The Great White Tribe in Filipinia

Copyright, 1903,
by Jennings and Pye

Preface

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

1. Chapter Page
2. I. In Old Manila, 9
3. II. All About the Town, 23
4. III. The White Man’s Life, 36
5. IV. Around the Provinces, 50
6. V. On Summer Seas, 67
7. VI. Among the Pagan Tribes, 80
8. VII. A Lost Tribe and the Servants of Mohammed, 97
9. VIII. In a Visayan Village, 121
10. IX. The “Brownies” of the Philippines, 142
11. X. Christmas in Filipinia, 150
12. XI. In a Visayan Home, 163
13. XII. Leaves from a Note-book, 181
    1. 1. Skim Organizes the Constabulary, 181
    2. 2. Last Days at Oroquieta, 195
14. XIII. In Camp and Barracks with the Officers and Soldiers of the Philippines, 223
15. XIV. Padre Pedro, Recoleto Priest.—The Routine of a Friar in the Philippines, 236
16. XV. General Rufino in the Moro Country, 254
17. XVI. On the Iligan-Marahui Road, 270
18. XVII. The Filipino at Play, 280
19. XVIII. Visayan Ethics and Philosophy, 292

Illustrations

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