Chapter XL.The Political Condition of Mindanao, 1899.Relapse into savagery—Moros the great danger—Visayas the mainstay—Confederation of Lake Lanao—Recall of the Missionaries—Murder and pillage in Davao—Eastern Mindanao—Western Mindanao—The three courses—Orphanage of Tamontaca—Fugitive slaves—Polygamy an impediment to conversion—Labours of the Jesuits—American Roman Catholics should send them help.The present condition of the island is most lamentable. Nothing could be more dreadful; robbery, outrage and murder are rampant. Every evil passion is let loose, and the labour of years has been lost. Mindanao, which promised so well, has relapsed into savagery, as the direct consequence of the Spanish-American war, and the cession of the Archipelago to the United States.It should be understood that Spain, far from drawing any profit from Mindanao, has, on the contrary, expended annually considerable sums, derived from the revenues of Luzon and Visayas, in maintaining a squadron of gunboats to police the seas, and keep down piracy, in building and garrisoning forts to suppress the slave-trade, and in assisting the missionaries to attract the heathen, by providing them with seeds, implements of husbandry, and with clothing, also in giving them fire-arms and ammunition to protect themselves from the Moros.Annuities were paid to friendly Moro dattos as rewards for services rendered, or as compensation for the cession of some of their rights.The Moros have always been the great danger to the peace of the island, as the Visayas have always been the mainstay of Spanish authority.Had it not been for the war with America, the Moros would have been, by this time, completely subdued.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.[To face p.377.Even as it was, half the island was practically free fromdanger from them. If you draw a line on the map from Cagayan de Misamis to the head of the Bay of Sarangani, it will roughly divide the island into halves. The Moros who lived to the eastward of this line were pacific, and some thousands of them had been baptized, and had given up polygamy and slave-trading.Had they risen in arms—which was not at all likely—they could have been put down by the Visayas militia under the local authorities.To the west of this line, until quite lately, the Spanish garrisons dotted along the banks of the Rio Grande from Polloc and Cotta-bato to Piquit and Pinto, dominated the Moro dattos of that region, and nearly joined hands with the forts and garrisons on the rivers running into the Bay of Macajalar.The only remaining seat of the Moro power was the country around Lake Lanao, where the dattos had formed the Illana confederation to resist the advances of the Christians.This lake has never been surveyed, and no two maps agree on its size, shape or position. It is, however, known to be very different from the other large lakes in Mindanao, which are shallow, whilst this, on the contrary, is deep; in some places, three or four fathoms will be found close in shore. At Lúgud and Tugana the banks are steep.There are five or six islands in it; the largest is called Nuza. It is high and flat-topped, situated near the middle of the lake, and on it are five hundred houses.The length of the lake may be about 14 miles, and its greatest breadth about the same.There is a road all round it, reported to be in good condition for vehicles, except at Taraca, where the ground is soft. This road may be about fifty miles long, and is said to have houses on both sides of it nearly all the way. The accompanying sketch, from D. José Nietos’ map, shows forty-three towns clustered round the lake, but in reality it is only one vast town, and the names are those of districts or parishes, each under the rule of a datto. The Sultan lives at Taraca.The land about the lake is very fertile, and is cultivated by the slaves.The produce is of excellent quality, and the Moros not only supply themselves, but export annually about 1000 tons of rice, and 900 tons of coffee.The River Agus, which drains the lake, is not navigable.Although it has a great body of water, the impetuosity of the current, rushing amongst rocks, forms dangerous rapids.The surface of the lake must be considerably above the sea-level.The approaches to the northern end of the lake on both sides of the river were defended by many cottas, or forts. Most of those were taken and destroyed by the Spanish forces in 1894–96, but they are now probably being rebuilt.Half-way between the lake and the Bay of Iligan stands Fort Weyler, which had a strong garrison of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers, and was impregnable to any Moro attack. To the south of the lake, on the shores of Illana Bay, stand Forts Corcuera and Baras, whilst to the westward, between Illana Bay and Panguil Bay, lie four forts across the narrow isthmus called Alfonso XIII., Infanta Isabel, Santas Paz, and Eulalia and Maria Cristina.These, with the trocha, or military road of Tucúran, cut off the Illano Moros from communication with their brethren of Sibuguey, or with their former victims, the Subanos.Further to the northward, Fort Almonte kept watch over the quondam pirates of the Liangan River.These forts and posts were garrisoned by nearly 3000 regular troops, all natives, except the artillery (seeList of Posts in Mindanao, p. 386), and in addition a field force of several thousand men, also of the regular army, was encamped at Ulama, Pantar, and other places to the north of the lake, and three small steam-vessels had been transported overland in sections, and launched upon the lake.Thus everything was ready for the final blow, for the Moros were completely hemmed in by Spanish garrisons or Jesuitreducciones; but the breaking out of the Tagal insurrection, in 1896, obliged General Blanco to withdraw, not only the field army, but to reduce the garrisons in order to hold Manila and Cavite until the Peninsular troops could arrive.Later on, the war between the United States and Spain, and the immediate destruction of the Spanish naval forces by the American squadron, caused the Spanish authorities to sink the flotilla in the lake, to abandon all the posts onthe north coast of Mindanao, the trocha of Tucúran, and all the forts on the Rio Grande, and to concentrate their whole force at Zamboanga, leaving the recently-converted heathen and the missionaries to defend themselves against the Moros as best they could.The missionaries of the district of Cotta-bato have taken refuge in Zamboanga, fearing to fall into the hands of the Moros, who would exact a heavy ransom for their delivery. As for the hundreds of liberated slave children, both girls and boys, who were gathered together under the protection of the missionaries at the asylum of Tamontaca, they are doubtless once more in the hands of the cruel Moros of Lake Lanao; some, perhaps, have been sold by these wretches to the heathen tribes for twenty or thirty dollars each, to be offered up as sacrifices to Tag-busan, the god of war of the Manobos, or to Dewata, the sanguinary house-god of the Guiangas.The missionaries of the north of Mindanao were recalled by the Father Superior to Manila; but in some of the towns the native converts and Visayas have detained them by force, and keep a watch on them to prevent their escape. They treat them well, and allow them to exercise their ministry.As there are no Moros in that part of the island, the missionaries are not in danger, for they are much beloved by their converts, whose only desire is to keep them amongst them.The district of Davao has been, like other localities, the scene of murder and pillage since the withdrawal of the Spanish authorities. At midnight of February 6th, the bad characters and outlaws of the chief town, under the leadership of Domingo Fernandez, a native of Zamboanga, and formerly interpreter and writer in the office of the Governor of Davao, rose in arms, and attacked the house of Don Bonifacio Quidato, sub-lieutenant of the local militia. They cut his throat, and bayoneted his wife as she lay in her bed. They then attacked all the well-to-do people of the place, committing many barbarous acts, and plundering their houses.Most of the Spanish residents escaped from the town in a lorcha, and, after a terrible voyage of sixteen days, suffering from hunger, and undergoing many severe privations, arrived in Zamboanga more dead than alive. The veteran missionary, Father Urios, and three otherSpaniards, could not escape, and remained in the power of the bandits.This is only one instance of what is going on all over the island. In the words of one who knows the country well, Mindanao has become a seething hell, and is in a condition more dreadful than ever before in historic times.But amongst these various tribes, Christian or heathen, there is said to be one subject, and one only, upon which they all agree. They have combined to resist by force the American invasion. If it is attempted to conquer them by force of arms, it will be a difficult, a tedious, and a costly operation—a campaign far more sickly than that now proceeding in the arable lands around Manila, where the ground is hard, the country very level, and where field-guns can be taken anywhere during the dry season. It is my belief that, if skilfully handled, half the island—the eastern half—could be pacified without war, although, no doubt, gangs of bandits would have to be destroyed; but this could be done by the Visayas and the converts, organised as a militia, and paid whilst on active service.But this pacification requires the assistance of the missionaries. They are not likely to give that assistance unless terms are made with them, and one of those terms will surely be that they shall be allowed to continue their beneficent work unhindered and unvexed.So the United States Government is confronted with a dilemma. Either they must shoot down the new Christians, to introduce and enforce freedom of worship which the converts do not want, and cannot understand, or they must negotiate with the Jesuits for them to use their influence to pacify the island, and thus subject themselves to the abuse and the outcry such a proceeding will bring upon them from the divines and missionaries of Protestant sects, and from their political opponents.As for the western half of the island, a part may be pacified with the help of the missionaries, but military operations on a considerable scale will be required there sooner or later against the Moros of Lake Lanao.This would be a holy war, a war of humanity, and I would say to the Americans: Look back on the deeds of your forefathers, on the days when your infant navy covered itself with imperishable glory, when it curbed the insolence of the