Directory_and_Chronicle_1894 — Page 824

THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines are a rich group of islands, situate between lat. 5 and 22 deg. N., and long. 123 and 133 deg. E., and form a Spanish colony. The islands are over five hundred in number and contain an area of 52,647 English square miles, with a population, in 1876, of 6,173,632 souls. At the end of 1883 the population, including the army and navy, was estimated at 7,636,632. The principal islands are divided into twenty-seven provinces, thirteen of which are on the Isle of Luzon, four on the Isle of Negros, three on Panay, and three on the Isle of Mindanao. The islands were formally annexed to the Crown of Spain in 1565.

The early history of the Philippines is a record of continual trouble. Conflicts between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities led to internal contentions, while both Portugal and the Netherlands coveted these rich possessions and harassed the Spaniards. Attacks were also made at different points by powerful Chinese piratical fleets. In 1762 the capital was taken by the English, but was restored to Spain two years afterwards for a ransom of £1,000,000. The ransom, however, was never exacted.

After the discovery of the islands ecclesiastics flocked to them in large numbers, and undisturbed by the attacks on Spanish authority, the work of converting the natives was carried on with great vigour. The clergy at the present time number about two thousand, and most of the natives brought under subjection profess the Roman Catholic religion. In the Philippines there has been little of that cruelty to the aboriginal popula- tion which so often characterises the process of colonization, and the natives are in general contented and well conducted, the priests exercising the almost unbounded influence they possess with great effect in the preservation of order. In the inaccessible mountainous parts of the islands there are still tribes of unsubdued savages, but their number is comparatively small and the authority of the Government is being rapidly extended over them. In the last census returns the number of natives not subject to the civil government and paying no tribute is given as 602,853, while the number of natives paying tribute is returned as 5,501,356. There is a considerable number of mestizos or half-castes, some of whom are the children of Spanish fathers by native mothers and some the children of Chinese fathers. The military forces of all arms number some 12,000 men, including seven regiments of native infantry, mustering 3,780. A fleet, chiefly of small gunboats, aids in the preservation of order.

The public revenue is about $12,000,000, of which the larger part is raised from direct taxes, Customs, monopolies, and lotteries.

The chief articles of produce are sugar, hemp, tobacco, and coffee, the export of which in 1891 and 1892 was as follows:-

1891

1892

Sugar

Quantity 138,217,635 kilograms

Hemp

84,908,002

>>

Value $7,341,168 13,304,012

Quantity

"J

Value 252,798,196 kilograms $11,341,014

70,491,481

10,053,322

Tobacco, Manu-

factured

1,246,837

""

1,148,521

1,596,363

""

1,432,811

Tobacco, Raw

Coffee

9,068,318 2,841,530

1,622,092

12,136,370

"J

""

1,232,022

1,358,374

2,268,999 634,380

The foreign trade is confined to the ports of Manila, Iloilo, Cebu, and Zamboanga. In 1892 the value of the imports was $23,817,373 and of the exports $27,976,569.

The climate of the Philippines varies little from that of other places in the same latitude. The range of the thermometer during the year is from a little over sixty degrees to about ninety. The rainy season usually lasts six months, and during this time inundations of rivers are frequent and travelling in the interior almost impossible. Long-continued droughts, however, sometimes occur, when the ground becomes parched and the crops are utterly destroyed. Husbandry also suffers from the ravages of locusts, which will sometimes almost entirely denude a whole province of herbage. The principal part of the group comes within the range of the typhoons, and terrific storms are of frequent occurrence. The islands are also the centre of great volcanic action.

"The destructive ravages and changes produced by earthquakes," says Sir John Bowring, writing in 1859, are nowhere more remarkable than in the Philippines. They have overturned mountains, they have filled up valleys, they have desolated extensive plains; they have opened passages

passages from the sea into the interior, and

"