216 I'he Philippine Journal of Science wis 



sharply defined, and their distribution is controlled strictly by 

 geologic and topographical factors. Where the rocks are hard- 

 est and most denuded of soil, where the topography is the most 

 rugged, where existence is the most difficult, there one finds the 

 most primitive peoples. Now that there is a railroad running 

 from north to south connecting the cities of the Provinces of Ca- 

 piz and Iloilo, we shall see the territory of the Bukidnon people 

 penetrated, and gradually their range will be more and more 

 restricted. 



Even among the lowland peoples of Panay there is a consider- 

 able variation in the dialects. The Filipino is, as a rule, a 

 home-loving individual, who does not care to travel far from 

 his friends. It is always difficult to get packers to go with 

 one into the high mountains and into territory that is unknown 

 to them, and all this tends to retard the dispersion of isolated 

 groups and the free interchange of ideas and commodities. 



VEGETATION 



There is remarkably little forest anywhere on this island with 

 the exception of a small area in the central portion of the Cor- 

 dillera. In this respect Panay resembles Cebu. The extreme 

 deforestation is due to the caingin system, which consists in 

 clearing and burning the forest on a small tract of land, the 

 raising of one crop on the hilly soil, then the abandonment 

 of this tract for a new location. The inhabitants of the high 

 country, in Panay, at least, very rarely raise two crops in suc- 

 cession on the same piece of ground. The encroachment of 

 cogon grass on the deforested area prevents the growth of a 

 new forest and makes the land unsuitable for tillage. It is 

 easier to clear a new spot than to prepare and open the field for 

 crops on the old ground. This ruthless system is now having 

 its effects on the country. Without the retaining powers of the 

 forest and undergrowth the rainfall rapidly runs off, eroding 

 the country and carrying enormous volumes of gravel and silt 

 into the bottom land. This is the chief cause of the great de- 

 vastation wrought by the streams in this and other parts of the 

 Philippines. The sudden rising of these mountain streams and 

 their pouring out onto the plain cause great floods, ruin crops, 

 and destroy bridges, resulting in the rapid silting up of river 

 beds and filling up of navigable streams, and the formations of 

 bars where once existed open channels. China to-day pays a 

 terrible annual toll in lives and money as a result of the practice 

 of the same system in the past. There is scarcely a stick of 



