The Great White Tribe in Filipinia

The legendary white tribe that is said to wander in the mountains of Mindoro is but distantly related to the Great White Tribe now scattered through the greater part of Filipinia. Extending from the Babuyanes off Luzon, to Tawi-Tawi and Sibutu off the coast of Borneo, the Great White Tribe has made its presence felt throughout the archipelago.

The following pages are the record of my own impressions and experiences in the Philippines. The few historical and geographical allusions made have been selected only as they were significant, explanatory, picturesque. A logical arrangement of the chapters will enable the reader to survey the islands as a great bird hovering above might do--will make the map of Filipinia "look like a postage-stamp."

I promise that the reader shall be introduced to all the most important members of the Great White Tribe, as well as to the representatives of races brown and black. We will peep through the hedge together as the savages and pagans execute their grotesque dances or perform their sacrifices to the god of the volcano. Furthermore, the reader shall attend the Oroquieta Ball with Maraquita and Don Julian, or, if he likes, with "Foxy Grandpa" and "The Arizona Babe."

I ought to dedicate this book to many people,--to that wonderful brown baby Primitivo, who has written that he "loves me the most best of all the world;" to "Fresno Bill," that charter member of the Great White Tribe, with whom I have knocked around from Zamboanga to Vigan; or to that coterie of college men in old Manila who extended me so many courtesies while I was there. I send them all my compliments from the homeland, and ask the reader, if he will, to do likewise.

Cincinnati, Ohio,

December, 1903.

Contents

Chapter Page

I. In Old Manila, 9 II. All About the Town, 23 III. The White Man's Life, 36 IV. Around the Provinces, 50 V. On Summer Seas, 67 VI. Among the Pagan Tribes, 80 VII. A Lost Tribe and the Servants of Mohammed, 97 VIII. In a Visayan Village, 121 IX. The "Brownies" of the Philippines, 142 X. Christmas in Filipinia, 150 XI. In a Visayan Home, 163 XII. Leaves from a Note-book, 181 1. Skim Organizes the Constabulary, 181 2. Last Days at Oroquieta, 195

XIII. In Camp and Barracks with the Officers and Soldiers of the Philippines, 223

XIV. Padre Pedro, Recoleto Priest.--The Routine of a Friar in the Philippines, 236 XV. General Rufino in the Moro Country, 254 XVI. On the Iligan-Marahui Road, 270 XVII. The Filipino at Play, 280 XVIII. Visayan Ethics and Philosophy, 292

Illustrations

Map of Filipinia, Frontispiece Facing Page In Old Manila, 8 All About the Town, 26 On Summer Seas, 68 Negrito Pigmy Vagrants, 98 Our Latest Citizens, 120 In a Visayan Village, 128 A Carabao, 144 The Oldest Cathedral of Manila, 238 General Rufino in Moro Country, 256 Captain Isidro Rillas with the Datto, 256 A Deserted Moro Shack, 274 Moro Weapons (Spear and Dirk), 274

Chapter I.

In Old Manila.

As the big white transport comes to anchor three miles out in the green waters of Manila Bay, a fleet of launches races out to meet the messenger from the Far West. The customs officers in their blue uniforms, the medical inspectors, and the visitors in white duck suits and panama hats, taking their ease upon the launches without the slightest sign of curiosity, give one his first impressions of the Oriental life--the white man's easy-going life in the Far East. But the ideas of the newcomer are to undergo a change after his first few days on shore, when he takes up the grind, and realizes that his face is getting pasty--that the cool veranda and the drive on the Luneta do not constitute the entire program, even in Manila.