the dalag, a fresh-water fish, is in great repute, and much used, both fresh and cured.
Some of the fish enter the rivers and lakes from the sea, for the purpose of spawning
like salmon, and are then taken in great numbers. In the lake of Taal, a fish of
such habits called the sabalo, of the size of the salmon, is taken in weirs, and by
other contrivances in which the natives display much ingenuity. In the shallow
bays, the tripang or holothurion is taken, and cured for the Chinese market. “ The
facility with which fish is produced,” says the author of the ‘ Informe sobre el estado
de las Islas Filapinas,’ * is wonderful. Sometimes a piece of dry land, after being
flooded for a few hours, is found full of fish. On the 23rd of September, 1767, there
appeared on the plain near Manilla, and for the space of a quarter of a league, such a
quantity of dead fish as was sufficient to load twenty large waggons. This fish came,
already dead, from the lake of Bay, by the river Pasig, and after the above quantity
> was carried away, much remained to infect the air or to be carried off by the current,
and again thrown on the coast by the waves. This phenomenon is supposed to have
been caused by hurricanes, but there may be other causes, for it is to be observed
that occasionally great quantities of living fish in a state of terror come down the
river from the lake, when they are easily caught.”
As to insects, flights of locusts occasionally devastate Luzon, but these are
always destroyed by the hurricanes to which it is liable. Mosquitos and ants are
numerous and troublesome, but in requital, the common fly, as in other countries
not distant from the equator, is not frequent, and fleas and bugs are nearly unknown.
Two distinct races of man inhabit Luzon,—the Malayan and the Negrito. The
first of these is socially divided into two classes, namely,—the civilised inhabitants,
occupying the coasts, plains, and larger valleys, and forming the bulk of the population
; and the rude tribes inhabiting the mountain sides and narrow glens of the
interior. The civilised inhabitants consist of six distinct nations, speaking different
languages, and are as follow,—the Tagalog, or Tagala as they are called by the
Spaniards; the Iloco ; the Pampanga; the Pangasinan; the Cagayan, and the Vicol.
The uncivilised of the Malayan race consist, according to the Spanish enumeration, of
no fewer than fifteen different tribes or nations, speaking, as far as is known, distinct
languages. The greater number of these are in the hunter state, a few of the more
advanced only practising a rude husbandry, whereas all the civilised inhabitants
are agriculturists. The Negritos, like the rudest of .the Malayan race, seem to be
divided into many tribes, speaking distinct languages, but of their names or their
tongues we have no information.
The first enumeration of the inhabitants of Luzon which we possess was made in
1735, or 164 years after the conquest, and this made their number 410,300. It has
certainly advanced with vast strides since that time, for a census made in 1800
brought it up to 990,864; one in 1818 to 1,407,422; and one in 1850, to 2,534,613. In
the course, therefore, of 215 years, it would appear from these statements, that the
population had increased more than six-fold. I t is to be observed, however, that
these different enumerations, framed chiefly from the registers of the capitation-tax,
include only the inhabitants subject to the Spanish rule, and generally those who have
embraced Christianity. As the different nations and tribes were subdued, they were
included in the enumerations, so that these statements represent, not only the natural
increase of population, but also the progress of conquest and conversion. According
to the registers kept by the clergy, the number of marriages in 1850, was 20,614 or
1 in 123 of the population; of births 84,328, or 4'09 births to a marriage. The
registered deaths were 61,188, and the surplus of the births over these would make
the doubling period about 27 years. The increase, however, is certainly not so great
as this rate, for in the thirty-two years which had elapsed between 1820 and 1852, it
was no more than 80 per cent. I t is, notwithstanding, very large, and more resembles
the increase in a prosperous Anglo-Saxon colony in the New World than that of an
old Asiatic country. Like Java and the British possessions on the continent of India,
it owes this rapid increase to the fertility of its soil, to the abundance of it, and to
the peace and order secured by European government.
The relative population of Luzon will give between 48 and 49 inhabitants to the
square mile, which, as to density, is about one-fifth part of that of Java. If Luzon,
therefore, were as populous as that island, instead of containing little more than two
millions and a half of inhabitants, it ought to contain, at least fourteen millions.
