INHABITANTS OF THE PHILIPPINES. 259 



From time immemorial their colonies have fringed the seaboard, and in nearly all 

 the tribes traces may be detected of Chinese crossings. According to the imperial 

 annals, the native princes sent envoys and tribute to the " Children of Heaven," 

 and objects of Chinese workmanship found in the local graves show that trading 

 relations had long been established between the two regions. Three times during 

 the seventeenth century the Chinese of Luzon rose against their Spanish masters, 

 and each time the revolt was quelled in torrents of blood. After all manner of 

 harassing restrictions were imposed on these troublesome immigrants, they were 

 expelled in mass or massacred in 1763, soon after the temporary occupation of 

 Manilla by the English. But with them trade disappeared, and despite the con- 

 tempt of Europeans and the hatred of Tagals, they had soon to be recalled, so that 

 at present every town in the archipelago has its Chinese quarter. In 1887, they 

 were estimated altogether at fifty-three thousand, almost exclusively men, most of 

 whom return to China after making their fortune, and generally leaving behind 

 them a family of half-castes. These half-castes, who resemble the Chinese much 

 more than the native type, found new homes in their turn, and, thanks to their 

 surprising vigour, they constitute at present the majority of the bourgeois class 

 in most of the towns. 



Although the Spaniards made their appearance forty-four years after the death 

 of Magellan, the conquest of the archipelago is still far from complete. Although 

 by an abuse of language spoken of as a colony, it is really a military possession, 

 in which the whites are mainly officials, who control the natives, but found no 

 permanent settlements in the country. The Spanish créoles, however, who have 

 not maintained the purity of their blood, are perfectly acclimatised, and become 

 the heads of numerous more or less mixed families. The white element, in which 

 are also represented some Peruvians and Mexicans, numbers altogether about four- 

 teen thousand, a proportion not greater than that of the Dutch in Indonesia. 



Apart from the wild tribes in Mindanao and elsewhere, the inhabitants of the 

 Philippines are amongst the most civilised in the extreme East. In most of the 

 provinces the villages of the Indies are well kept and far superior, in many res- 

 pects, to the irregular groups of cabins still to be seen in so many European lands. 

 Each dwelling is isolated in the midst of a flowery garden, and separated from the 

 adjoining plots by rows of palms and bananas. The houses are all raised on piles 

 about seven feet above the ground, thus recalling the time when the natives dwelt 

 on alluvial lands on the shores of lakes or the sea. The timber framework of 

 these houses is carved with the greatest care and often with much taste ; while the 

 well- swept and polished apartments are fitted with good furniture and Chinese 

 ornaments. 



Except in the territory of the Ilocos and some other parts, each family has its 

 little independent plot of land, and this system of small free lodgings prevails 

 throughout most of the archipelago. Apart from a few Chinese half-castes nobody 

 owns extensive domains, but all have enough, taking one season with another, to 

 support their families and leave a little for the feasts and holidays. In the thickly 

 peopled provinces the land is divided and subdivided into inniunerable allotments 



