Philippic

. See Demosthenes

Philippine (fil'ip-in) Islands, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They lie the most northeasterly, the nearest China, of all groups of the great archipelago between Australia and continental China. There are in all 1,725 islands. The largest ten are Mindanao, Luzon, Samar, Negros, Panay, Palawan, Mindoro, Leyte, Cebu, and Bohol. The total area is 128,000 square miles, twice that of New England and greater than that of the British Isles. The group lies between the fifth and twentieth parallels of north latitude. The greater portion of the group is included between the meridians of 120 deg. and 125 deg. east longitude. When the time at San Francisco is recorded at 9 A. M. Monday, it is 1 A. M. Tuesday in the Philippines.

TOPOGRAPHY. The islands are mountainous. The interiors of the larger islands rise to a height of from 5,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level. The loftiest mountain is Apo in Mindanao, 10,312 feet high. There are some twenty active volcanoes. The rivers are numerous, swift, and brimming with water. The largest are comparable to the Thames and the Connecticut. They are navigable for small steamers. The mineral resources are not believed to be extensive. Gold and copper ores have been smelted for centuries. Lead and iron exist certainly in workable quantities. There are coal measures and petroleum wells.

FORESTS. A large part of the surface, especially the interior, is covered with forests. Botanists have named 664 species, including fifty rubber-producing trees. Many of the species afford lumber of high value to the carpenter, shipbuilder, and furniture maker. The banyan, teak, ebony, camphor, sandalwood, cocoanut, and bamboo flourish. The forests are owned chiefly by the government. Timber is cut under government permit and on payment of royalty for stumpage. A fine exhibit of Philippine woods was shown at the St. Louis Exposition.

ANIMALS. The wild animals of the Philippines are of interest largely because they have the charm of novelty. They are not well developed,--that is, high types are not numerous. The islands are rich in birds. There are over 600 species, 325 of which are not known elsewhere. There are crocodiles in the rivers, pythons in the forests, and lizards everywhere. The pangolin, deer, wild hog, island buffalo, wildcat, porcupine and the flying lemur, rats, squirrels, and bats are the principal mammals. Of domestic animals, hogs, sheep, and goats have been introduced. Chickens are native to this part of the world. The usual beast of burden is the water buffalo. The waters abound in food fishes. Pearls are found in several localities.

CLIMATE. The climate is distinctly tropical and oceanic. Around the coasts, the temperature keeps within the limits of 60 deg. and 90 deg. F. The. temperature of the elevated interiors runs from five to fifteen degrees cooler but is subject to greater change. There are three seasons. From the middle of March to the middle of July is a hot, dry season. The succeeding four months are rainy. The third portion of the year is the coolest and the most pleasant.

AGRICULTURE. The principal food crop is rice, but the amount raised is not enough for home use. As in Hawaii the amount of coast and river land available for agriculture has been increased largely by wells and irrigating ditches. Sugar-cane grows well. It is claimed by some that the Philippines may become the leading sugar-producing region of the world. It is desirable that Congress establish tariff regulations that will make the industry profitable. Tobacco raising is a prominent branch of agriculture. Manila tobacco is the eastern rival of the Cuban article. The coffee plant grows as well as in Java but is subject to insect pests. Cocoanut groves are prominent. Spices are gathered. Manila fiber supplies the material for our cordage works. At present it is the most profitable article of production. Methods of cultivation are Spanish and are exceedingly primitive. Handwork and wooden plows drawn by slow-going buffaloes are typical.

POPULATION. The inhabitants are difficult to classify. There are half a hundred dialects. The entire population is reported at 6,975,073. Of this number about 30,000 are blacks or Negritos. They are a dwarfish, half savage lot. They wander in small bands through the forests, living on roots and such birds and small animals as they can take. They appear to be a small remnant of the original inhabitants. The Igorrotes, of whom mention is made in the newspapers, are a copper-colored, primitive people in the interior of Luzon. Like the ancient cliff dwellers of Arizona, they understand irrigation.

The Sulu Archipelago in the southwestern part of the Philippines is inhabited chiefly by Malay people known collectively as Moros. They come from Borneo and are Mohammedans. They have a native literature and use a modified Arabic alphabet. Formerly they were fierce pirates. They practice slavery and polygamy. They hold their lands in common. They are a proud, fierce people, difficult to subdue and hard to govern. Their code of law and ethics is based on the Koran. They have nothing in common with the Filipinos. Under American government the Moros have been made a sort of independent people--somewhat on the plan of a state. A local legislature has prohibited slave hunting and it is expected that the more objectionable features of their social system may be amended by degrees. Physically and mentally the Moros are the most hopeful element in the island.