Bashaw of Tripoli, the Bey of Tunis, and the Dey of Algiers, teaching all Europe how to deal with Mediterraneanpirates. Inspire yourselves with the Spirit of Decatur and his hero-comrades whose gallant deeds at Tripoli earned Nelson’s praise as being “the most bold and daring act of the age,” and do not hesitate to break up this last community of ex-pirates and murderous slave-hunters.The Moros of Lake Lanao could be simultaneously attacked from north and south. In 1894, the Spaniards attacked by the north, and transported all their artillery and stores and their small steamers built in sections, by paths on the eastern side of the River Agus. Some of the Moros remained neutral in that campaign. Such were the Dattos of Lumbayangin and Guimba. Their cottas were spared. The distance in a straight line from the mouth of the Agus near Iligan to the lake is fifteen miles.The path winds a good deal, and the country is hilly, wooded on the heights, and intersected by streams. There is a path on the west bank of the Agus, the country there is more open, and a large part of it is under cultivation. A good outfit of mountain-guns would be required on this northern expedition.The other attack could be made from the south, the forces landing at Fort Baras, or at Lalabuan. From either of these places there is what in the Philippines is called a road to Ganasi at the southern end of the lake. The distance in a straight line is about twenty miles. The two roads join at about half way, just before coming to the cotta of Kurandangan in the Sultanate of Puálas.This road is reported to have no steep gradients, no boggy parts, and no unfordable streams. The country is fairly open, as there is no thick forest, but only scrub andcogon, or elephant grass. From a description given by a Tagal who traversed this road, it appears to be practicable for field artillery. The combined attack, north and south, could be supported by an advance from the eastward of irregular forces of the Montéses from thereduccionesof the Tagoloan, Sawaga and Malupati Rivers, if they were supplied with arms and ammunition for this purpose.It seems to me that we have here the usual three courses; the fourth, to do nothing, and allow Moro and Christian to fight it out, would be unworthy of the United States, or of any civilized government.1. Put a stop to slave-hunting and murdering by a military expedition against the Moro Dattos.2. Maintain garrisons to keep the peace and protect themissionaries and their converts and trust to their efforts to gradually convert the Moros.3. Arm all the Christian towns round about the Moros and organise the men as local militia, so that they can protect themselves against Moro aggression.All these courses are expensive, the second less expensive than the first, the third less expensive than the second.However, if either the second or third course is adopted, it is very probable that before long the first course would become imperative, for the Moros are faithless and treacherous in the extreme, and no treaty unsupported by bayonets has the least chance of being respected.To adopt the second or third course, then, only amounts to putting off the evil day.The missionaries can be of the greatest service in pacifiying the Moros whenever the power of the dattos is broken and when slavery can be put an end to. The object of the expedition I have spoken of should not be to exterminate the Moros, but merely to break the power of the dattos and pandits, and to free their followers and slaves from their yoke.It is generally taken for granted that a Moro cannot be converted, but this is not the case in Mindanao. Father Jaoquin Sancho, S.J., informs me that when the political power of the dattos has been destroyed, their followers have been found ready to listen to the teachings of the missionaries and beginning by sending their children to school, then perhaps sanctioning the marriage of their daughters with Christians, they have finally cast in their lot with the Roman Catholic Church, not in scores, nor hundreds, but by thousands. He says that his colleagues baptized in one year after 1892, in the district of Davao alone, more than three thousand Mahometan Moros. He adds that their religious receptivity is much greater than that of the heathen tribes, that once baptized they remain fervent Christians, whilst the Mandayas, Manobos, Montéses and other heathen are only too apt, with or without reason, to slip away to the forests and mountains and resume their nomadic life, their heathen orgies, and human sacrifices.I have already spoken of the success of the missionaries on the Rio Grande and of their industrial and agricultural orphanage at Tamontacca, where they were bringing up hundreds of children of both sexes, mostlyliberated slaves of the Moros, to be useful members of society. This noble institution occupied the very spot where the former Moro Sultan of Tamontacca held his court.Two or three more institutions like this, established at points a few miles distant from Lake Lanao, andprotected from aggressionon the part of the Moro, would gradually undermine the power of the Dattos by affording an asylum to all fugitive slaves attempting to escape from cruelties of their masters.For years past the Spaniards have protected all slaves who have fled to them from their masters. The Datto Utto applied to General Weyler to restore to him forty-eight slaves who had taken refuge at a Spanish fort on the Rio Grande, but Weyler refused, reminding the datto that he had signed an engagement to keep no slaves, but only free labourers, who had the right to fix their residence where they pleased.I assume that no slaves who seek the shelter of the Stars and Stripes will ever be sent back again into bondage.As a guide to the strength of the expedition which will sooner or later have to be sent against the Moros of Lake Lanao, I may say that the total war strength of the Moros of Mindanao was estimated in 1894 at 19,000 fighting-men, 35 guns, 1896 Lantacas and 2167 muskets or rifles. (Seelist, p. 387).They have probably since then obtained a large supply of rifles and ammunition. This traffic in arms should be at once stopped.Swords and spears they have in abundance.But of these 19,000 men many have submitted to the Spanish rule, or have become allies of the Spaniards, like the Datto Ayunan, the Datto Abdul, the Sultan of Bolinson and many others.Probably 10,000 men would be the very utmost that the Moros of Lake Lanao could bring on the field, and only a part of these would have fire-arms, which they could have little skill in handling.They would on no account give battle in the open, but would fight in the bush, and desperately defend their cottas. They would not concentrate their forces, for want of transport for their food supply; besides, the nature of the country would prevent this.They could not stop a flotilla from being launched on the lake and from capturing the islands as a base of operations.The flotilla would be operating on inside lines of communication. It could threaten one side of the lake, and in less than two hours be landing troops on the opposite side.In fact, with a moderate force, their subjugation would not be so difficult as has often been supposed.It should be made clear to the Sácopes and to the slaves that the war is waged against the Sultans and Dattos, that the people would have their lives and property and the free exercise of their religion guaranteed to them, and that the adults should be exempt from taxation and conscription for the rest of their lives or for a term of years. Then the resistance would soon slacken, and the sultans and dattos might be captured. Those who would not conform to the new condition of things might be allowed to emigrate to Borneo or elsewhere, but their subjects and slaves should by no means be allowed to go with them, for they will soon become useful agriculturists and good Christians, and Mindanao cannot spare them.The question of slavery, more especially of slave-concubines, will require delicate handling, but by adopting a conciliatory but firm policy, this curse may gradually be got rid of without causing disturbance or bloodshed. Cranks and faddists should not be allowed to handle this question, but it should be placed in the hands of some one well versed in human nature, and a true friend of freedom.The wise policy of the British authorities in Zanzibar and Pemba is well worthy of imitation.As happens in Africa, the greatest impediment to the conversion of the heathen polygamist is the obligation to renounce all his wives but one. This is a sore trial, more especially when they have paid a good price for them, or if they are good cooks.Father Urios having persuaded a Manobo, who wished to be baptized, to do this, the man said to him: “Of my two wives I have decided to keep the elder, but I make a great sacrifice in separating from the other, for I had so much trouble to obtain her. Her father would only give her to me in exchange for fifteen slaves. As I did not possess them, I was obliged to take the field against the timid tribes in an unknown country, and to capture thesefifteen slaves. I was obliged to fight often, and to kill more than thirty men.”The illustration represents a scene from the labours of Father Gisbert amongst the Bagobos. He is exhorting a blood-stained old datto and his wives and followers to abandon their human sacrifices, exhibiting to them the image of the crucified Redeemer, whose followers he urges them to become.As regards the maintenance of the missions, I do not for one moment doubt that the liberality of the Roman Catholics of the United States is quite equal to the needs of the pioneers of civilisation, who have laboured with such remarkable success.Altogether the Jesuits administered the spiritual, and some of the temporal affairs of 200,000 Christians in Mindanao.They educated the young, taught them handicrafts, attended to the sick, consoled the afflicted, reconciled those at variance, explored the country, encouraged agriculture, built churches, laid out roads, and assisted the Administration. Finally, when bands of slave-hunting, murdering Moros swept down like wolves on their flocks, they placed themselves at the head of their ill-armed parishioners and led them into battle against a ferocious enemy who gives no quarter, with the calmness of men who, long before, had devoted their lives to the Master’s cause, to whom nothing in this world is of any consequence except the advancement of the Faith and the performance of duty.They received very meagre monetary assistance from the Spanish Government, and had to depend greatly upon the pious offerings of the devout in Barcelona and in Madrid. It is to be feared that these subscriptions will now fall off as Spain has lost the islands; if so, it is all the more incumbent upon the Roman Catholics of America to find the means of continuing the good work.I feel sure that this will be so—Christian charity will not fail, and the missions will be maintained.For their devotion and zeal, I beg to offer the Jesuit missionaries my profound respect and my earnest wishes for their welfare under the Stars and Stripes.To my mind, they realise very closely the ideal of what a Christian missionary should be. Although a Protestant born and bred, I see in that no reason to close my eyes to their obvious merit, nor to seek to be-little the great goodthey have done in Mindanao. Far from doing so, I wish to state my conviction that the easiest, the best, and the most humane way of pacifying Mindanao is by utilising the powerful influence of the Jesuit missionaries with their flocks, and this before it is too late, before the populations have had time to completely forget the Christian teaching, and to entirely relapse into barbarism.