286 NOTES ON SOME PRIMITIVE PHILIPPINE TRIBES 



ever night overtakes them, often without troubling to build so 

 much as a leaf shelter. They are a sickly, wretched set ; their 

 birth-rate is said to be steadity falling off, and they must be re- 

 garded as a rapidly disappearing race. 



The remaining Philippine tribes, whether pagan, mohamme- 

 dan, or christian, are of Malay extraction, although in some cases 

 there has doubtless been an admixture of Japanese, Chinese, Ne- 

 grito, or even Papuan blood. 



THE MANGYANS OF MINDORO 



The most interesting of the Malayan tribes encountered by 

 us were the Mangyans, who people the interior of Mindoro. 

 Although its capital is distant but 120 miles from Manila, Min- 

 doro is one of the least known islands in the archipelago, its 

 pestiferous climate and the unsavory reputation of the renegade 

 Tagalogs who inhabit its coasts having combined to discourage 

 exploration, while there has been little to encourage exploration 

 on the part of the Spanish, for the Mangyans have nothing to 

 steal and could not well be taxed. 



Mindoro was formerly known as "the granary of the Philip- 



TAGAI.OG HOUSE — MINBOEO 



