
CO ——— 
THE ISLANDS AND THEIR POPULATION 30 
element. Most of these little peoples of doubtful or 
partial Negrito affinities were classified in the first 
American census as ‘‘ Bukidnon,”’ an apt native term 
meaning Hill people. The name is however unfortunate 
in omitting all reference to their supposed physical 
type; and doubly so, because Bukidnon has now become 
the official and accepted designation of an important 
pagan tribe in Mindanao which is entirely free of any 
suspicion of containing Negrito elements. The scattered 
half Negrito or doubtful Negrito groups are therefore 
best brought together under their Spanish appellation of 
Monteses, in English, ‘‘ Hill Men.’’ While it is impor- 
tant to recognize that they are quite clearly not a unit, 
there is little doubt that at least some of their bands con- 
tain a decided Negrito element, and in a few it may pre- 
ponderate. The aggregate number of these Hill people 
is perhaps somewhat greater than that of the pure 
Negrito, but probably falls short of fifty thousand. 
There are at least two other parts of the East Indies 
in which the presence of Negritos has been definitely 
confirmed. One of these is in the interior of the Malay 
Peninsula, where the Semang are of this type; the other 
group comprises the inhabitants of the Andaman Islands 
in the Indian Ocean north of Sumatra. Both these 
groups agree with the Philippine Negritos in being 
excessively short, black-skinned, frizzly-haired, round- 
headed, and broad-nosed. There have also been reports 
of Negritos or Negrito-like people in other parts of the 
East Indies, as in Java, Borneo, and New Guinea, but 
these have all been disputed, and the most conservative 
opinion of the present day holds their case to be un- 
proved. 
It is rather difficult to understand the distribution of 
the Negritos in three such remote spots as the Philip- 
pines, the Malay Peninsula, and the Andaman Islands. 

