have maintained their independence, or 

 submit impatiently to the foreign yoke and still practise their old pagan rites, 

 form the class of Infieles, or " Infidels." 



Of the Indios the most civilised are the Tagals (Ta-Gala), who number 

 1,500,000, and are steadily increasing, less by the excess of births over deaths than 

 by the gradual assimilation of the surrounding tribal groups. The Tagal domain, 

 which comprises all the central parts of Luzon, is slowly encroaching on all the 

 other populations of the island. Thus in the north it has alreadj^ absorbed the 

 territory of the Pampangos and Pangasinanes, in the north-east that of the Aetas, 

 in the south-east that of the Yicols, while the islands of Mindoro and Marinduque 

 have also become " Tagalised." The Tagals are met everywhere along the sea- 

 board, and are in fact the chief pioneers of European culture throughout the archi- 

 pelago. Besides them there are other groups of Indios, even in Luzon, such as the 

 Ilocos or Ilocanos on the west coast north of Lingayen Bay, and the Ibanags or 

 Cagayanes in the extreme north and neighbouring islands. 



The Yicols, or Bicols, who occupy the Camariues peninsula, with the islands of 

 Catanduanes, Burias, Ticao, and half of Masbate, greatly resemble the Tagals, and 

 like them were already somewhat civilised before the arrival of the Spaniards. 

 They number at least 400,000, including the Cimarrones and a few other groups 

 who still keep aloof in the more inaccessible hill}' districts. The third great 

 ethnical di^'ision of the Indios are the Yisayas, or Bisayas, who are estimated at 

 2,500,000, and who give their name to the cluster of islands comprised between 

 Luzon and Mindanao. They have also formed several settlements on the coast of 

 Mindanao itself, and to the same division belong the inhabitants of the Calamianes 

 Islands and of Paragua, although their darker colour and wavy hair betray evident 

 traces of Negrito blood. The Yisayas had formerly the habit of " painting them- 

 selves with fire," whence the term Pintados applied to them by the Spaniards. 

 But since their submission and acceptance of Christianity, they have discontinued 

 this practice, as well as that of head-hunting, formerly universal. 



The " Moors," who occupy the Sulu Archipelago and the southern shores of 

 Mindanao, comprise, like the Indios, a considerable number of distinct tribes or 

 nations, united by the common ties of their Mohammedan faith and social usages. 

 Amongst them are groups resembling the Bornean Daj-aks, the Bayos of Celebes, 

 and other Malayan peoples. The aristocratic families are Arabs, or else from Bor- 

 neo or Ternate, while traces of crossings with the Chinese and Spanish renegades 

 may also be detected. The roving habits of these corsairs, who were continually 

 carrying off the women from all the surrounding regions, have made the Moors 

 one of the most mixed populations in the extreme East. 



Their essentially feudal institutions caused the whole social organization to rest 

 on piracy. By the side of the sultans were their almost equally powerful vassals. 



