


THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 
Vou. XXV., DECEMBER, 1891. 300. 


THE ISLAND OF MINDORO. 
BY J. B. STEERE. 
“T BE island of Mindoro is the Philippine land of myth. Lying 
near the route of the native trading boats in their voyages 
from north to south, and of the war and piratical expeditions for 
which the Philippines have been famous, it has been frequently 
coasted along and visited by natives of the other islands, but 
appears never to have been permanently occupied by them and 
the Spanish until very recently. It is still inhabited almost 
entirely by its own wild, independent tribes, many of which have 
probably never yet heard of the Spaniard, and know nothing ot 
the great sea but what they have seen from their mountain homes. 
It is difficult to account for this fertile island lying thus uncul- 
tivated and peopled only by a few savages, while surrounded near 
at hand by overpeopled and overcultivated islands. Perhaps 
the reputation the island bears for malaria and savage inhabitants 
may have had its effect; while the fact that it has become the 
safe refuge of criminals and outlaws from the other islands about 
it has added to its bad reputation. We had everywhere heard 
stories of Mindoro and its savage beast, —the źtamarou. One ship 
captain we had traveled with had lately lost a brother at the 
southern end of the island, where he had gone with his vessel for 
a load of timber. He and his company were attacked while at 
dinner, and all killed but one. A tribe was said. to exist in the 
interior, of people as white as the Spaniards, but so fierce that 
they killed all strangers who approached their villages. The 
tamarou takes the place, in the stories of the Philippine-islanders, 
