Philippines and the Far East

Preface

It has been laid upon me to write this book. After eight years’ experience among similar social conditions in British India, and more than two years’ residence in the Philippines, it came to me as a duty to set down in order the things which American voters and American Christians ought to know for their guidance in helping shape the policies of our nation, and furnishing the support for our Missionary Societies in the work God has appointed each to do among these people.

Such readers as but dimly comprehend the essential divineness of “the powers that be” will be puzzled to know why so much space has been given to matters which they would denominate purely political. This will cause no confusion, however, to those who believe that God works through nations as well as through His Church for the establishment of the kingdom of righteousness. Because I firmly believe that our army and navy, our governor, the Commission, the judges, the constabulary, and the schoolteachers, and all who toil with them have a divinely-allotted part in Christ’s program for the Filipino people, I have tried to set forth some of the work which they are trying to do. Here are nearly eight million people emerging from the twilight of a belated civilization into the high noon of modern life. If the purposes of God for them in the Philippines, and through them among the seven hundred million Asiatics, by whom they

The Philippines and the Far East.

are surrounded, are accomplished, there must not only be evangelization, but legislation. Iniquitous laws must be repealed. Righteous statutes must be enacted. The rising generation must be taught. Equitable taxation, honestly collected and wisely administered, is as certainly a part of the program of Jesus Christ for the Filipino people as the translation and distribution of the Scriptures, or the establishment of the Christian Church.

Through the courtesy of Governor Taft I have had access to all official sources of information, so that if inaccuracies have crept in, it has been in spite of the best opportunities to secure accurate information.

It would have been easy to incorporate serious criticisms of some policies adopted by the Philippine Government. Looked at broadly, however, the tendency of this Government is in the right direction, and I have not felt that detailed criticism of what may be but temporary policies deserves place in a permanent record.

The book has been written in the midst of very heavy duties as pastor and presiding elder of this rapidly-growing work. The time necessary for patient revision could not be secured. Literary finish was out of the question. The controlling motive has been to arrange and present as much information about the Philippines as was possible within the limits imposed. I pray that the book may be accepted of Him in whose name it has been written.

Homer C. Stuntz.

Manila, Philippine Islands, January, 1904.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Philippine Archipelago, - 15

II. Who are the Filipinos? - - 31

CHAPTER I. Thu: Philippine Archipelago

The Philippine Archipelago lies between 40 41' and 210 N. latitude, almost exactly south of the heart of China, and north of a line running through the center of Australia. Its latitude is the same as Southern India. Somaliland, Venezuela, and Costa Rica, and it lies 120 and more south of Cuba.

The Archipelago comprises over one thousand islands, only eleven of which possess real geographical importance. The largest of these eleven is Luzon at the extreme north; next is Mindanao in the south; then Panav, Negros, Mindoro, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Masbate, Bojol, and Paragua make up the list of larger islands. Of these, both Mindoro and Paragua are thinly populated, and have comparatively little available land for agricultural purposes, though heavy forests abound on both islands.

The area of the entire group is one hundred and twelve thousand square miles. This gives the Philippines a land surface about equal to all New England, plus New York; or Illinois, Indiana, and two-thirds of Ohio. Compared with European States, the Philippines contain as many square miles of land surface as Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Greece; or a little less than Great Britain and Ireland, and a little more than Italy. The Islands lack but twenty-eight thousand square miles of being as large as Japan. On the score of size they may well be expected to assume a separate station among the

•5 i6

The Philippines and the Far East.

governments of the world, and can easily bear a population of twenty millions, or enough to be equal to national demands.

The Archipelago is distinctly volcanic in its character, and evidences of volcanic activity are by no means all a matter of historical record. There are many active volcanoes in different parts of the group. The most beautiful is Mavon, in Southern Luzon. It is a perfect cone, rising to a height of 8,900 feet, and is in a state of constant activity. Its last severe eruption took place in 1888. At that time red-hot stones fell several miles away, lava streams destroyed the villages about its base, and ashes lay so thick on roofs ten miles away as to break them in by their weight. The fierce glare lit up the country for fifty miles. Mount Apo, in Mindanao, is the loftiest of these active volcanoes, reaching an elevation of 10,312 feet.

