There are many tribes in the islands, both of the aborigines and of the Malay people. In early days these tribes were more separate than at present, and had little to do with one another, save when there was war among them. Each had its own language, and even now a great many dialects are spoken in the islands. This fact, among others, has helped to keep the tribes apart and to prevent them from becoming a strong, united people.
We see, from what has been said, that the dwellers in the Philippine Islands are not strictly a people in the sense that the Spanish or the English are a people. Even the Malay folk in the islands have been, from the very first, split up into many tribes, having little in common. Under some methods of government these tribes might have been united; but Spanish rule was not of a sort to bind them together. Rather, it set tribes against one another, and used some to help conquer others. It did not draw them together in a strong national life such as has made the United States of America a great and powerful nation.
A MORO OF JOLÓ, IN THE SULU ARCHIPELAGO.
The United States has been settled by people from many countries. These people have gone to America from nearly every nation on earth; but the different races have become one strong American people by reason of a common interest in the good government of their country, and a common desire for its welfare. Each State has its own life and government, but all are united to form the great country of which each is a part, and to support the Federal Government which binds the States together.
When the Filipino people have learned thus to stand together, a new day will dawn for these islands. When the people all speak one language, and when young and old can read and write that language, the country will be more united, and will begin to know something of that national life which other countries enjoy. The people will then be united; they will know how to govern their land wisely and justly. They will understand, as they have not done before, the relation one nation bears to others in the world, and will be able to develop the great wealth of their country.
The two great tribes of Malay Filipinos are the Tagals and the Visayans. The Tagals live in southern Luzon, the Visayans in the group of islands called the Visayas, which lie south of Luzon and north of Mindanao. There are, besides, many lesser peoples in the islands, so that, as we have seen, there could be no common national life.
The tribes were governed by great chiefs or kings, who ruled through small chiefs and dattos. Each of these was at the head of about a hundred families whom he stood for in the tribal council, and for whom he was spokesman before the great chief. The small chief was called the head of a hundred. It was a simple, but effective, form of government, and suited the people. Legaspi and Salcedo made no changes in it, except to declare the king of Spain the ruler of all the tribes. They had the great chiefs swear loyalty to Spain, and then left them to govern for the king.
ANCIENT ALPHABETS IN USE IN THE ARCHIPELAGO WHEN THE SPANISH CAME.
Among the Moros of Mindanao and Sulu there are still in use words that were obsolete in the Arabic in the time of Mohammed.