50 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
a moderate stature, an olive-coloured complexion, broad 
nose, full lips, a head broader than in Europeans, and 
hair straight, nearly black, and somewhat coarse. They 
are divided into numerous distinct tribes speaking different 
languages, of which there are twenty in the island of 
Luzon alone. Many are doubtless still unknown, par¬ 
ticularly in the unexplored recesses of Mindanao and 
Palawan. The two chief tribes are the Tagal and Bisayan, 
the former occupying the greater part of Luzon and the 
whole of the islands Marinduque and Mindoro, and 
numbering about 1,500,000 souls. They appear to be 
increasing somewhat rapidly, more by the assimilation of 
neighbouring tribes than anything else, and are the most 
civilised of all the Indios. The Bisayans occupy all the 
islands lying between Luzon and Mindanao, as well as a 
considerable portion of the north of the latter island, and 
number over 2,000,000. Their language is akin to 
Tagalog, but is spoken with an infinity of dialects. 
Formerly they had a peculiar alphabet, or rather sylla¬ 
bary, but this seems to be now unused. The Tagalog 
wniting- system is still to be found, based like the other, 
according to Mr. Keane, upon the archaic Devanagiri of 
the Asoka inscriptions, though now departing greatly 
from that type in form. The Tagbuanas of Palawan 
appear to be allied to the Bisayans, and still make use of 
a very similar writing system, writing from the bottom 
of the page to the top in columns, and beginning on the 
right hand. 
These two peoples will probably in time include and 
assimilate their less powerful neighbours, but there are 
still other tribes of considerable importance, numerically 
or otherwise, in the archipelago, the chief of which are 
the Bicols and Ilocanos. The former inhabit the Cama- 
rines or southern peninsula of Luzon, the Catanduanes 