The Taal volcano, less than two days’ travel south from Manila in Luzon, has been the most destructive in recent years. The first eruption of sufficient importance to be recorded by the historians of those times was in 1641. Again in 1706, 1709, 1716, 1731, 1749, and 1754, this volcano burst forth with more or less violence, dealing death and destruction upon all sides. Manila is but thirty-six miles from this volcano as the bird flies, and during the eight days of its eruption in August, 1749, people in the capital ate their midday meal by the light of candles, so thick was the cloud of ashes that filled all the sky; and on all sides priests and friars were besieged night and day by penitents, alarmed and seeking confession. The smell of fire and smoke, added to the stench from the dead fish cast upon the shores of the lake, in the center of which Taal volcano is located, caused a malignant fever which carried off half the inhabitants of the

The Philippine Archipelago.

*7 province. The city of Taal, the capital of the province, was utterly consumed, and the site is crusted over with lava to this day. This remarkable volcano is much visited from Manila. Looking into the crater, which is about 4,500 feet wide, one sees three distinct lakes of boiling liquids, the colors of which are constantly undergoing change, — green, yellow, and chocolate hues being clearly discernible. No one can guess when it will again pour out its floods of fire and ashes.

Earthquakes are of rather frequent occurrence in all parts of the group except in the long, rocky island of Paragua. For some unknown reason that thinlv-populated strip of rock and forest seems wholly free from seismic disturbance. Serious shocks took place in 1610, November, 1645; August, 1658; in 1675, 1699, 1796, and 1852. In the shock of 1645 but one monastery and two churches then standing in Manila were shaken down, all the public buildings destroyed, and the governor-general was with much difficulty extricated from the ruins of his palace. In 1863 occurred an earthquake which did terrible damage, though it lasted only half a minute. In Manila alone four hundred were killed outright, two thousand were wounded, many dying of their injuries, and a total property loss of $4,000,000 (gold) was experienced. Official returns give forty-six public buildings thrown down, and twenty-eight more practically destroyed ; five hundred and seventy private buildings were wrecked, and five hundred and twenty-eight more racked so severely as to require rebuilding. Ruins of this latest severe earthquake can be seen in several places about Manila yet. The heavy tile roofs which had been in almost universal use until that terrible experience have been displaced by corrugated iron since that time.

Slight earthquake shocks are of very frequent occuri8

The Philippines and the Far East.

rence ; and so accustomed have the people become to them that they are scarcely a matter for comment. The newcomer naturally feels slightly nervous when his pictures take to clattering on the walls, books fall from their shelves, and the framework of the house creaks and groans like a ship laboring in a heavy sea. Nothing but

A TYPICAL RIVER SCENE IN LUZON.

a repetition of the sudden devastations of 1863 will convince old-timers that a Philippine earthquake is to be taken seriously.

The Archipelago owes its existence to the forces which still fly their banners from volcano tops, and shiver the thin crust of rock and soil on its surface. In the Tertiary period the Philippines, together with Borneo, Java, Su-

Tine Philippine Archipelago.

matra, and the Celebes, were thrown up from the ocean bed, or severed from the mainland of Asia ; probably the latter. Mr. Wallace, in his “Malay Archipelago,” argues for the unity of the entire Malayan group. His theory is, that they were separated from the Continent of Asia in a comparatively recent geological period, and that for purposes of commerce and government they should be treated as one group. He says:

“For reasons which depend mainly upon the distribution of animal life, I consider the Malay Archipelago to include the Malay Peninsula as far as Tennasserim and the Nicobar Islands on the west, the Philippine Islands on the north, and the Solomon Islands, beyond New Guinea, on the east. All the great islands included within these limits are connected together by innumerable smaller ones, so that no one of them seems to be distinctly separated from the rest. With but few exceptions, all enjoy a uniform and very similar climate, and are covered with a luxuriant forest vegetation. Whether we study their form and distribution on maps or actually travel from island to island, our first impression will be that they form a connected whole, all the parts of which are intimately related to each other. The Malay Archipelago extends more than four thousand miles in length from east to west, and is about thirteen hundred from north to south. It would stretch over all Europe from its extreme western limits, far into Central Asia, or would cover the widest part of South America, and extend far beyond the land into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It includes three islands larger than Great Britain, and in one of these — Borneo — the whole of the British Isles might be set down, and it would then be surrounded by a sea of unbroken forests. New Guinea, though less compact in shape, is probably larger than Borneo. Sumatra is about equal in size to Great Britain; Java, Luzon, and the Celebes are about the size of Ireland.”