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.[To face p.387.List of Posts in Mindanao Garrisoned by Detachments of the Native Army with Spanish Officers in 1894.Field Officers.Officers.Men.1st District.San Ramon..112Infantry.Santa Maria..134Infantry.Margos-sa-tubig..260Infantry.2nd District.Fort Weyler, Mumungan17321Infantry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..118Artillery.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..2112Engineers.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..130Cavalry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..3158Disciplinary Battn.Iligan..130Tercio Civil.Almonte..258Infantry.Almonte....8Artillery.Almonte..120Disciplinary Battn.Tangok, Alfonso XIII...120Infantry.Balatacan, Infanta Isabel..120Infantry.Trocha de Tucuran, Sta. Pax and Sta. Eulalia Maria Cristina..3150Infantry.Dapitan.Sundangan..132Infantry.Parang-parang13500Infantry.Parang-parang..112Artillery.Parang-parang..260Disciplinary Battn.Parang-parang..360Engineers.Matabang..3200Infantry.Matabang....10Artillery.Baras..3200Infantry.Baras....10Artillery.Sarangani.Glan..245Infantry.Makra..132Infantry.Balut..120Infantry.Tumanao..1 Sergt.15Infantry.5th District.Cottabato..3100Infantry.Cottabato..112Artillery.Libungan..1 Sergt.12Infantry.Tamontaca..120Infantry.Taviran..122Infantry.Tumbao..160Infantry.Kudaranga..120Infantry.Reina Regente..3100Infantry.Pikit..160Infantry.6Artillery.Pinto....60Infantry.6Artillery.Coast.Pollok..1 Sergt.11Infantry.Panay..111Infantry.Lebak..111Infantry.2652758This number is exclusive of the garrisons of Zamoanga and Davao.Basilan2 officers, 50 men.Estimate of the Moro Forces in Mindanao in the Year 1894.District.Fighting-men.Guns.Lantacas.Rifles.Tucaran1,000254162Parang-parang2,500229117Malabang3,5001342265Baras2,00041923Lake Lanao andsurrounding district10,000261,4521,60019,000351,8962,167The fighting-men of the River Pulangui, and the Rio Grande comprised within the 5th District are not included in this list, as many of them have submitted to the Spaniards, and there appears little to fear from them. Only those who are quite independent and war-like, and who may be considered dangerous have been set down.Population of Mindanao in 1894.As given by José Nieto Aguilar.Districts.Area in Hectares.PopulationTotal.Christians.Moros.Heathen.1Zamboanga2,984,69617,0008,00090,000115,0002Misamis (Dapitan and Camiguin Is.)1,098,000116,000100,00020,000236,0003Surigao1,070,19068,0008,00012,00088,000Bislig441,29121,076..10,00031,0764Davao1,044,3331,500..17,30018,800Cotta-bato2,829,3794,00080,0005120,0005204,000227,576196,000269,300692,8761The territory of Sibuguey is almost unexplored.2The principal industry of Christians or Moros, is washing the sands and alluvial soils for gold, which is found in abundance. Agriculture is progressing.3The principal industry is washing the sands and mining for gold.4From Jesuit records the Christian population of Davao was 12,000 in 1896. This number included over 3000 converted Moros. There were also some 2,000 Moros residing there. The Jesuits residing on the spot must know best.5Nieto gives the total as 200,000. I have divided them as above.
Chapter XL.The Political Condition of Mindanao, 1899.Relapse into savagery—Moros the great danger—Visayas the mainstay—Confederation of Lake Lanao—Recall of the Missionaries—Murder and pillage in Davao—Eastern Mindanao—Western Mindanao—The three courses—Orphanage of Tamontaca—Fugitive slaves—Polygamy an impediment to conversion—Labours of the Jesuits—American Roman Catholics should send them help.The present condition of the island is most lamentable. Nothing could be more dreadful; robbery, outrage and murder are rampant. Every evil passion is let loose, and the labour of years has been lost. Mindanao, which promised so well, has relapsed into savagery, as the direct consequence of the Spanish-American war, and the cession of the Archipelago to the United States.It should be understood that Spain, far from drawing any profit from Mindanao, has, on the contrary, expended annually considerable sums, derived from the revenues of Luzon and Visayas, in maintaining a squadron of gunboats to police the seas, and keep down piracy, in building and garrisoning forts to suppress the slave-trade, and in assisting the missionaries to attract the heathen, by providing them with seeds, implements of husbandry, and with clothing, also in giving them fire-arms and ammunition to protect themselves from the Moros.Annuities were paid to friendly Moro dattos as rewards for services rendered, or as compensation for the cession of some of their rights.The Moros have always been the great danger to the peace of the island, as the Visayas have always been the mainstay of Spanish authority.Had it not been for the war with America, the Moros would have been, by this time, completely subdued.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.[To face p.377.Even as it was, half the island was practically free fromdanger from them. If you draw a line on the map from Cagayan de Misamis to the head of the Bay of Sarangani, it will roughly divide the island into halves. The Moros who lived to the eastward of this line were pacific, and some thousands of them had been baptized, and had given up polygamy and slave-trading.Had they risen in arms—which was not at all likely—they could have been put down by the Visayas militia under the local authorities.To the west of this line, until quite lately, the Spanish garrisons dotted along the banks of the Rio Grande from Polloc and Cotta-bato to Piquit and Pinto, dominated the Moro dattos of that region, and nearly joined hands with the forts and garrisons on the rivers running into the Bay of Macajalar.The only remaining seat of the Moro power was the country around Lake Lanao, where the dattos had formed the Illana confederation to resist the advances of the Christians.This lake has never been surveyed, and no two maps agree on its size, shape or position. It is, however, known to be very different from the other large lakes in Mindanao, which are shallow, whilst this, on the contrary, is deep; in some places, three or four fathoms will be found close in shore. At Lúgud and Tugana the banks are steep.There are five or six islands in it; the largest is called Nuza. It is high and flat-topped, situated near the middle of the lake, and on it are five hundred houses.The length of the lake may be about 14 miles, and its greatest breadth about the same.There is a road all round it, reported to be in good condition for vehicles, except at Taraca, where the ground is soft. This road may be about fifty miles long, and is said to have houses on both sides of it nearly all the way. The accompanying sketch, from D. José Nietos’ map, shows forty-three towns clustered round the lake, but in reality it is only one vast town, and the names are those of districts or parishes, each under the rule of a datto. The Sultan lives at Taraca.The land about the lake is very fertile, and is cultivated by the slaves.The produce is of excellent quality, and the Moros not only supply themselves, but export annually about 1000 tons of rice, and 900 tons of coffee.The River Agus, which drains the lake, is not navigable.Although it has a great body of water, the impetuosity of the current, rushing amongst rocks, forms dangerous rapids.The surface of the lake must be considerably above the sea-level.The approaches to the northern end of the lake on both sides of the river were defended by many cottas, or forts. Most of those were taken and destroyed by the Spanish forces in 1894–96, but they are now probably being rebuilt.Half-way between the lake and the Bay of Iligan stands Fort Weyler, which had a strong garrison of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers, and was impregnable to any Moro attack. To the south of the lake, on the shores of Illana Bay, stand Forts Corcuera and Baras, whilst to the westward, between Illana Bay and Panguil Bay, lie four forts across the narrow isthmus called Alfonso XIII., Infanta Isabel, Santas Paz, and Eulalia and Maria Cristina.These, with the trocha, or military road of Tucúran, cut off the Illano Moros from communication with their brethren of Sibuguey, or with their former victims, the Subanos.Further to the northward, Fort Almonte kept watch over the quondam pirates of the Liangan River.These forts and posts were garrisoned by nearly 3000 regular troops, all natives, except the artillery (seeList of Posts in Mindanao, p. 386), and in addition a field force of several thousand men, also of the regular army, was encamped at Ulama, Pantar, and other places to the north of the lake, and three small steam-vessels had been transported overland in sections, and launched upon the lake.Thus everything was ready for the final blow, for the Moros were completely hemmed in by Spanish garrisons or Jesuitreducciones; but the breaking out of the Tagal insurrection, in 1896, obliged General Blanco to withdraw, not only the field army, but to reduce the garrisons in order to hold Manila and Cavite until the Peninsular troops could arrive.Later on, the war between the United States and Spain, and the immediate destruction of the Spanish naval forces by the American squadron, caused the Spanish authorities to sink the flotilla in the lake, to abandon all the posts onthe north coast of Mindanao, the trocha of Tucúran, and all the forts on the Rio Grande, and to concentrate their whole force at Zamboanga, leaving the recently-converted heathen and the missionaries to defend themselves against the Moros as best they could.The missionaries of the district of Cotta-bato have taken refuge in Zamboanga, fearing