Although, therefore, it is probable that Luzon contains more sterile and unreclaimable
land in proportion to extent than Java, or a less relative extent of fertile land, there can
be no question but that it has still ample room for a large increase of population, and that
the rapid augmentation which has been in progress is likely for a long time to continue.
f T ,170n verv unequally distributed over The population of L u zo n ^ « ry ro zq Thus the proviintsc ea roefa ,B ausl aisc aanl,s oly itnhge
case, although n0 , , 0f Manilla, and one of the most fertile of the island,
on the northern Bhoreofthe and a population 0f 293,455, or 5927
has an area of no mo province of Laguna, although i t includes th e area of th e
to th e square league. P . { 137 083 for an area of 108 square leagues, o r 1269
great lake of Bay, has a popu province of Cagayan, situated towards th e
to th e league On th e ^ is la u d% n d including a large share
r j p g s s s F i s h e s K p elements, n a m e l y , — Aboriginal inhabitants subject to th e poll-tax, 2,373,765, European
TtostetoOfindustry in Luzon may be briefly described. Agriculture is, of course
the most important of the arts. The wild land is the Property of the
the reclaimed occupied by the native inhabitants, is virtually a private, Heritable,
and vendible property, although, in theory, they have only the use of it.—f.° f J*!
they shall continue to cultivate it. Convents, and other piom
European settlers, hold their lands on a somewhat different ^ “^ - Theypay to
the crown a tithe of the produce but this tithe is thcsame
that the amount of the impost is almost nominal, or but a trifling quit-rent,
smaller proprietors cultivate their own lands, but the larger are farmed on a
“ metairie ” system, as in the southern countries of Europe. The husbandry, like
that of other Asiatic countries, is rude and unskilful. The plough, drawn by a,
single buffalo, consists of a single piece of crooked timber, which forms at once, the
handle, beam and share. The last is tipped with iron, but there is neither a
coulter or a mould-board. Before ploughing, the ground is levelled by a harrow,
consisting of a square frame of bamboo with teeth, on which a heavyweight is
placed, and which, like the plough, is drawn by a single buffalo. In dry-land culture,
the rice seed is sown broad-cast at once, but in irrigated land, it is first sown m beds,
and from these transplanted, as in Java. The thrashing is performed by the treading
of a buffalo and the husking in that kind of wooden mortar, the lasung, m the iagala
losong which, by accident, has given its name to the island. The most usual carnage
is a car without wheels, or a sledge. There are wheel-carts, however, drawn by a pair
of buffalos, which will carry about half a ton, or about half the load of a single horse
on a tolerable English road. The system of irrigation, notwithstanding the abundant
command of water, seems to be very rude, and much inferior to that of Java, Bali,
and Lomboc The husbandry of Luzon has, however, one great advantage over that
of most other parts of the East,—the higher reward of labour. A native porter m
M a n i l l a , earns a quarter of a dollar, or thirteen pence a-day, and the wages of labour
are proportionably high in the country. This rate is probably twice as much as in
Java, and three times what it is in British India, while all the necessaries of life are,
at least, as cheap as in either of these countries.
The land in Luzon, as in the other Philippines, is subject to no direct public impost.
All such imposts are embraced in the tribute or poll-tax, which for state and municipal
purposes amounts to about half-a-crown, payable by all males from 20 to 60 years of
age and by all females from marriage or 25 years of age up to 60; the whole contribution
of a family in this manner being, generally, no more than five shillings _a-year.
Land, as in other warm countries, is divided into irrigated and non-rrrigated, with the
usual wide difference in value in favour of tbe first of these. The effect of a fixed
tenure of land and of freedom from land-tax on the value of land is very striking, and
favourably contrasts with the results which arise in J ava and continental India from the
greater part of rent being taken as tax, and this too frequently in the form of a variable
impost. The author of the Estado de las Islas Filipinas, gives us the usual prices at
which land is sold in different parts of the island of Luzon, his quotations referring to
lands of the highest value, that is, to such as are irrigated and fenced, and which are
situated in the most fertile and populous provinces of the island. In Pangasinan, the
price of a quinon of land, a measure of 1000 square fathoms, is from 220 to 250 Spanish
dollars; in South Ilocos, 300 dollars; in Laguna, from 250 to 300 dollars. In Pasig,
near the city of Manilla, and also in Bulacan, it is occasionally as high as 1000 dollars.
These prices range from about 22£. to 1251. for an English acre, and are, probably, ten
Q 2