The Philippine Archipelago can not be conceived of

Tiie Philippines and the Far East.

and treated as apart from this Malayan empire, insular and peninsular, of which it is but a fraction. It is bound up with these other islands by ties of soil, climate, race, language, and commerce, and whatever is done for the Philippines will inevitably affect the destinies of millions who, like the Filipinos, are Malayan in blood and speech.

The climate of the Philippines is very greatly misunderstood in America. It is a tropical climate, modified greatly by the proximity of the sea and by the presence of ranges of mountains in all the larger islands. Though so near the equator, the temperature rarely reaches ioo° (Fahrenheit) in the shade, and has never been known to fall below 60° in Manila. The mean monthly temperatures in Manila are as follows: January, 77; February, 78; March, 81 ; April, 83; May, 84; June, 82; July, 81 ; August, 81 ; September. 81; October, 80; November, 79; and December, 77. This gives a mean temperature for the year of 8o°. These temperatures, however, do not tell the whole story. The excessive humidity makes the heat doubly trying. In the months from April to July it is a moist, steamy heat that has an enervating influence upon Europeans and Americans, especially if they must be exposed to the sun in the hotter portions of the day. The nights are nearly always comfortable, thus making restful sleep a possibility even in the hottest months of the year. I have now spent two years in the Islands, and have only suffered two hot nights. In each of these cases my discomfort was as much due to poorly-ventilated rooms as to climatic conditions.

So far as mere physical comfort is concerned, the climate of the sea-level in the Philippine Islands surpasses that of any State in America, unless it be Southern California. It is never so hot as to make the punkah, that bane of life in India, a necessity. It is never so cool as

The Philippine Archipelago.

to make a fire necessary. Overcoats are never needed. The same weight of garments can be worn the twelve months found with no feeling of inconvenience ; and one never suffers from the gusty, raw weather which is so trying in nearly all our own States. During the months from November to April the climate is as near perfection as can be found in the world. Days of glorious sunshine,

MAYON VOLCANO, FROM LEGASPI.

not too hot if one can avoid the rays of the sun from about eleven to four o'clock, are followed by nights of starlight and moonlight of such brilliance as can only be found near the equator. When Americans learn the perfection of the Philippine climate from November to March, multitudes will divide their time in the East between Japan and our own possessions.

Professor Dean C. Worcester has this to say of the climate here :

The Philippines and the Far East.

“I have never yet experienced at sea-level a day when a white man could endure severe physical exertion without suffering from the heat. If one is permanently situated in a good locality where he can secure suitable food and good drinking water ; if he is scrupulously careful as to his diet, avoids excesses of all kinds, keeps out of the sun in the middle of the day, and refrains from severe and long-continued physical exertion, he is likely to remain well, always supposing that he is fortunate enough to escape malarial infection. I knew an old Spaniard who, at the end of a residence of thirty-nine years in the Philippines, was able to boast that he had not been ill a day. He had always been so situated that lie could take care of himself, and he had done it. But how is it with the explorer, the engineer, the man who would fell timber, cultivate new ground, or in some other way develop the latent resources of the country? Any one really exposed to the climate under such circumstances will find it severe. He can not humor his digestive apparatus ; for his bill of fare will be limited to what he can carry and what the country affords, and he will be fortunate indeed if, sooner or later, he does not suffer severely from bowel trouble. He will be more than fortunate if he escapes malaria, which is especially prevalent where forest land is being cleared or new ground broken. The climate is especially severe on white women and children. Malaria and digestive troubles aside, the health of the colony is fairly good, and the danger from epidemic disease comparatively slight. Smallpox is always present ; but it seldom spreads rapidly, as a large percentage of the natives have it during childhood, so that there is hardly material for an epidemic. Cholera is infrequent, but when it once starts it can not be controlled. The natives believe that a black dog runs down the streets and the disease breaks out behind him. They declare that it is the will of God, and refuse to take the simplest precaution.”

