122 
PHILIFFIHES. 
been much the same then aa at the present day j for the 
island on which they were fu-st seen was named by 
Magellao Isla dos NegroSj^'' to distinguish it from the 
adjacent island Zebu, where his ships remained for some 
months, Wegros still contains a large population of 
Papuans, while Zebu is altogether free from them, and no 
record exists of their having ever been found there. Samar 
and Leyte ai-e similarly situated with Zebu, but Min- 
danao and Mindoro contain several tribes of Negritos, and 
they form the chief population of the less aceessible parts 
in the mountain ranges of Luzon, the largest island of 
the Philippine Group, 
The accounts of the Negritos given by the early Spanish 
navigators perfectly apply to their present condition. They 
are described aa being smaller, more slightly built, and 
less dark in colour than the negroes of Africa, and as 
having features less marked with the negro characteristics, 
but as haviug woolly instead of lank hair ^ and their social 
condition could not have been much better than now, 
since they are described as living on roots, and the pro- 
duce of the chase ; and as sleeping in the branches of the 
trees, or among the ashes of the fires at which tbey had 
cooked their food. 
The following details respecting their present condition 
have been obtained chiefly from the accounts of MM. 
Maliat and de la Gironiere, the former an intelligent 
historian, and the latter an able describer of the adven- 
tures that befel him during a residence of twenty years 
among the aboriginal races of the Philippines.* 
* MaHat, ufn supm. De k Gironiere, "Yingt Aim&s aux 
rhilij>j>iiies," Paris, 1853. 
