TRIBAL DESIGNATION. 3 
Dr. Barrows, in his paper on the non-Christian tribes of Mindanao, 
published in the Census of the Philippine Islands, 1903, states: 
The word Subanon is derived from the very common Malayan word suba, 
meaning river, and the suffix non, meaning people of. Itis a good tribal desig- 
nation, is in general use, and has been recorded a long while. ‘The Subanons 
are the only Pagan people of Mindanao among which I have spent sufficient 
time to judge somewhat of the type, the language, and culture. They appear 
to be a representative type of the primitive Malayan race widely distributed 
through the Malayan archipelago, who have been forced back from the sea in 
the interior by the arrival and persecutions of the sea-faring Malays, both 
previous and subsequent to the latter’s conversion to Mohammedanism. 
Mason, in his introduction to Blumentrit’s work on the native 
tribes and languages of the Philippines, says: 
To unravel the mysteries set forth by the foregoing is the opportunity of 
the ethnologist. It needs only to look back upon the bloody horrors enacted 
in our own history through lack of knowledge concerning the social organi- 
zation and prejudices of the Indians, to awaken the liveliest sympathies and 
cooperation of the statesmen and philanthropists in the ethnology of the 
Philippines. 
Since the above criticisms were published much has been accom- 
plished to correct the evils complained of. Labors to this end have 
been unremitting by the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Depart- 
ment and by the Bureau of Science of the Philippine government at 
Manila. Much yet remains to be done, and the field for faithful and 
patient research is a large one, offering rich rewards to ethnologists of 
the highest ability; private munificence has an unusual opportunity in 
promoting this most important survey of primitive people, including 
Indonesians, Malayans, and European and Asiatic mestizos. 
Blumentrit in ‘Native Tribes of the Philippines’’ mentions “‘the 
Subanos (Subanon, river people) as a heathen people of Malay extrac- 
tion who occupy the entire peninsula of Sibuguey (west Mindanao) 
with the exception of a single strip on the south coast.” 
On a chart of the Philippine Islands and China Sea, engraved in 
- Manila in 1734, from data obtained from Spanish and British naviga- 
tors, the native inhabitants of the Zamboanga and Dapitan districts 
are referred to as ““Subanirs’’ and “‘Solocos,”’ and the territory as a 
part of the great island of ‘‘ Majindanao,”’ as it was then written. 
Along the western shore of Illana Bay (then called Bongo Bay) 
the inhabitants are referred to as “‘ Moors,”’ a translation of the Spanish 
designation for the Mohammedan tribes, Moros. 
In the record of his voyages (1774-1775) Captain Forrest uses the 
terms “Haraforas, Sunabos, Kanakan and Oran Manubo”’ as applied 
to the Subanu of Mindanao. He describes them as— 
the vassals of the Sultan and of others who possess great estates. Those vas- 
sals are sometimes Mahometans, though mostly Haraforas (heathen). The 
latter only may be sold with the lands, but can not be sold off the lands. 
