“The Discalced Augustinians, called in the Philippines ‘Recoletos,’ have missions in the Island of Palawan (or Paragua) and in the group of the Calamianes. Of these missioners, Father Cipriano Navarro has especially distinguished himself by his ethnographical researches; and we owe to him exhaustive reports concerning the Tinitians, Togbanuas, Tandolans, and Bulalacaunos, among whom Christianity is making steady progress.
“The Franciscans have missions in the peninsula of Camarines, in Luzon, and in every large island on the Pacific coast. Ethnography and philology are much indebted to their labors. I need only refer to the works published by myself in the proceedings of our Society, the vocabulary of the Negrito dialect of Baler by Father Fernandez, and the accounts of the Bikols, Dumagats, and Atas, by Father Castano.
“We possess fuller accounts of the Dominicans, who are occupied in converting to Christianity the Alimis, Apayaos, Aripas, Buayas, Bumanguis, Bungians, Calauas, Calingas, Catalangans, Dadayags, Gaddans, Ibibalons, Ibilaos, and Ilongotes, Ipiutys, Isinays, Mayoyaos, Guiangans, and other Ifuagao races. In the missionary review, Correo Sino-Anamito, we find numerous descriptions of popular manners and customs. Some of these, particularly those written by Fathers Villaverde, Buenaventura, Campa, Malumbres, Ruis, and Ferrando, I have already in part made more generally known in these proceedings. The review also publishes occasional sketches, and especially such as throw light on the river-system of North Luzon, the valley of the Rio Grande de Cagayan. The results of their strictly missionary labors are very fruitful.
Negritos, the original inhabitants of the Philippines.
From a Photograph.
“But however successful the evangelical and scientific activity of the missionaries of the above Orders, they are far surpassed by what the Jesuits have done in the island of Mindanaoin, in half a generation, for the spread of Christianity and civilization, as well as for the geographical exploration of the second largest island of the Archipelago. When they arrived they found a Christian population only on the east and north coasts, and in a few isolated spots on the other coast regions, such as Zamboanga, Pollok, Cottabatto Davao, and Pundaguitan; and these were mostly Bisayos, with a few Bukidnons, Mandayas, Manabos, and Subanos. In the interior the Spanish Christian settlements along the Macajalas Bay reached only as far as the upper course of the Rio Tagoloan; on the Agusan, from the lake region at Linao to its mouth near Butuan, only two villages, Bunauan and Talacogon. All that was then known of the interior of Mindanao was the Lanao Lake, the lower course of the Pulangin or Rio Grande from its mouth to Lahabay, and the lake region belonging to the river of Ligauasan or Buluan. Of the tribes over and above the Bisayas (Christians) and Moros (Mohammedans), only the Mandayas, Manobos, Subanos, and Budkidnon (or ‘Monteses’ of the Spaniards) were known by little more than name, but scarcely mentioned in contemporary literature. Of the rest, except the Tirurayes, scarce the name was known. Of the Atas, Tagabawas, Dulangans, Tagabelis, etc., even the names were unknown.
“How changed since then! The network of rivers in the great island is now very well known; whilst the legendary lake in the centre of the island, whence the Rio Grande was said to flow, and from which the whole island was supposed to derive its name, has now happily disappeared from our maps. In numerous sketches and maps the missionaries have recorded the results of their geographical explorations and discoveries. The manners and customs of the heathen tribes have been fully described by the Jesuits. It has, therefore, always been for me the greatest pleasure to communicate the results of the researches of these Philippine missionaries to wider scientific circles.
“The Jesuits can also point to very great results in their evangelical labors. Most of the heathen tribes are now entirely or in part converted to Christianity, or have at least settled round their missions. Even a tribe so obstinately refractory to civilization, owing to their unsettled and wandering life, as the Mamanuas (who belong to the Negritos) can already point to Christian villages. But the greatest success of the Jesuits has been in bringing a considerable number of the Moros on the Gulf of Davao to embrace Christianity. When it is remembered how rare a thing it is to induce a Mohammedan to be baptized, it must be especially noted that here not a few isolated Moros living among Christians have abjured Islam, but that the Moros converted to Christianity are so numerous that, as they can no longer live among their former co-religionists, they have been allowed to build their separate villages in the region of the Rio Davao. In 1895 the status of the Jesuit missions was as follows: 213,065 souls, 17,608 baptisms of children of Christian parents, 2,973 marriages, 7,215 funerals, 8,238 baptisms of converted heathen.
“In the article ‘Die Katholischen Missionen,’ Oscar Hecht gives the number of Christians in the Philippines as 3,500,000. This is incorrect. The flocks of the different Orders were as follows:—