to fall into the hands of the Moros, who would exact a heavy ransom for their delivery. As for the hundreds of liberated slave children, both girls and boys, who were gathered together under the protection of the missionaries at the asylum of Tamontaca, they are doubtless once more in the hands of the cruel Moros of Lake Lanao; some, perhaps, have been sold by these wretches to the heathen tribes for twenty or thirty dollars each, to be offered up as sacrifices to Tag-busan, the god of war of the Manobos, or to Dewata, the sanguinary house-god of the Guiangas.The missionaries of the north of Mindanao were recalled by the Father Superior to Manila; but in some of the towns the native converts and Visayas have detained them by force, and keep a watch on them to prevent their escape. They treat them well, and allow them to exercise their ministry.As there are no Moros in that part of the island, the missionaries are not in danger, for they are much beloved by their converts, whose only desire is to keep them amongst them.The district of Davao has been, like other localities, the scene of murder and pillage since the withdrawal of the Spanish authorities. At midnight of February 6th, the bad characters and outlaws of the chief town, under the leadership of Domingo Fernandez, a native of Zamboanga, and formerly interpreter and writer in the office of the Governor of Davao, rose in arms, and attacked the house of Don Bonifacio Quidato, sub-lieutenant of the local militia. They cut his throat, and bayoneted his wife as she lay in her bed. They then attacked all the well-to-do people of the place, committing many barbarous acts, and plundering their houses.Most of the Spanish residents escaped from the town in a lorcha, and, after a terrible voyage of sixteen days, suffering from hunger, and undergoing many severe privations, arrived in Zamboanga more dead than alive. The veteran missionary, Father Urios, and three otherSpaniards, could not escape, and remained in the power of the bandits.This is only one instance of what is going on all over the island. In the words of one who knows the country well, Mindanao has become a seething hell, and is in a condition more dreadful than ever before in historic times.But amongst these various tribes, Christian or heathen, there is said to be one subject, and one only, upon which they all agree. They have combined to resist by force the American invasion. If it is attempted to conquer them by force of arms, it will be a difficult, a tedious, and a costly operation—a campaign far more sickly than that now proceeding in the arable lands around Manila, where the ground is hard, the country very level, and where field-guns can be taken anywhere during the dry season. It is my belief that, if skilfully handled, half the island—the eastern half—could be pacified without war, although, no doubt, gangs of bandits would have to be destroyed; but this could be done by the Visayas and the converts, organised as a militia, and paid whilst on active service.But this pacification requires the assistance of the missionaries. They are not likely to give that assistance unless terms are made with them, and one of those terms will surely be that they shall be allowed to continue their beneficent work unhindered and unvexed.So the United States Government is confronted with a dilemma. Either they must shoot down the new Christians, to introduce and enforce freedom of worship which the converts do not want, and cannot understand, or they must negotiate with the Jesuits for them to use their influence to pacify the island, and thus subject themselves to the abuse and the outcry such a proceeding will bring upon them from the divines and missionaries of Protestant sects, and from their political opponents.As for the western half of the island, a part may be pacified with the help of the missionaries, but military operations on a considerable scale will be required there sooner or later against the Moros of Lake Lanao.This would be a holy war, a war of humanity, and I would say to the Americans: Look back on the deeds of your forefathers, on the days when your infant navy covered itself with imperishable glory, when it curbed the insolence of the Bashaw of Tripoli, the Bey of Tunis, and the Dey of Algiers, teaching all Europe how to deal with Mediterraneanpirates. Inspire yourselves with the Spirit of Decatur and his hero-comrades whose gallant deeds at Tripoli earned Nelson’s praise as being “the most bold and daring act of the age,” and do not hesitate to break up this last community of ex-pirates and murderous slave-hunters.The Moros of Lake Lanao could be simultaneously attacked from north and south. In 1894, the Spaniards attacked by the north, and transported all their artillery and stores and their small steamers built in sections, by paths on the eastern side of the River Agus. Some of the Moros remained neutral in that campaign. Such were the Dattos of Lumbayangin and Guimba. Their cottas were spared. The distance in a straight line from the mouth of the Agus near Iligan to the lake is fifteen miles.The path winds a good deal, and the country is hilly, wooded on the heights, and intersected by streams. There is a path on the west bank of the Agus, the country there is more open, and a large part of it is under cultivation. A good outfit of mountain-guns would be required on this northern expedition.The other attack could be made from the south, the forces landing at Fort Baras, or at Lalabuan. From either of these places there is what in the Philippines is called a road to Ganasi at the southern end of the lake. The distance in a straight line is about twenty miles. The two roads join at about half way, just before coming to the cotta of Kurandangan in the Sultanate of Puálas.This road is reported to have no steep gradients, no boggy parts, and no unfordable streams. The country is fairly open, as there is no thick forest, but only scrub andcogon, or elephant grass. From a description given by a Tagal who traversed this road, it appears to be practicable for field artillery. The combined attack, north and south, could be supported by an advance from the eastward of irregular forces of the Montéses from thereduccionesof the Tagoloan, Sawaga and Malupati Rivers, if they were supplied with arms and ammunition for this purpose.It seems to me that we have here the usual three courses; the fourth, to do nothing, and allow Moro and Christian to fight it out, would be unworthy of the United States, or of any civilized government.1. Put a stop to slave-hunting and murdering by a military expedition against the Moro Dattos.2. Maintain garrisons to keep the peace and protect themissionaries and their converts and trust to their efforts to gradually convert the Moros.3. Arm all the Christian towns round about the Moros and organise the men as local militia, so that they can protect themselves against Moro aggression.All these courses are expensive, the second less expensive than the first, the third less expensive than the second.However, if either the second or third course is adopted, it is very probable that before long the first course would become imperative, for the Moros are faithless and treacherous in the extreme, and no treaty unsupported by bayonets has the least chance of being respected.To adopt the second or third course, then, only amounts to putting off the evil day.The missionaries can be of the greatest service in pacifiying the Moros whenever the power of the dattos is broken and when slavery can be put an end to. The object of the expedition I have spoken of should not be to exterminate the Moros, but merely to break the power of the dattos and pandits, and to free their followers and slaves from their yoke.It is generally taken for granted that a Moro cannot be converted, but this is not the case in Mindanao. Father Jaoquin Sancho, S.J., informs me that when the political power of the dattos has been destroyed, their followers have been found ready to listen to the teachings of the missionaries and beginning by sending their children to school, then perhaps sanctioning the marriage of their daughters with Christians, they have finally cast in their lot with the Roman Catholic Church, not in scores, nor hundreds, but by thousands. He says that his colleagues baptized in one year after 1892, in the district of Davao alone, more than three thousand Mahometan Moros. He adds that their religious receptivity is much greater than that of the heathen tribes, that once baptized they remain fervent Christians, whilst the Mandayas, Manobos, Montéses and other heathen are only too apt, with or without reason, to slip away to the forests and mountains and resume their nomadic life, their heathen orgies, and human sacrifices.I have already spoken of the success of the missionaries on the Rio Grande and of their industrial and agricultural orphanage at Tamontacca, where they were bringing up hundreds of children of both sexes, mostlyliberated slaves of the Moros, to be useful members of society. This noble institution occupied the very spot where the former Moro Sultan of Tamontacca held his court.Two or three more institutions like this, established at points a few miles distant from Lake Lanao, andprotected from aggressionon the part of the Moro, would gradually undermine the power of the Dattos by affording an asylum to all fugitive slaves attempting to escape from cruelties of their masters.For years past the Spaniards have protected all slaves who have fled to them from their masters. The Datto Utto applied to General Weyler to restore to him forty-eight slaves who had taken refuge at a Spanish fort on the Rio Grande, but Weyler refused, reminding the datto that he had signed an engagement to keep no slaves, but only free labourers, who had the right to fix their residence where they pleased.I assume that no slaves who seek the shelter of the Stars and Stripes will ever be sent back again into bondage.As a guide to the strength of the expedition which will sooner or later have to be sent against the Moros of Lake Lanao, I may say that the total war strength of the Moros of Mindanao was estimated in 1894 at 19,000 fighting-men, 35 guns, 1896 Lantacas and 2167 muskets or rifles. (Seelist, p. 387).They have probably since then obtained a large supply of rifles and ammunition. This traffic in arms should be at once stopped.Swords and spears they have in abundance.But of these 19,000 men many have submitted to the Spanish rule, or have become allies of the Spaniards, like the Datto Ayunan, the Datto Abdul, the Sultan of Bolinson and many others.Probably 10,000 men would be the very utmost that the Moros of Lake Lanao could bring on the field, and only