﻿THE ASCENT OP MOUNT HALCON. 181 



The name Mincloro is of Spanish origin, taken from Mina de oro. 

 meaning mine of gold, applied by the earlier Spanish explorers. It 

 came no doubt from tales imparted to them by the natives of the fabulous 

 mineral wealth of the island, yet for over three and three-quarters cen- 

 turies this reputed golden treasure has remained undiscovered. The 

 ancient native name of the island was Mait. 



Topographically, Mindoro is exceedingly rough and the interior is 

 very imperfectly understood ; it is known locally as "the Africa of the 

 Philippines." The mountains in the north culminate in the Halcon 

 Eange, the highest peak being exceeded among Philippine mountains 

 only by Apo and Malindang, both in Mindanao. 



The census of the Philippine Islands taken in 1903 gives the total 

 population of Mindoro as 28,361, of which 21,097 are classified as civil- 

 ized and 7,264 as wild. As comparatively little is known regarding 

 the Mangyans, the aborigines inhabiting the interior, the latter figure 

 must be considered as approximate rather than exact. The civilized 

 inhabitants are confined entirely to the coast region, the Tagalogs pre- 

 dominating in the north, the Yisayans in the south. 



Undoubtedly the Negritos are the aboriginal inhabitants of the island 

 and the Mangyans are the descendents of Negrito and Malayan stock. 

 They are confined entirely to the interior of Mindoro, except in the 

 southern part, where one or two towns of semicivilized Mangyans are 

 located on the coast. Capt. E. G. Offley, 4 United States Army, Governor 

 of Mindoro, states that they are non-Christian but not savages by nature 

 or habit, that they will run at sight of a stranger if his coming and inten- 

 tions have not previously been announced. They are divided into several 

 groups, the chief among which are the Buquit, Baiigon and Batanga- 

 nes; these roam in bunches or by iamilies, the oldest acting as chief; 

 they are willing workers, but they have no knowledge whatever of agri- 

 culture, and the Christian Filipino avails himself of the fact that they 

 do not know the value of money by giving a handful of salt for a banca, 

 while the price of a small working bolo to a Mangyan has been known 

 to be ten years of servitude. The best description of these people which 

 I have seen is that given by Dean C. Worcester, 5 to whose book the reader 

 is referred. In regard to the Mangyans as a whole, Captain Offley 's 

 statement is inaccurate in some respects, for the ones we encountered on 

 the north slopes of Halcon have fairly permanent habitations and also 

 possess a decided knowledge of agriculture, although it is of a very prim- 

 itive kind. We saw but three representatives of these people on the en- 

 tire trip, an old man, a boy and a girl, but we passed through numerous 

 clearings, some of them several hundreds of acres in extent where there 

 were bouses; however, the inhabitants fled at our approach. In one 



* Census of the Philippine Islands (1903), 2: 547. 



5 The Philippine Islands and their People (1901), 375-377; 406-418. 