To the greater portion of the population the name Filipinos is applied. They are of a mixed race and speech. Negrito, Papuan, and African negro blood is present. The Malays and Polynesians have contributed a copper tint. There is evidence of Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and even South American Indian parentage. The chief tribes are the Tagals or Tagalogs, the Viscols, and the Visayas. The Tagals are the dominant people of Luzon. The Tagalog language is the native language heard usually on the streets of Manila. They number a million and a half. They are the most advanced of the Filipinos and are engaged in agriculture and fishing.

HABITS AND CUSTOMS. The Filipino, that is to say, the Tagal, house is a bamboo hut thatched with palm leaves and floored with bamboo poles. The Filipino works a little and idles a great deal more. Small rice fields and poultry yards support the family. Cockfighting is described as the principal pastime. The head of the household saunters about with his fighting cock under his arm. When he meets his neighbor, he squats down to discuss the points of the two birds as Westerners discuss their dogs or race horses, or as the Chinese discuss their kites. It is said that when the hut takes fire, as it is sure to do sooner or later, the Filipino saves his game birds first, his children next.

The bamboo enters largely into the arts of the island. A lumber yard, consists chiefly of well assorted piles of bamboo canes. The joints are hollow. Candlesticks and ink wells are made of small joints; spittoons, pails, and tubs of larger joints. Milk is carried to market in bamboo. The water bucket is a joint of bamboo the size of a piece of ordinary stove pipe, only two or three times as long. This the water carrier carries on his shoulder. Bamboo is used largely for bridges and ladders also, and is a general substitute for lumber.

CITIES. Nineteen Philippine cities have a population ranging from 20,000 to 40,000. Seven have sufficient business to be designated as ports of entry. Manila, the capital, is also the metropolis of the island. It has a population about equal to that of Washington, D. C. It is situated on the western, that is to say, the Asiatic side of Luzon. It lies on both shores of the Pasig River. The mouth of the river expands into Manila Bay "several hours wide." The city occupies thirty-two square miles. There are four miles of wharfage. Manila proper is a walled town on the southern shore of the river. It is the Spanish quarter. The shape of the houses, the bright paints used, the government buildings, the religious houses, the churches, and the cathedral give the city a distinctly Spanish appearance. It is laid off in rectangles. Some of the streets are paved. Showy shops, many of them conducted by Japanese, line the business streets. Drays drawn by buffaloes, cabs drawn by ponies, and fine equipages drawn by spirited horses are seen on the streets and stone-arched bridges. Among the articles the city markets afford are chickens, pigeons, guineapigs, eggs, fish, rice, bananas, lemons, oranges, pineapples, breadfruit, mangoes, lettuce, cabbages, sweet potatoes, onions, bamboo shoots, and betel nuts.

HISTORICAL. The Philippines were visited by Magellan in 1521. On a subsequent visit he was killed near the present town of Cebu. The Spaniards occupied the island in 1565. Cebu was their first colony. A decade or two later Manila was surrounded by walls of hewn stone and became the seat of the government. Franciscan monks and Jesuit missionaries converted a large portion of the Filipinos to Catholicism. The Spanish authorities had difficulties from time to time with Malay, Chinese, and Moro pirates. In 1762 Manila was taken by the English, but was restored on a promise to pay a ransom of $4,000,000. As in Cuba native outbreaks against Spanish rule were frequent. One of the most noted was led by Aguinaldo. He was bought off in 1897 for the sum of 800,000 pesos and retired to Hongkong.

During the Spanish-American War an American fleet under Admiral George Dewey destroyed the Spanish ships in Manila Harbor. The naval conflict took place May 1, 1898. August 13th the city surrendered. At the conclusion, December 10, 1898, the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, and other territory were ceded to the United States on payment of $20,000,000. Aguinaldo returned to the island and raised a formidable insurrection, but in time he was induced to desist.

GOVERNMENT. The government set up by the United States is composed of a governor and seven commissioners, four American and three Filipinos. A large force of officials divided into bureaus has charge of forestry, mining, public health, fisheries, public lands, surveys, patents, police, banks, railroads, justice, and many other subjects. The inhabitants are entitled to protection under the Constitution of the United States, but they do not have all the rights of citizenship.

EDUCATION. A system of public instruction has been inaugurated. A general superintendent and thirty-six division superintendents supervise the work of several thousand American and native teachers. As there is no national language, no tongue understood by all the people, English is taught in the schools and is the official language of the islands. The natives are illiterate. It is believed that industrial features should hold a prominent place in the schools.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest available from trustworthy sources:

See Manila