The Philippine Islands and Their People 97 



Outskirts of Cotabato 



Photo by Gannett 



The long, narrow island of Paragua 

 has a mountain range extending its 

 length from northeast to southwest, with 

 peaks ranging from five to six thousand 

 feet in altitude. 



Of the great island of Mindanao most 

 of the information we have comes from 

 the explorations of the Jesuit fathers, 

 who, in Spanish days, traversed it widely. 

 It is known that along the Pacific coast 

 of this island extends a range quite con- 

 tinuously from Bilan Point southward to 

 Point San Agustin. West of this lies 

 the broad valley of the Agusan River, 

 peopled by a few Christians and many 

 wild people. On the west side of this 

 valley rises a succession of ranges trend- 

 ing nearly north and south, extending, 

 with some breaks, down the west side 

 to the Gulf of Davao, and separating it 

 from the broad, fertile valley of the Co- 

 tabato River. This river heads north of 

 the center of the island and flows, first, 



nearly south into a number of shallow 

 lakes. These lakes outflow to the north- 

 westward by a great river, still known 

 as the Cotabato, which has built up a 

 delta on the shores of Celebes Sea. 

 Another range, trending northwest and 

 southeast, separates this valley from the 

 coast. In the interior of the island is a 

 curious lake, Lanao. It has a length 

 of twenty miles nearly north and south 

 and an average breadth of ten or twelve 

 miles. Its outlet is northwest to Iligan 

 Bay. Its surface lies at an altitude 

 above the sea of 2,200 feet, and the 

 land rises abruptly from it on all sides 

 to several hundred feet, that on the 

 south being 800 feet above the surface 

 of the water. Around this lake are 

 grouped in villages 75,000 Moros, the 

 largest and probably the densest settle- 

 ment of these people in the archipelago. 

 From this lake there runs, first west- 

 ward and then south west ward, down the 



