According to Blumentritt, this tribe lives in the Cordillera Sagat, and extends as far as the Great Lake Boayan or Magindanao, and an old estimate gives their number as 80,000. On his map he shows, the Lake and River Boayan in dotted lines, the latter is made to fall into the Rio Grande.
On two modern maps of Mindanao which I have, one by Jesuits and the other from Don Jose Nieto Aguilar’s book on this Island, neither the river nor the lake appear; but, in their stead, a lofty range of mountains is shown. In each of these maps the Manguánga territory occupies an entirely different location.
As the Jesuits have three reducciones or villages amongst this tribe, I accept their map as constructed according to the latest information. They show in their earlier maps the Manguánga territory at the head of the Bay of Davao, its southern frontier being some twelve miles from the sea, and about the head-waters of the River Salug and the River Agusan.
The reducciones are called Gandia, Pilar, and Compostela. In the general Report of the Jesuit Missions of 1896, the mission station of Jativa is stated to consist of six reducciones of Manobos, Mandayas and Manguángas, with a total population of 1389.
In the general report of the following year the Manguángas and other tribes are not specifically mentioned, and the total population of the mission station of Jativa is given as 1458.
In a later ethnographical map of Mindanao the Manguánga territory appears still more circumscribed, being limited to a strip of land between the Rivers Julep and Nabo, affluents of the River Agusan; Nieto’s map, however, shows them extending over the Eastern Cordillera towards Linguit, which is situated on the coast in about 7° 50′ N. latitude.
Dr. Montano, who went up the Rio Salug in 1880, passing through the Manguánga territory, says he found the banks deserted.
There can be no doubt that this once numerous tribe has been reduced to a mere remnant, part settled in the before-mentioned reducciones, and part still wandering in mountains.