The Visayas Islands.

Area and population—Panay—Negros—Cebú—Bohol—Leyte—Samar.

This name is given to the group of six considerable islands lying between Luzon and Mindanao, and also to the race inhabiting them. Beginning at the west, these islands are Panay, Negros, Cebú, Bohol, Leyte, and Samar. There are also a number of smaller islands.

Many of the larger as well as the smaller islands are thickly populated, and an extensive emigration takes place to the great and fertile island of Mindanao, where any amount of rich land waits the coming of the husbandmen. I can find no later records of population than the census of 1877. This may seem strange to an American, but to those who know the ignorance and ineptitude of the Spanish administration, it will seem a matter of course. Such data of the population as the Government Offices possess, are mostly due to the priests and the archbishop.

Since 1877 there has undoubtedly been a great increase of population amongst the Visayas, and in 1887 the population of Panay was considered to be more than a million.

The Visayas Islands contain fewer heathen than any other part of the Philippines. In Panay there are a few Negritos and Mundos; in Negros some Negritos and Carolanos. The illustration opposite p. 207 is a full-length photograph of Tek Taita, a Negrito from this island. In Cebú a few Mundos live around the peak of Danao. In Bohol, Leyte, and Samar there are no heathen savages.

It may be said that the heathen in these islands would have died out before now but that they are reinforced continually by remontados, or fugitives from justice, also by people whose inclination for a savage life, or whose love of rapine renders the humdrum life of their village insupportable to them.

The following Table gives the area of each of the six larger islands, and the population in 1877.

Area in square miles.Population according to Census of 1877.Capitals.
Panay (divided into three provinces—Capiz, Antique,Ilo-ilo)4,898777,777[1]Capiz.
Antique.
Ilo-ilo.
Negros3,592204,669Bacolod.
Cebú2,285403,296Cebú.
Bohol1,226226,546Tagbilaran.
Leyte3,706220,515Tacloban.
Samar5,182178,890Catbalogan.
2,011,693

Panay.—This island is approximately an equilateral triangle, with the western edge nearly north and south, having one apex pointing south. A chain of mountains extends in a curved line from the northern to the southern point, enclosing an irregular strip of land which forms the province of Antique. The rivers in this part of the island are naturally short and unimportant. The northern part of the island is the province of Capiz, the principal river is the Panay, which, rising in the centre of the island, runs in a northerly direction for over thirty miles, entering the sea at the Bay of Sapian. The eastern and southern part of the island is the province of Ilo-ilo. The principal river is the Talana, which, rising quite near the source of the River Panay, runs in a southerly and south-easterly direction into the channel between Negros and Panay to the north of the island of Guimaras. There are many spurs to the principal range of mountains, but between them is a considerable extent of land under cultivation. The province of Ilo-ilo is one of the richest and most densely-populated in the Philippines. It now contains at least half a million inhabitants.