This was written before the terrible cholera epidemic of 1902. It was shown conclusively in that scourge that modern sanitary methods are effective in staying cholera

Tiif. Philippine Archipelago.

in the degree to which they can be applied ; and during this year (1903) such has been the vigilance of the health authorities in Manila, cholera has been held in check in the face of what would have been insuperable difficulties under Spanish rule.

As a practical proof of the comparative heathfulness of the Philippine Islands, the experience of the American army is conclusive.

Though exposed to the full effects of the climate, the health of the troops has averaged but little less satisfactorily than while in barracks in Kansas or Texas or Dakota.

The monsoon, or wet season, is commonly reported to be the most trying for Americans.

It usually begins about the middle of July, and continues with more or less severity for three months. During these m o n t h s the normal rainfall in central Luzon is one hundred inches, or eight feet on the level. Rivers are flooded, roads become bottomless, bridges are washed out, and all the earth is soaked. As a matter of fact, this season is one of the most enjoyable in the whole year. With the exception of two or three storms, either amounting to typhoons, or, at the least, to furious wind and rain lasting from one to ten days each, this much dreaded season is one of alternate

The Philippines and the Far East.

showers and sunshine, much like a wet summer in one of our home States. The excessive and continued moisture causes clothing to mildew, and boots, shoes, and all leather goods not in constant use, to mold. But brisk rubbing and a few hours of sunshine restores them to a condition almost or quite as good as before they were discolored. This season of moisture is the time for sowing rice, and getting it safely on toward harvest. If the rainfall is scanty, crops are also scanty, prices rise, and all suffer. The whole economic situation year by year depends upon this unpopular monsoon season, and permanent residents learn to endure the moisture, and even the mold and mildew, with light hearts, knowing that plenty of rain means plenty of food and prosperous times.

The much dreaded typhoon does its deadly work in this season. As a matter of fact the typhoon is not nearly so deadly as its American cousin, the cyclone. The cyclone is a whirling, electric storm, sweeping everything from its path of destruction. The typhoon is, in the main, a furious but straight-ahead wind-storm, piling the sea up in mountain-like waves, overturning small houses, and sending insecure roofs sailing away from the houses they had covered. But the mischief wrought by a dozen typhoons will not equal that done by one cyclone. I have passed through two typhoons in Manila, and they are comparatively mild affairs.

The soil of the Archipelago is of a high average fertility. It produces astonishingly heavy crops of sugar-cane, hemp, rice, and tobacco year after year, with not only no artificial enrichment, but with the very idea that any soil needs such enrichment undreamed of by the native owner and cultivator. I crossed the Pacific in 1902 with an expert in the sugar industry. He had been sent by a syndicate in Buenos Ayres to make tests of Philippine soils

A TREE-FERN.

with reference to their adaptability to growing sugar-cane. His official report proved the soil of Negros and parts of Luzon superior to any soils in South America, Hawaii. Java, or Cuba for such purposes. Lack of transportation facilities and distance from large markets, as well as difficulties connected with labor, led him to report unfavorably as to the immediate investment of capital in the sugar business here.

Minerals abound. The best coal yet found is in Bataan, a peninsula on the west coast of Luzon. In Mindoro and Cebu are coal deposits, and in the small adjacent isle of Semarara. Like Mexico, the entire surface of the Archipelago seems impregnated with gold to a greater or less extent. It is for the most part detrital, and is found in paying quantities in and along water courses, as in placer deposits elsewhere. The natives work in the placers with cocoanut pans. Mindanao has some elevated auriferous gravel-beds, well situated for hydraulic mining. Quartz gold is found in abundance in the province of Camarines and on the island of Panaon. Quartz veins in granite are found at Paracale. Northern Luzon and Mindanao have extensive copper beds ; also the provinces of Lepanto-Bontoc ; and Cebu has extensive lead deposits. There is an abundance of iron ore on half of a dozen islands. The Sulu archipelago has pearls. Leyte has coal and oil ; Biliran. sulphur ; Samar, coal and gold : Romblon, marble; Masbate, coal and copper; Marinduque, lead and silver; and Catanduanes. Sibuyan Bohol, and Panaoan, gold. In the province of Benghet, Luzon, gold mines showing assays as rich as $27.50 to the ton, and many showing from $6 to $12 to the ton, are now' located by American mining experts. It is more than probable that the Philippines will yet rival Alaska in the production of gold. Iron ore of excellent quality, yielding up to 85 per