a part of these would have fire-arms, which they could have little skill in handling.They would on no account give battle in the open, but would fight in the bush, and desperately defend their cottas. They would not concentrate their forces, for want of transport for their food supply; besides, the nature of the country would prevent this.They could not stop a flotilla from being launched on the lake and from capturing the islands as a base of operations.The flotilla would be operating on inside lines of communication. It could threaten one side of the lake, and in less than two hours be landing troops on the opposite side.In fact, with a moderate force, their subjugation would not be so difficult as has often been supposed.It should be made clear to the Sácopes and to the slaves that the war is waged against the Sultans and Dattos, that the people would have their lives and property and the free exercise of their religion guaranteed to them, and that the adults should be exempt from taxation and conscription for the rest of their lives or for a term of years. Then the resistance would soon slacken, and the sultans and dattos might be captured. Those who would not conform to the new condition of things might be allowed to emigrate to Borneo or elsewhere, but their subjects and slaves should by no means be allowed to go with them, for they will soon become useful agriculturists and good Christians, and Mindanao cannot spare them.The question of slavery, more especially of slave-concubines, will require delicate handling, but by adopting a conciliatory but firm policy, this curse may gradually be got rid of without causing disturbance or bloodshed. Cranks and faddists should not be allowed to handle this question, but it should be placed in the hands of some one well versed in human nature, and a true friend of freedom.The wise policy of the British authorities in Zanzibar and Pemba is well worthy of imitation.As happens in Africa, the greatest impediment to the conversion of the heathen polygamist is the obligation to renounce all his wives but one. This is a sore trial, more especially when they have paid a good price for them, or if they are good cooks.Father Urios having persuaded a Manobo, who wished to be baptized, to do this, the man said to him: “Of my two wives I have decided to keep the elder, but I make a great sacrifice in separating from the other, for I had so much trouble to obtain her. Her father would only give her to me in exchange for fifteen slaves. As I did not possess them, I was obliged to take the field against the timid tribes in an unknown country, and to capture thesefifteen slaves. I was obliged to fight often, and to kill more than thirty men.”The illustration represents a scene from the labours of Father Gisbert amongst the Bagobos. He is exhorting a blood-stained old datto and his wives and followers to abandon their human sacrifices, exhibiting to them the image of the crucified Redeemer, whose followers he urges them to become.As regards the maintenance of the missions, I do not for one moment doubt that the liberality of the Roman Catholics of the United States is quite equal to the needs of the pioneers of civilisation, who have laboured with such remarkable success.Altogether the Jesuits administered the spiritual, and some of the temporal affairs of 200,000 Christians in Mindanao.They educated the young, taught them handicrafts, attended to the sick, consoled the afflicted, reconciled those at variance, explored the country, encouraged agriculture, built churches, laid out roads, and assisted the Administration. Finally, when bands of slave-hunting, murdering Moros swept down like wolves on their flocks, they placed themselves at the head of their ill-armed parishioners and led them into battle against a ferocious enemy who gives no quarter, with the calmness of men who, long before, had devoted their lives to the Master’s cause, to whom nothing in this world is of any consequence except the advancement of the Faith and the performance of duty.They received very meagre monetary assistance from the Spanish Government, and had to depend greatly upon the pious offerings of the devout in Barcelona and in Madrid. It is to be feared that these subscriptions will now fall off as Spain has lost the islands; if so, it is all the more incumbent upon the Roman Catholics of America to find the means of continuing the good work.I feel sure that this will be so—Christian charity will not fail, and the missions will be maintained.For their devotion and zeal, I beg to offer the Jesuit missionaries my profound respect and my earnest wishes for their welfare under the Stars and Stripes.To my mind, they realise very closely the ideal of what a Christian missionary should be. Although a Protestant born and bred, I see in that no reason to close my eyes to their obvious merit, nor to seek to be-little the great goodthey have done in Mindanao. Far from doing so, I wish to state my conviction that the easiest, the best, and the most humane way of pacifying Mindanao is by utilising the powerful influence of the Jesuit missionaries with their flocks, and this before it is too late, before the populations have had time to completely forget the Christian teaching, and to entirely relapse into barbarism.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.[To face p.387.List of Posts in Mindanao Garrisoned by Detachments of the Native Army with Spanish Officers in 1894.Field Officers.Officers.Men.1st District.San Ramon..112Infantry.Santa Maria..134Infantry.Margos-sa-tubig..260Infantry.2nd District.Fort Weyler, Mumungan17321Infantry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..118Artillery.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..2112Engineers.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..130Cavalry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..3158Disciplinary Battn.Iligan..130Tercio Civil.Almonte..258Infantry.Almonte....8Artillery.Almonte..120Disciplinary Battn.Tangok, Alfonso XIII...120Infantry.Balatacan, Infanta Isabel..120Infantry.Trocha de Tucuran, Sta. Pax and Sta. Eulalia Maria Cristina..3150Infantry.Dapitan.Sundangan..132Infantry.Parang-parang13500Infantry.Parang-parang..112Artillery.Parang-parang..260Disciplinary Battn.Parang-parang..360Engineers.Matabang..3200Infantry.Matabang....10Artillery.Baras..3200Infantry.Baras....10Artillery.Sarangani.Glan..245Infantry.Makra..132Infantry.Balut..120Infantry.Tumanao..1 Sergt.15Infantry.5th District.Cottabato..3100Infantry.Cottabato..112Artillery.Libungan..1 Sergt.12Infantry.Tamontaca..120Infantry.Taviran..122Infantry.Tumbao..160Infantry.Kudaranga..120Infantry.Reina Regente..3100Infantry.Pikit..160Infantry.6Artillery.Pinto....60Infantry.6Artillery.Coast.Pollok..1 Sergt.11Infantry.Panay..111Infantry.Lebak..111Infantry.2652758This number is exclusive of the garrisons of Zamoanga and Davao.Basilan2 officers, 50 men.Estimate of the Moro Forces in Mindanao in the Year 1894.District.Fighting-men.Guns.Lantacas.Rifles.Tucaran1,000254162Parang-parang2,500229117Malabang3,5001342265Baras2,00041923Lake Lanao andsurrounding district10,000261,4521,60019,000351,8962,167The fighting-men of the River Pulangui, and the Rio Grande comprised within the 5th District are not included in this list, as many of them have submitted to the Spaniards, and there appears little to fear from them. Only those who are quite independent and war-like, and who may be considered dangerous have been set down.Population of Mindanao in 1894.As given by José Nieto Aguilar.Districts.Area in Hectares.PopulationTotal.Christians.Moros.Heathen.1Zamboanga2,984,69617,0008,00090,000115,0002Misamis (Dapitan and Camiguin Is.)1,098,000116,000100,00020,000236,0003Surigao1,070,19068,0008,00012,00088,000Bislig441,29121,076..10,00031,0764Davao1,044,3331,500..17,30018,800Cotta-bato2,829,3794,00080,0005120,0005204,000227,576196,000269,300692,8761The territory of Sibuguey is almost unexplored.2The principal industry of Christians or Moros, is washing the sands and alluvial soils for gold, which is found in abundance. Agriculture is progressing.3The principal industry is washing the sands and mining for gold.4From Jesuit records the Christian population of Davao was 12,000 in 1896. This number included over 3000 converted Moros. There were also some 2,000 Moros residing there. The Jesuits residing on the spot must know best.5Nieto gives the total as 200,000. I have divided them as above.
Chapter XL.The Political Condition of Mindanao, 1899.Relapse into savagery—Moros the great danger—Visayas the mainstay—Confederation of Lake Lanao—Recall of the Missionaries—Murder and pillage in Davao—Eastern Mindanao—Western Mindanao—The three courses—Orphanage of Tamontaca—Fugitive slaves—Polygamy an impediment to conversion—Labours of the Jesuits—American Roman Catholics should send them help.The present condition of the island is most lamentable. Nothing could be more dreadful; robbery, outrage and murder are rampant. Every evil passion is let loose, and the labour of years has been lost. Mindanao, which promised so well, has relapsed into savagery, as the direct consequence of the Spanish-American war, and the cession of the Archipelago to the United States.It should be understood that Spain, far from drawing any profit from Mindanao, has, on the contrary, expended annually considerable sums, derived from the revenues of Luzon and Visayas, in maintaining a squadron of gunboats to police the seas, and keep down piracy, in building and garrisoning forts to suppress the slave-trade, and in assisting the missionaries to attract the heathen, by providing them with seeds, implements of husbandry, and with clothing, also in giving them fire-arms and ammunition to protect themselves from the Moros.Annuities were paid to friendly Moro dattos as rewards for services rendered, or as compensation for the cession of some of their rights.The Moros have always been the great danger to the peace of the island, as the Visayas have always been the mainstay of Spanish authority.Had it not been for the war with America, the Moros would have been, by this time, completely subdued.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.