Pangasinanes (4).

The Pangasinanes inhabit the north-western part of the province of Pangasinan, and the northern part of the province of Zambales from the River Naja, which runs into the Bay of Bazol, round Cape Bolinao to Sual, including the Island of Cabarruyan and Santiago. But the southern and eastern part of their province is partly inhabited by Pampangos and Ilocanos.

On the other hand, there are some Pangasinanes scattered about the northern part of Nueva Écija amongst Tagals and Ilocanos, and there are a few as colonists in Benguet.

In former times the Pangasinanes occupied a wider extent of country. When Juan Salcedo arrived he found them occupying the southern part of La Union; but they have been and are still being pushed back by the more hard working and energetic Ilocanos.

As the limits of their province do not correspond to the ethnographical boundaries, it is not easy to estimate their numbers. I think there may be about 300,000 of them.

The Pangasinanes were subjugated by the Spaniards in 1572, and in 1576 they were all Christians. Their manners and customs are similar to those of the Pampangos and Tagals, but they have a rougher and more uncouth appearance. Their chief occupation is cultivating rice, and whenever this is the case the people are poor and little advanced in civilisation. It is the lowest kind of agriculture any people can follow. The first sign of prosperity in an eastern people is given when they begin to import rice, as it shows that they have a more remunerative occupation to follow than cultivating it for themselves. Thus the Cagayanes who grow tobacco, the Pampangos who grow sugar, and the Vicols of Albay and neighbouring islands who grow hemp, all import rice.

Mr. J. W. Jamieson, the Acting British Consul at Sumao, in a report on the trade of Yunnan, issued the 7th of December, 1898, says: “Apart from minerals, the province possesses a few other resources and the inhabitants are lazy and unenterprising to a degree. So long as they can grow enough rice to feed themselves and procure enough cotton to make the few articles of clothing necessary in this equable climate, they are content.”

I am glad to find this confirmation of my views in this matter. Mr. Jamieson’s remarks apply to all the rice-growers I have seen.

The rice is raised in the delta of the Agno and about that river. Formerly, the Pangasinanes not only sent rice to Manila, but exported it to China, Siam, and Annan.

For this trade they built their own vessels at Lingayen, and in the flourishing period, some twenty-five years ago, their shipwrights used to turn out eight or ten schooners in a year, vessels able to carry 300 to 400 tons dead weight. Since the introduction of steamers into the coasting trade, the construction of sailing vessels has greatly diminished. Still, they turn out two or three a year.

In some parts of the province they make sugar, but it will not compare in quality with that made in Pampanga. It has a smaller grain and a paler colour, but less sweetening power. The average of thirty samples, taken as the sugar was ladled out of the tacho, was—

Crystallizable sugar70.40 per cent.
Uncrystallizable13.00
Ash1.97

It is drained in pilones, or earthenware moulds; but, unlike the Pampanga custom, the moulds are not delivered with the sugar, but the leaf is wrapped in the dried sheaths of the palm, tied about with split rattan. Most of the sugar is sent by sea to Manila and exported to China for direct consumption in one of the provinces where it finds a ready sale.

Indigo was formerly cultivated here and exported, and at one time a good deal of Sapan wood was also exported, but the trade in these articles has almost ceased.

Amongst the industries of Pangasinan may be mentioned the manufacture of hats, hundreds of thousands of which were made at Calasiao from grass or nito, and sent to Boston or New York. There are also at Calasiao, and in some other towns, blacksmiths who forge excellent bolos or wood-knives from the iron-bands taken off bales of cotton cloth or sacking.

Carromatas, the two-wheeled vehicles of the country, are constructed in Lingayen and Dagupan, and are said to be very well made.

I may mention here that the ponies raised in these provinces are inferior to the Ilocanos or even the Albay breed.

The sands of the River Agno near Rosales, and of the streams coming down from Mount Lagsig, are washed for gold, principally by women who obtain but a meagre return.

The civilisation of the Pangasinanes is only skin-deep, and one of their characteristics is a decided propensity to remontar, that is, to abandon their towns or villages and take to the mountains, out of reach of all authority. There are some great land-owners in Pangasinan; one of them, Don Rafael Sison, owns an estate that stretches from Calasiao and Santa Barbara to Urdaneta.