[10] The Anito occurs amongst the tribes of the Malayan Archipelago as Antu, but the Anito of the Philippines is essentially a protecting spirit, while the Malayan Antu is rather of a demoniacal kind.
[11] These idol images have never come under my observation. Those figured in Bastian and Hartmann’s Journal of Ethnology (b. i. pl. viii. Idols from the Philippines,) whose originals are in the Ethnographical Museum of Berlin, were certainly acquired in the Philippines, but, according to A. W. Franks, undoubtedly belong to the Solomon Islands. Sections ii. to viii., p. 46, in the catalogue of the Museum at Prague are entitled:—“Four heads of idols, made of wood, from the Philippines, contributed by the Bohemian naturalist Thaddaeus Haenke, who was commissioned by the King of Spain, in the year 1817, to travel in the islands of the South Sea.” The photographs, which were obligingly sent here at my request by the direction of the museum, do not entirely correspond to the above description, pointing rather to the west coast of America, the principal field of Haenke’s researches. The Reliquiae Botanicae, from his posthumous papers, likewise afford no information respecting the origin of these idols.
[12] On the Island of Panay.
XXIII
Ports of entry.In 1830 seven new ports were opened as an experiment, but, owing to great frauds in the charges, were soon afterwards closed again. In 1831 a custom-house was established at Zamboanga, on the south-west point of Mindanao; and in 1855 Sual, in the Gulf of Lingayen, one of the safest harbors on the west coast of Luzon, and Iloilo in Panay, were thrown open; and in 1863 Cebu, on the island of the same name, for the direct communication with foreign countries.
Old Zamboanga fort.Before 1635 the Spaniards had established a fort at Zamboanga, which, although it certainly could not wholly prevent the piratical excursions against the colonies, yet considerably diminished them.[1] Until 1848 from eight hundred to fifteen hundred individuals are stated to have been carried off yearly by the Moros.[2] The establishment of this custom-house has, therefore, been based upon political rather than commercial motives, it being found desirable to open an easily accessible place to the piratical states of the Sulu Sea for the disposal of their products. Exports.Trade, up to the present date, is but of very inconsiderable amount, the exports consisting chiefly of a little coffee (in 1871 nearly six thousand piculs), which, from bad management, is worth thirty per cent. less than Manila coffee, and of the collected products of the forest and of the water, such as wax, birds’-nests, tortoise-shell, pearls, mother-of-pearl, and edible holothuria. This trade, as well as that with Sulu, is entirely in the hands of the Chinese, who alone possess the patience, adaptiveness, and adroitness which are required for the purpose.
Sual’s foreign trade.Sual is specially important for its exports of rice; and its foreign trade is therefore affected by the results of the harvests in Saigon, Burma, and China. In 1868, when the harvests in those countries turned out good, Sual carried on only a coasting trade.
Cebu.Cebu (with a population of 34,000) is the chief town of the island of the same name, the seat of Government and of the bishop of the Bisayas, and within forty-eight hours from Manila by steamer. It is as favorably situated with regard to the eastern portion of the Bisayan group as Iloilo is for the western, and is acquiring increased importance as the emporium for its products. Sugar and tobacco are obtained from Bohol; rice from Panay; abacá from Leyte and Mindanao; and coffee, wax, Spanish cane, and mother-of-pearl from Misamis (Mindanao). Its distance from Samar is twenty-six, from Leyte two and a half, from Bohol four, and from Negros eighteen miles.
Cebu island.The island of Cebu extends over seventy-five square miles. A lofty mountain range traverses it from north to south, dividing the east from the west side, and its population is estimated at 340,000,—4,533 to the square mile. The inhabitants are peaceable and docile; thefts occur very seldom, and robberies never. Their occupations are agriculture, fishing, and weaving for home consumption. Cebu produces sugar, tobacco, maize, rice, etc., and in the mountains potatoes; but the rice produced does not suffice for their requirements, there being only a little level land, and the deficiency is imported from Panay.