[To face p.377.Even as it was, half the island was practically free fromdanger from them. If you draw a line on the map from Cagayan de Misamis to the head of the Bay of Sarangani, it will roughly divide the island into halves. The Moros who lived to the eastward of this line were pacific, and some thousands of them had been baptized, and had given up polygamy and slave-trading.Had they risen in arms—which was not at all likely—they could have been put down by the Visayas militia under the local authorities.To the west of this line, until quite lately, the Spanish garrisons dotted along the banks of the Rio Grande from Polloc and Cotta-bato to Piquit and Pinto, dominated the Moro dattos of that region, and nearly joined hands with the forts and garrisons on the rivers running into the Bay of Macajalar.The only remaining seat of the Moro power was the country around Lake Lanao, where the dattos had formed the Illana confederation to resist the advances of the Christians.This lake has never been surveyed, and no two maps agree on its size, shape or position. It is, however, known to be very different from the other large lakes in Mindanao, which are shallow, whilst this, on the contrary, is deep; in some places, three or four fathoms will be found close in shore. At Lúgud and Tugana the banks are steep.There are five or six islands in it; the largest is called Nuza. It is high and flat-topped, situated near the middle of the lake, and on it are five hundred houses.The length of the lake may be about 14 miles, and its greatest breadth about the same.There is a road all round it, reported to be in good condition for vehicles, except at Taraca, where the ground is soft. This road may be about fifty miles long, and is said to have houses on both sides of it nearly all the way. The accompanying sketch, from D. José Nietos’ map, shows forty-three towns clustered round the lake, but in reality it is only one vast town, and the names are those of districts or parishes, each under the rule of a datto. The Sultan lives at Taraca.The land about the lake is very fertile, and is cultivated by the slaves.The produce is of excellent quality, and the Moros not only supply themselves, but export annually about 1000 tons of rice, and 900 tons of coffee.The River Agus, which drains the lake, is not navigable.Although it has a great body of water, the impetuosity of the current, rushing amongst rocks, forms dangerous rapids.The surface of the lake must be considerably above the sea-level.The approaches to the northern end of the lake on both sides of the river were defended by many cottas, or forts. Most of those were taken and destroyed by the Spanish forces in 1894–96, but they are now probably being rebuilt.Half-way between the lake and the Bay of Iligan stands Fort Weyler, which had a strong garrison of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers, and was impregnable to any Moro attack. To the south of the lake, on the shores of Illana Bay, stand Forts Corcuera and Baras, whilst to the westward, between Illana Bay and Panguil Bay, lie four forts across the narrow isthmus called Alfonso XIII., Infanta Isabel, Santas Paz, and Eulalia and Maria Cristina.These, with the trocha, or military road of Tucúran, cut off the Illano Moros from communication with their brethren of Sibuguey, or with their former victims, the Subanos.Further to the northward, Fort Almonte kept watch over the quondam pirates of the Liangan River.These forts and posts were garrisoned by nearly 3000 regular troops, all natives, except the artillery (seeList of Posts in Mindanao, p. 386), and in addition a field force of several thousand men, also of the regular army, was encamped at Ulama, Pantar, and other places to the north of the lake, and three small steam-vessels had been transported overland in sections, and launched upon the lake.Thus everything was ready for the final blow, for the Moros were completely hemmed in by Spanish garrisons or Jesuitreducciones; but the breaking out of the Tagal insurrection, in 1896, obliged General Blanco to withdraw, not only the field army, but to reduce the garrisons in order to hold Manila and Cavite until the Peninsular troops could arrive.Later on, the war between the United States and Spain, and the immediate destruction of the Spanish naval forces by the American squadron, caused the Spanish authorities to sink the flotilla in the lake, to abandon all the posts onthe north coast of Mindanao, the trocha of Tucúran, and all the forts on the Rio Grande, and to concentrate their whole force at Zamboanga, leaving the recently-converted heathen and the missionaries to defend themselves against the Moros as best they could.The missionaries of the district of Cotta-bato have taken refuge in Zamboanga, fearing to fall into the hands of the Moros, who would exact a heavy ransom for their delivery. As for the hundreds of liberated slave children, both girls and boys, who were gathered together under the protection of the missionaries at the asylum of Tamontaca, they are doubtless once more in the hands of the cruel Moros of Lake Lanao; some, perhaps, have been sold by these wretches to the heathen tribes for twenty or thirty dollars each, to be offered up as sacrifices to Tag-busan, the god of war of the Manobos, or to Dewata, the sanguinary house-god of the Guiangas.The missionaries of the north of Mindanao were recalled by the Father Superior to Manila; but in some of the towns the native converts and Visayas have detained them by force, and keep a watch on them to prevent their escape. They treat them well, and allow them to exercise their ministry.As there are no Moros in that part of the island, the missionaries are not in danger, for they are much beloved by their converts, whose only desire is to keep them amongst them.The district of Davao has been, like other localities, the scene of murder and pillage since the withdrawal of the Spanish authorities. At midnight of February 6th, the bad characters and outlaws of the chief town, under the leadership of Domingo Fernandez, a native of Zamboanga, and formerly interpreter and writer in the office of the Governor of Davao, rose in arms, and attacked the house of Don Bonifacio Quidato, sub-lieutenant of the local militia. They cut his throat, and bayoneted his wife as she lay in her bed. They then attacked all the well-to-do people of the place, committing many barbarous acts, and plundering their houses.Most of the Spanish residents escaped from the town in a lorcha, and, after a terrible voyage of sixteen days, suffering from hunger, and undergoing many severe privations, arrived in Zamboanga more dead than alive. The veteran missionary, Father Urios, and three otherSpaniards, could not escape, and remained in the power of the bandits.This is only one instance of what is going on all over the island. In the words of one who knows the country well, Mindanao has become a seething hell, and is in a condition more dreadful than ever before in historic times.But amongst these various tribes, Christian or heathen, there is said to be one subject, and one only, upon which they all agree. They have combined to resist by force the American invasion. If it is attempted to conquer them by force of arms, it will be a difficult, a tedious, and a costly operation—a campaign far more sickly than that now proceeding in the arable lands around Manila, where the ground is hard, the country very level, and where field-guns can be taken anywhere during the dry season. It is my belief that, if skilfully handled, half the island—the eastern half—could be pacified without war, although, no doubt, gangs of bandits would have to be destroyed; but this could be done by the Visayas and the converts, organised as a militia, and paid whilst on active service.But this pacification requires the assistance of the missionaries. They are not likely to give that assistance unless terms are made with them, and one of those terms will surely be that they shall be allowed to continue their beneficent work unhindered and unvexed.So the United States Government is confronted with a dilemma. Either they must shoot down the new Christians, to introduce and enforce freedom of worship which the converts do not want, and cannot understand, or they must negotiate with the Jesuits for them to use their influence to pacify the island, and thus subject themselves to the abuse and the outcry such a proceeding will bring upon them from the divines and missionaries of Protestant sects, and from their political opponents.As for the western half of the island, a part may be pacified with the help of the missionaries, but military operations on a considerable scale will be required there sooner or later against the Moros of Lake Lanao.This would be a holy war, a war of humanity, and I would say to the Americans: Look back on the deeds of your forefathers, on the days when your infant navy covered itself with imperishable glory, when it curbed the insolence of the Bashaw of Tripoli, the Bey of Tunis, and the Dey of Algiers, teaching all Europe how to deal with Mediterraneanpirates. Inspire yourselves with the Spirit of Decatur and his hero-comrades whose gallant deeds at Tripoli earned Nelson’s praise as being “the most bold and daring act of the age,” and do not hesitate to break up this last community of ex-pirates and murderous slave-hunters.The Moros of Lake Lanao could be simultaneously attacked from north and south. In 1894, the Spaniards attacked by the north, and transported all their artillery and stores and their small steamers built in sections, by paths on the eastern side of the River Agus. Some of the Moros remained neutral in that campaign. Such were the Dattos of Lumbayangin and Guimba. Their cottas were spared. The distance in a straight line from the mouth of the Agus near Iligan to the lake is fifteen miles.The path winds a good deal, and the country is hilly, wooded on the heights, and intersected by streams. There is a path on the west bank of the Agus, the country there is more open, and a large part of it is under cultivation. A good outfit of mountain-guns would be required on this northern expedition.The other attack could be made from the south, the forces landing at Fort Baras, or at Lalabuan. From either of these places there is what in the Philippines is called a road to Ganasi at the southern end of the lake. The distance in a straight line is about twenty miles. The two roads join at about half way, just before coming to the cotta of Kurandangan in the Sultanate of Puálas.This road is reported to have no steep gradients, no boggy parts, and no unfordable streams. The country is fairly open, as there is no thick forest, but only scrub andcogon, or elephant grass. From a description given by a Tagal who traversed this road, it appears to be practicable for field artillery. The combined attack, north and south, could be supported by an advance from the eastward of irregular forces of the Montéses from thereduccionesof the Tagoloan, Sawaga and Malupati Rivers, if they were supplied with arms and ammunition for this purpose.It seems to me that we have here the usual three courses; the fourth, to do nothing, and allow Moro and Christian to fight it out, would be unworthy of the United