The Philippines and the Far East.

cent of pure metal, exists in Luzon, and other excellent iron districts are found elsewhere in the islands. In the last century, iron mines were worked with great success in Morong, but were finally closed by tbe government on the ground that the workmen, who were Chinese, were not Christians. The luckless owner was obliged to send all these workmen to China at his own expense, and the isoac, the capital of the province of marinduque.

government refused to pay him for the iron lie had alreadv delivered, on the ground that he had insulted the Church in employing pagans. The iron mines at Angat, in Bulacan, are richer and purer than the best Spanish ore, which is so popular in the iron foundries of England.

In different parts of the Archipelago, large deposits of sulphur and arsenic are found, in the volcanic regions sometimes of the utmost purity, and sometimes mixed with copper and iron. Explorers report valuable dis-

Tiif. Philippine Archipelago.

coveries of slate, borax, plumbago, granite, coral rocks, sandstone, and limestone. There are deposits of gypsum on a small island opposite the village of Culasi in Western Panay, and also Mindoro. Large beds of good marble are found both in Luzon and Romblon. Mines of natural paint, probably red lead, are found in Mindoro. Petroleum occurs in several islands, one of tbe best districts being in Western Cebu, near Toledo, v.’here free-flowing wells have been opened.

Once American industry and enterprise obtain a foothold in the Philippines, and enough discoveries are made to stimulate more active search, it seems reasonably certain that valuable mineral wealth will be found in commercial quantities.

No view of the Archipelago would be complete which failed to emphasize the great beauty of tbe scenery. A trip in the interior, or a voyage among the islands reminds one of Tennyson’s description of the spot on which Enoch Arden spent the long years of his banishment. Here one sees, —

“The mountains wooded to the peak; the lawns And winding glades, high up like ways to heaven ; The slender coco’s drooping crown of plumes ; The lightning flash of insect and of bird ;

The luster of the long convolvuluses,

That coiled around the stately stems, and ran Even to the limit of the land ; the glows And glories of the broad belt of the world, —

All these he saw ; he heard

The league-long roller thundering on the reef.

The sunrise broken into scarlet shafts Among the palms and ferns and precipices; The blaze upon the waters to the east ;

3°

The Philippines and the Far East.

The blaze upon his island overhead ;

The blaze upon the waters to the west;

Then the great stars that globed themselves in heaven, The hollower-bellowing ocean, and again The scarlet shafts of sunrise.”

ON THE DINAI.UPIHAN RIVER, BATAAN PROVINCE.

CHAPTER II. Who are the Filipinos?

It is a fundamental mistake to think of the inhabitants of ihe Philippine Islands as one people. They are as far from being one people as the inhabitants of Europe, India, or South America. Nearly all the blunders of our critics, and many of the failures of our legislators, arise from this misunderstanding. We must know who are meant by “the people of the Philippines,” if either legislator, administrator, or missionary is to proceed with wisdom.

Two main divisions emerge at the very outset of our investigations. These are the non-Christian tribes on the one hand and the Christianized Filipino on the other. With some modification, these two chief divisions of the Filipino total might be called Aboriginal and Invader, though neither term would wholly stand off from the other. But, with some exception, it is true that the non- Christian peoples were here first, and the Christianized inhabitants are descendants of invaders, who have driven the aborigines into the mountains and forests.

Both of these classes again subdivide on ethnological and linguistic lines of cleavage, until, instead of a homogeneous people speaking one tongue, as in Japan, we have heterogeneity raised to its highest power, — sixty-nine sorts of people, speaking thirty-four languages, and nearly a dozen dialects in addition. And the ethnologist assures us that his science has not spoken her last word as to how many fractions of the whole people may yet be found.

