The Philippine Journal of Science, 



D. General Biology, Ethnology and Anthropology. 



Vol. VI, No. 1, February, 1911. 



THE MEN OF CAINTA. 



By RoBBBT Bennett Bean and Federico S. Planta. 

 (From the Anatomical Laboratory, Philippine Medical School, Manila, P. I.) 



The to;vn of Cainta, a stone's throw from Taytay near the Lake of 

 Bay (Laguna de Bay), is of considerable historic interest because of the 

 many bloody battles fought in its vicinity between the Spaniards and 

 the natives, the Chinese and the natives, and the Spaniards and the 

 Chinese. It is of great interest to the anthropologist because it presents 

 a body of people different from- the surrounding population. 



Cainta was founded before the Spaniards came to the Islands, according to a 

 statement in a history of the Philippines by Jose Montero y Vidal, who, in the 

 first volume, page 41, affirms that Capitan Juan Salcedo, one of the first 

 Spanish conquerors who came to the Philippines, having in 1571 subdued the 

 natives of Cainta and Taytay first, went to the Lake (La Laguna), pacifying 

 many towns. 



There seem to be no data concerning the origin of the inhabitants of Cainta, 

 but one of two suppositions is plausible. Either they are derived from settlers 

 of East Indian origin who arrived before the Spaniards, or else they represent 

 the descendants of a British regiment of East Indian troops who remained 

 when the British evacuated the Philippines in 1763. The history of P. Murillo, 

 written in 1752, volume 7, page 33, speaks of some of the inhabitants of the 

 Philippines, when the Spaniards arrived, as black people, called for politeness' 

 sake Creoles (Qriollas or Morenos), who were characterized as very active 

 politically. Murillo believed that these people came from Malabar or Coro- 

 mandel, belonging to the British, and they were probably of East Indian origin. 



P. Juan de Salcedo, in his history, page 264, speaking of those Morenos or 

 Criollas, says that they have long, straight hair, long noses, and wide open eyes. 

 He speaks further of some similar people from Malabar that he had known in 

 Manila, who married and settled nearby in Santo Tomas and at times came to 

 Manila on business. He also says that if they were not known as natives of 

 the Philippines they might be regarded as Europeans, except for their dark 

 skins. 



P. Martinez asserts in his Estadimos de Filipinas, page 264, that at the 

 beginning of the conquest of the Philippine Islands by the Spaniards there 

 came Moors from Hindustan trading with the natives. 



From these statements one may infer that the people of Cainta are 

 of East Indian origin and occupied the town before the arrival of the 

 Spaniards. Current opinion among Filipinos differs in regard to this, 

 although many reliable Filipinos inform me that tradition states their 