States, or of any civilized government.1. Put a stop to slave-hunting and murdering by a military expedition against the Moro Dattos.2. Maintain garrisons to keep the peace and protect themissionaries and their converts and trust to their efforts to gradually convert the Moros.3. Arm all the Christian towns round about the Moros and organise the men as local militia, so that they can protect themselves against Moro aggression.All these courses are expensive, the second less expensive than the first, the third less expensive than the second.However, if either the second or third course is adopted, it is very probable that before long the first course would become imperative, for the Moros are faithless and treacherous in the extreme, and no treaty unsupported by bayonets has the least chance of being respected.To adopt the second or third course, then, only amounts to putting off the evil day.The missionaries can be of the greatest service in pacifiying the Moros whenever the power of the dattos is broken and when slavery can be put an end to. The object of the expedition I have spoken of should not be to exterminate the Moros, but merely to break the power of the dattos and pandits, and to free their followers and slaves from their yoke.It is generally taken for granted that a Moro cannot be converted, but this is not the case in Mindanao. Father Jaoquin Sancho, S.J., informs me that when the political power of the dattos has been destroyed, their followers have been found ready to listen to the teachings of the missionaries and beginning by sending their children to school, then perhaps sanctioning the marriage of their daughters with Christians, they have finally cast in their lot with the Roman Catholic Church, not in scores, nor hundreds, but by thousands. He says that his colleagues baptized in one year after 1892, in the district of Davao alone, more than three thousand Mahometan Moros. He adds that their religious receptivity is much greater than that of the heathen tribes, that once baptized they remain fervent Christians, whilst the Mandayas, Manobos, Montéses and other heathen are only too apt, with or without reason, to slip away to the forests and mountains and resume their nomadic life, their heathen orgies, and human sacrifices.I have already spoken of the success of the missionaries on the Rio Grande and of their industrial and agricultural orphanage at Tamontacca, where they were bringing up hundreds of children of both sexes, mostlyliberated slaves of the Moros, to be useful members of society. This noble institution occupied the very spot where the former Moro Sultan of Tamontacca held his court.Two or three more institutions like this, established at points a few miles distant from Lake Lanao, andprotected from aggressionon the part of the Moro, would gradually undermine the power of the Dattos by affording an asylum to all fugitive slaves attempting to escape from cruelties of their masters.For years past the Spaniards have protected all slaves who have fled to them from their masters. The Datto Utto applied to General Weyler to restore to him forty-eight slaves who had taken refuge at a Spanish fort on the Rio Grande, but Weyler refused, reminding the datto that he had signed an engagement to keep no slaves, but only free labourers, who had the right to fix their residence where they pleased.I assume that no slaves who seek the shelter of the Stars and Stripes will ever be sent back again into bondage.As a guide to the strength of the expedition which will sooner or later have to be sent against the Moros of Lake Lanao, I may say that the total war strength of the Moros of Mindanao was estimated in 1894 at 19,000 fighting-men, 35 guns, 1896 Lantacas and 2167 muskets or rifles. (Seelist, p. 387).They have probably since then obtained a large supply of rifles and ammunition. This traffic in arms should be at once stopped.Swords and spears they have in abundance.But of these 19,000 men many have submitted to the Spanish rule, or have become allies of the Spaniards, like the Datto Ayunan, the Datto Abdul, the Sultan of Bolinson and many others.Probably 10,000 men would be the very utmost that the Moros of Lake Lanao could bring on the field, and only a part of these would have fire-arms, which they could have little skill in handling.They would on no account give battle in the open, but would fight in the bush, and desperately defend their cottas. They would not concentrate their forces, for want of transport for their food supply; besides, the nature of the country would prevent this.They could not stop a flotilla from being launched on the lake and from capturing the islands as a base of operations.The flotilla would be operating on inside lines of communication. It could threaten one side of the lake, and in less than two hours be landing troops on the opposite side.In fact, with a moderate force, their subjugation would not be so difficult as has often been supposed.It should be made clear to the Sácopes and to the slaves that the war is waged against the Sultans and Dattos, that the people would have their lives and property and the free exercise of their religion guaranteed to them, and that the adults should be exempt from taxation and conscription for the rest of their lives or for a term of years. Then the resistance would soon slacken, and the sultans and dattos might be captured. Those who would not conform to the new condition of things might be allowed to emigrate to Borneo or elsewhere, but their subjects and slaves should by no means be allowed to go with them, for they will soon become useful agriculturists and good Christians, and Mindanao cannot spare them.The question of slavery, more especially of slave-concubines, will require delicate handling, but by adopting a conciliatory but firm policy, this curse may gradually be got rid of without causing disturbance or bloodshed. Cranks and faddists should not be allowed to handle this question, but it should be placed in the hands of some one well versed in human nature, and a true friend of freedom.The wise policy of the British authorities in Zanzibar and Pemba is well worthy of imitation.As happens in Africa, the greatest impediment to the conversion of the heathen polygamist is the obligation to renounce all his wives but one. This is a sore trial, more especially when they have paid a good price for them, or if they are good cooks.Father Urios having persuaded a Manobo, who wished to be baptized, to do this, the man said to him: “Of my two wives I have decided to keep the elder, but I make a great sacrifice in separating from the other, for I had so much trouble to obtain her. Her father would only give her to me in exchange for fifteen slaves. As I did not possess them, I was obliged to take the field against the timid tribes in an unknown country, and to capture thesefifteen slaves. I was obliged to fight often, and to kill more than thirty men.”The illustration represents a scene from the labours of Father Gisbert amongst the Bagobos. He is exhorting a blood-stained old datto and his wives and followers to abandon their human sacrifices, exhibiting to them the image of the crucified Redeemer, whose followers he urges them to become.As regards the maintenance of the missions, I do not for one moment doubt that the liberality of the Roman Catholics of the United States is quite equal to the needs of the pioneers of civilisation, who have laboured with such remarkable success.Altogether the Jesuits administered the spiritual, and some of the temporal affairs of 200,000 Christians in Mindanao.They educated the young, taught them handicrafts, attended to the sick, consoled the afflicted, reconciled those at variance, explored the country, encouraged agriculture, built churches, laid out roads, and assisted the Administration. Finally, when bands of slave-hunting, murdering Moros swept down like wolves on their flocks, they placed themselves at the head of their ill-armed parishioners and led them into battle against a ferocious enemy who gives no quarter, with the calmness of men who, long before, had devoted their lives to the Master’s cause, to whom nothing in this world is of any consequence except the advancement of the Faith and the performance of duty.They received very meagre monetary assistance from the Spanish Government, and had to depend greatly upon the pious offerings of the devout in Barcelona and in Madrid. It is to be feared that these subscriptions will now fall off as Spain has lost the islands; if so, it is all the more incumbent upon the Roman Catholics of America to find the means of continuing the good work.I feel sure that this will be so—Christian charity will not fail, and the missions will be maintained.For their devotion and zeal, I beg to offer the Jesuit missionaries my profound respect and my earnest wishes for their welfare under the Stars and Stripes.To my mind, they realise very closely the ideal of what a Christian missionary should be. Although a Protestant born and bred, I see in that no reason to close my eyes to their obvious merit, nor to seek to be-little the great goodthey have done in Mindanao. Far from doing so, I wish to state my conviction that the easiest, the best, and the most humane way of pacifying Mindanao is by utilising the powerful influence of the Jesuit missionaries with their flocks, and this before it is too late, before the populations have had time to completely forget the Christian teaching, and to entirely relapse into barbarism.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.[To face p.387.List of Posts in Mindanao Garrisoned by Detachments of the Native Army with Spanish Officers in 1894.Field Officers.Officers.Men.1st District.San Ramon..112Infantry.Santa Maria..134Infantry.Margos-sa-tubig..260Infantry.2nd District.Fort Weyler, Mumungan17321Infantry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..118Artillery.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..2112Engineers.