
THE ISLANDS AND THEIR POPULATION 57 
from which the island of Mindanao is named, and up 
which the Mohammedan faith penetrated a considerable 
distance. Another center of Moro settlement was in 
the district of Lake Lanao in the narrow middle region 
of Mindanao. 
One Mohammedan people must be specially men- 
tioned, the Samal, often known as the sea gypsies, from 
their wandering maritime habits. Tradition brings 
them from Johore in the Malay Peninsula. Whether 
or not this is authentic, numbers of the same or a similar 
people frequent the shores of various of the East Indies. 
They live either on the immediate shore or outright 
on their boats, and do not practise agriculture, but 
derive their living from fishing, trade, or piracy. Those 
settled on the coast are distinguished as the Samal 
proper or “‘companions,”’ the dwellers in boats are the 
Bajao or Samal Laut, the ‘‘sea people.’’ Both groups 
generally acknowledged the suzerainty of the sultan of 
Sulu and furnished the mainstays of the crews on his 
expeditions. They are an extremely interesting people 
of whose inner mode of life very little is known. 
Pagan Tribes. The modern pagans of the Philip- 
pines fall into two large bodies and a few comparatively 
insignificant ones. One great mass occupies the moun- 
tainous interior of northern Luzon; the other, the larger 
part of the heavily forested interior of Mindanao. 
Both regions are hinterlands which Christianity as well 
as Mohammedanism long failed to penetrate. In fact, 
parts of both regions rest unexplored to the present 
day. The Spaniards made but half-hearted and gradual 
efforts to establish themselves among these heathen, 
although the priest often preceded the captain and the 
governor. Several of the pagan tribes remained prac- 
tically unknown until after the American occupation. 



