
138 PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES 
istic of Mohammedan culture and not of the Filipino. 
They represent a late and brief phase in the history of 
the islands, a phase which always remained essentially 
alien and affected only one end of the archipelago. 
The pagans of Mindanao did not wholly escape the in- 
fluence of Mohammedanism, although they retained 
their independence and native religion. Over most of 
the interior of this island, the dato both exercises 
greater power and maintains it over a larger area, than 
the family head among the mountaineers of Luzon. 
Here, then, a comparatively recent change has taken 
place. 
The conclusion is that the Bontok, Ifugao, and adja- 
cent tribes represent the original type of political society 
that once prevailed over all the Philippines. While the 
other nationalities have more or less altered politically, 
the causes and sequences of the development are clear. 
These causes were, in minor degree, economic progress; 
and prevailingly, the importation or example of foreign 
institutions. 
Social Classes. Under these alterations of political 
organization, Filipino society persisted with funda- 
mental continuity and very little change. Everywhere 
three strata of society were recognized. Those of the 
Ifugao—the wealthy, middle class, and poor—have 
already been mentioned. The same classes were 
established among the other pagans of Luzon. They 
existed also among the nationalities now Christian, 
although here their coloring was somewhat different. 
With the Tagalog and Bisaya, for instance, the rich were 
called the rulers; rank nominally superseded wealth; 
but actually the concentration of wealth was what made 
rank. 
The middle class had become the common people— 
in the language of the Spaniards, the plebeians. The 