The Philippines and the Far East.

While it is true that the term “Filipinos” usually signifies the so-called Christianized descendants of early Malay invaders, and that it is with these people that the government and the missionary are chiefly concerned, yet the lesser fractions of the whole population are full of interest.

Proceeding in chronological, rather than numerical order, the first of these non-Christian bodies that demand attention is the dwarf Negro, called in Spanish, Negrito, (Neg-ree-to). There are about thirty thousand of these little people in the Islands. They are scattered quite widely, being most numerous on the island of Luzon.

The Negrito has the crispy hair, wide nose, thick lips, and long heel of the African Negro, but never attains a stature of five feet. His head differs markedly from that of the pure Negro, being almost exactly round. He is a savage pure and simple. He builds no house. If his sleeping place by the root of some huge tree or on the lee side of a log is approached by any human being, he scurries away like a rabbit. It is seldom that the most wary traveler can find a group of families together. They plant a little mountain rice here and there, but depend mostly on such game as they can get with their bows and arrows, with which they are quite skillful. They are particularly fond of monkey-meat, and the poor simian who is surrounded by a half dozen Negritos with their wicked little bows and lithe arrows, has small chance of escape.

Here and there traces of Negrito blood can be found among regular Filipinos — kinky hair and a width of nose never found among the Malay natives; but in the main the tiny black man of the deep forests has kept to himself and to his kind.

Ethnological investigation carried on here for three

Who are the Filipinos?

years by the bureau of which Dr. David P. Barrows lias been superintendent, identifies the Negrito as the true aboriginal inhabitant. He is probably related to the pure Negro of Melanesia, being dwarfed by long centuries of forest life, with its exposure and poor fare. A timid tribe of savages they have so far successfully resisted such rude attempts to civilize or Christianize them as Spain and her friar agents knew bow to make. It is to be feared that they will perish from among the inhabitants of the Philippines in obedience to the law which exacts obedience and labor from all who would continue to live on the face of the earth.

The Igorrotes (Ig-or-rotes) are a more formidable race of savages. They are as decidedly a mountain people as the Negritos are forest dwellers. The Igorrote is found in the lofty Cordillera that runs northward through the body of Luzon. There are several tribes, each having its own habits, customs, and dialect. They are of medium stature, with strong marks of Malay blood in their forms and features. Ethnologists are inclined to regard them as aboriginal Malays, strongly mixed with Chinese blood. Later chapters will show that Spain drove many Chinese to take refuge in the mountains of Northern Luzon, and it is known that they lived among the Igorrotes. The Igorrote is sturdily independent. Three Spanish governor-generals tried to add to their military laurels by conquering them, and defeat attended each attempt. Friars have exhausted every effort to reach the Igorrote, but entirely in vain. He still lives and hunts, and takes the heads of his enemies in the tribal race-feuds, exactly as he did when Spanish occupation began.

He is usually a peaceable savage so far as outsiders are concerned. Only when they mix in his quarrels do the Igorrotes trouble other races. He is trusted entirely 3

34 The Philippines and the Far Fast.

by those who know him best. I saw an American officer of police band over five thousand dollars in silver coins to a half-dozen Igorrote carriers, telling them plainly what was in the boxes, take their rude scrawl of a receipt, and let them start off with that specie on their backs for a three-days’ march into the mountains, and later heard that every package came through safe. As laborers they are quite satisfactory while they care to work; but with a few coins over and above present needs, they quit, and enjoy their gains. On their own lands, nearly all of which they rescue from steep hillsides by a laborious method of terracing with stone walls, they work with patient and really skillful hands. Dr. Barrows says. “The Igorrote is the. only scientific agriculturist which we have discovered in the Philippines.” They carry water for irrigating these pitiful little patches, in ditches of their own devising, around mountain sides, and across valleys even, by means of pipes or stone sluices carried on pillars of rock. Two or three crops a year are wrung from these bits of hillside terraces, and carried hundreds of feet up or down to the huts of the tribe.