The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

The island of Luzon is of so irregular a shape that it cannot be intelligibly described without the aid of a map.

That part of it to the north and west of the isthmus of Tayabas lies with its longitudinal axis due north and south, and has a fairly even coast line, there being only two great indentations, the Bays of Lingayen and Manila, both on the west coast. There are also on that side and to the south the smaller bays of Subic, Balayan, Batangas, and Tayabas.

On the east coast of this northern part are the unimportant bays of Palanan, Dilasac, Casiguran and Baler, besides the great bay of Lamon, sheltered by the islands Calbalete and Alabat.

But in the remainder of Luzon, from the isthmus of Tayabas eastward and southward, the coast line is most irregular, and the width much reduced. A chain of mountains commencing at and forming the two above-mentioned islands and running in a south-easterly direction forms the peninsula of Tayabas.

Another range, starting near the Bay of Sogod, runs a little south of east as far as Mount Labo (1552 metres), turns south-east, and runs along the southern shore of the fertile valley of the River Vicol, and with many a break and twist and turn reaches Mount Bulusan, whose slopes run down to the waters of the Strait of San Bernardino. The convolutions of this range form on the south the secure harbour of Sorsogon, and on the north the bays of Albay, Tabaco, Lagonoy and Sogod, besides a multitude of smaller ports and bays, for the coast line is wonderfully broken up by spurs of the main ranges running out into the sea. Luzon generally is very mountainous, and more especially so that part lying to the north of 16° 5′, where the great ranges of mountains run in crooked lines but with general north and south direction. The range running parallel to the Pacific coast is called, in its most southern part, the Caraballos de Baler, and the rest of it, up to Punta Escarpada, is known as the Cordillera del Este, or the Sierra Madre. The central range, starting from Mount Caraballo in the latitude before mentioned, is called the Cordillera Central for about a degree of latitude, and from there is known as the Cordillera del Norte, terminating at Punta Lacatacay, in longitude 121° east of Greenwich.

The mountains on the western coast are not so lofty, nor do they form a connected range. They are known as the Sierras de Ilocos. Some of these ranges are thirty or forty miles long. There are cuts in places where rivers find an outlet to the sea, such as the Rio Grande de Laoag, the Rio Abra, and some lesser streams. All these ranges have spurs or buttresses. Those of the Central Cordillera extend as far, and join with, the coast range on the west, covering the whole country and leaving no large plain anywhere, for the valley of the Abra though long is very narrow. There is a little flat land about Vigan.

But the eastern spurs of the central range, in the part of Luzon under consideration, do not interlace with the spurs of Sierra Madre, but leave a magnificent valley more than two degrees of latitude in length and varying breadth. This is the only great valley of northern Luzon, and through it runs the Rio Grande de Cagayan and its tributaries, the Magat and the Rio Chico, with numerous minor streams.

Coasting steamers with about twelve feet draught cross the bar of the Rio Grande and lie at Aparri. The river is navigable in the dry season as far as Alcalá for light draught steamers. Alligators abound in these rivers. In this valley, which extends through the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela up into Nueva Vizcaya, there is to be found a great extension of rich alluvial soil on which can be raised, besides other tropical crops, most excellent tobacco, the cultivation of which was for many years obligatory upon the inhabitants, who were forbidden to grow rice.

Little has been done in the way of making a trigonometrical survey of the Highlands of Luzon, but some military reconnaissance sketches have been made from time to time by staff or engineer officers employed in building forts, and from these several maps have been compiled. One of the most complete of these is by that intrepid explorer and painstaking geographer, D’Almonte. Another map has been published by Colonel Olleros. It must be admitted that these maps do not agree with each other, but that is not unusual in maps of the Philippines, and results from a custom of the Spanish engineers of doing too much in the office and not enough in the field. Colonel Olleros has, however, on his map shown the lesser known mountain ranges very vaguely, and has left more than a thousand square miles of territory quite blank. This tract lies between the central range and the Cagayan River, and is inhabited by the Apayaos, Calingas, Aripas, and Nabayuganes. Olleros also leaves some large blanks on the east coast, and he is quite right to do so, for this coast has hardly been visited since Salcedo sailed past it at the time of the Conquest, and nothing is known about that part of the island which remains to this day in possession of the savage Dumagas, a Negrito tribe. That coast is almost entirely destitute of shelter, and is exposed to the full force of the Pacific surf. It is made more dangerous by tidal waves which are formed either by distant cyclones or by submarine upheavals and occur without warning.

The largest and richest valley in Luzon is that which extends without a break from the shores of the Bay of Lingayen to the Bay of Manila, having an area of some 3000 square miles, and comprising the best part of the Provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Écija, Pampanga, Bulacan and Manila.