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..130Cavalry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..3158Disciplinary Battn.Iligan..130Tercio Civil.Almonte..258Infantry.Almonte....8Artillery.Almonte..120Disciplinary Battn.Tangok, Alfonso XIII...120Infantry.Balatacan, Infanta Isabel..120Infantry.Trocha de Tucuran, Sta. Pax and Sta. Eulalia Maria Cristina..3150Infantry.Dapitan.Sundangan..132Infantry.Parang-parang13500Infantry.Parang-parang..112Artillery.Parang-parang..260Disciplinary Battn.Parang-parang..360Engineers.Matabang..3200Infantry.Matabang....10Artillery.Baras..3200Infantry.Baras....10Artillery.Sarangani.Glan..245Infantry.Makra..132Infantry.Balut..120Infantry.Tumanao..1 Sergt.15Infantry.5th District.Cottabato..3100Infantry.Cottabato..112Artillery.Libungan..1 Sergt.12Infantry.Tamontaca..120Infantry.Taviran..122Infantry.Tumbao..160Infantry.Kudaranga..120Infantry.Reina Regente..3100Infantry.Pikit..160Infantry.6Artillery.Pinto....60Infantry.6Artillery.Coast.Pollok..1 Sergt.11Infantry.Panay..111Infantry.Lebak..111Infantry.2652758This number is exclusive of the garrisons of Zamoanga and Davao.Basilan2 officers, 50 men.Estimate of the Moro Forces in Mindanao in the Year 1894.District.Fighting-men.Guns.Lantacas.Rifles.Tucaran1,000254162Parang-parang2,500229117Malabang3,5001342265Baras2,00041923Lake Lanao andsurrounding district10,000261,4521,60019,000351,8962,167The fighting-men of the River Pulangui, and the Rio Grande comprised within the 5th District are not included in this list, as many of them have submitted to the Spaniards, and there appears little to fear from them. Only those who are quite independent and war-like, and who may be considered dangerous have been set down.Population of Mindanao in 1894.As given by José Nieto Aguilar.Districts.Area in Hectares.PopulationTotal.Christians.Moros.Heathen.1Zamboanga2,984,69617,0008,00090,000115,0002Misamis (Dapitan and Camiguin Is.)1,098,000116,000100,00020,000236,0003Surigao1,070,19068,0008,00012,00088,000Bislig441,29121,076..10,00031,0764Davao1,044,3331,500..17,30018,800Cotta-bato2,829,3794,00080,0005120,0005204,000227,576196,000269,300692,8761The territory of Sibuguey is almost unexplored.2The principal industry of Christians or Moros, is washing the sands and alluvial soils for gold, which is found in abundance. Agriculture is progressing.3The principal industry is washing the sands and mining for gold.4From Jesuit records the Christian population of Davao was 12,000 in 1896. This number included over 3000 converted Moros. There were also some 2,000 Moros residing there. The Jesuits residing on the spot must know best.5Nieto gives the total as 200,000. I have divided them as above.
Chapter XL.The Political Condition of Mindanao, 1899.Relapse into savagery—Moros the great danger—Visayas the mainstay—Confederation of Lake Lanao—Recall of the Missionaries—Murder and pillage in Davao—Eastern Mindanao—Western Mindanao—The three courses—Orphanage of Tamontaca—Fugitive slaves—Polygamy an impediment to conversion—Labours of the Jesuits—American Roman Catholics should send them help.
Relapse into savagery—Moros the great danger—Visayas the mainstay—Confederation of Lake Lanao—Recall of the Missionaries—Murder and pillage in Davao—Eastern Mindanao—Western Mindanao—The three courses—Orphanage of Tamontaca—Fugitive slaves—Polygamy an impediment to conversion—Labours of the Jesuits—American Roman Catholics should send them help.
Relapse into savagery—Moros the great danger—Visayas the mainstay—Confederation of Lake Lanao—Recall of the Missionaries—Murder and pillage in Davao—Eastern Mindanao—Western Mindanao—The three courses—Orphanage of Tamontaca—Fugitive slaves—Polygamy an impediment to conversion—Labours of the Jesuits—American Roman Catholics should send them help.
The present condition of the island is most lamentable. Nothing could be more dreadful; robbery, outrage and murder are rampant. Every evil passion is let loose, and the labour of years has been lost. Mindanao, which promised so well, has relapsed into savagery, as the direct consequence of the Spanish-American war, and the cession of the Archipelago to the United States.It should be understood that Spain, far from drawing any profit from Mindanao, has, on the contrary, expended annually considerable sums, derived from the revenues of Luzon and Visayas, in maintaining a squadron of gunboats to police the seas, and keep down piracy, in building and garrisoning forts to suppress the slave-trade, and in assisting the missionaries to attract the heathen, by providing them with seeds, implements of husbandry, and with clothing, also in giving them fire-arms and ammunition to protect themselves from the Moros.Annuities were paid to friendly Moro dattos as rewards for services rendered, or as compensation for the cession of some of their rights.The Moros have always been the great danger to the peace of the island, as the Visayas have always been the mainstay of Spanish authority.Had it not been for the war with America, the Moros would have been, by this time, completely subdued.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.[To face p.377.Even as it was, half the island was practically free fromdanger from them. If you draw a line on the map from Cagayan de Misamis to the head of the Bay of Sarangani, it will roughly divide the island into halves. The Moros who lived to the eastward of this line were pacific, and some thousands of them had been baptized, and had given up polygamy and slave-trading.Had they risen in arms—which was not at all likely—they could have been put down by the Visayas militia under the local authorities.To the west of this line, until quite lately, the Spanish garrisons dotted along the banks of the Rio Grande from Polloc and Cotta-bato to Piquit and Pinto, dominated the Moro dattos of that region, and nearly joined hands with the forts and garrisons on the rivers running into the Bay of Macajalar.The only remaining seat of the Moro power was the country around Lake Lanao, where the dattos had formed the Illana confederation to resist the advances of the Christians.This lake has never been surveyed, and no two maps agree on its size, shape or position. It is, however, known to be very different from the other large lakes in Mindanao, which are shallow, whilst this, on the contrary, is deep; in some places, three or four fathoms will be found close in shore. At Lúgud and Tugana the banks are steep.There are five or six islands in it; the largest is called Nuza. It is high and flat-topped, situated near the middle of the lake, and on it are five hundred houses.The length of the lake may be about 14 miles, and its greatest breadth about the same.There is a road all round it, reported to be in good condition for vehicles, except at Taraca, where the ground is soft. This road may be about fifty miles long, and is said to have houses on both sides of it nearly all the way. The accompanying sketch, from D. José Nietos’ map, shows forty-three towns clustered round the lake, but in reality it is only one vast town, and the names are those of districts or parishes, each under the rule of a datto. The Sultan lives at Taraca.The land about the lake is very fertile, and is cultivated by the slaves.The produce is of excellent quality, and the Moros not only supply themselves, but export annually about 1000 tons of rice, and 900 tons of coffee.The River Agus, which drains the lake, is not navigable.Although it has a great body of water, the impetuosity of the current, rushing amongst rocks, forms dangerous rapids.The surface of the lake must be considerably above the sea-level.The approaches to the northern end of the lake on both sides of the river were defended by many cottas, or forts. Most of those were taken and destroyed by the Spanish forces in 1894–96, but they are now probably being rebuilt.Half-way between the lake and the Bay of Iligan stands Fort Weyler, which had a strong garrison of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers, and was impregnable to any Moro attack. To the south of the lake, on the shores of Illana Bay, stand Forts Corcuera and Baras, whilst to the westward, between Illana Bay and Panguil Bay, lie four forts across the narrow isthmus called Alfonso XIII., Infanta Isabel, Santas Paz, and Eulalia and Maria Cristina.These, with the trocha, or military road of Tucúran, cut off the Illano Moros from communication with their brethren of Sibuguey, or with their former victims, the Subanos.Further to the northward, Fort Almonte kept watch over the quondam pirates of the Liangan River.These forts and posts were garrisoned by nearly 3000 regular troops, all natives, except the artillery (seeList of Posts in Mindanao, p. 386), and in addition a field force of several thousand men, also of the regular army, was encamped at Ulama, Pantar, and other places to the north of the lake, and three small steam-vessels had been transported overland in sections, and launched upon the lake.Thus everything was ready for the final blow, for the Moros were completely hemmed in by Spanish garrisons or Jesuitreducciones; but the breaking out of the Tagal insurrection, in 1896, obliged General Blanco to withdraw, not only the field army, but to reduce the garrisons in order to hold Manila and Cavite until the Peninsular troops could arrive.Later on, the war between the United States and Spain, and the immediate destruction of the Spanish naval forces by the American squadron, caused the Spanish authorities to sink the flotilla in the lake, to abandon all the posts onthe north coast of Mindanao, the trocha of Tucúran, and all the forts on the Rio Grande, and to concentrate their whole force at Zamboanga, leaving the recently-converted heathen and the missionaries to defend themselves against the Moros as best they could.The missionaries of the district of Cotta-bato have taken refuge in Zamboanga, fearing to fall into the hands of the Moros, who would exact a heavy ransom for their delivery. As for the hundreds of liberated slave children, both girls and boys, who were gathered together under the protection of the missionaries at the asylum of Tamontaca, they are doubtless once more in the hands of the cruel Moros of Lake Lanao; some, perhaps, have been sold by these wretches to the heathen tribes for twenty or thirty dollars each, to be offered up as sacrifices to Tag-busan, the god of war of the Manobos, or to Dewata, the sanguinary house-god of the Guiangas.The missionaries of the north of Mindanao were recalled by the Father Superior to Manila; but in some of the towns the native converts and Visayas have detained them by force, and keep a watch on them to prevent their escape. They treat them well, and allow them to exercise their ministry.As there are no Moros in that part of the island, the missionaries are not in danger, for they are much beloved by their converts, whose only desire is to keep them amongst them.The district of Davao has been, like other localities, the scene of murder and pillage since the withdrawal of the Spanish authorities. At midnight of February 6th, the bad characters and outlaws of the chief town, under the leadership of Domingo Fernandez, a native of Zamboanga, and formerly interpreter and writer in the office of the Governor of Davao, rose in arms, and attacked the house of Don Bonifacio Quidato, sub-lieutenant of the local militia. They cut his throat, and bayoneted his wife as she lay in her bed. They then attacked all the well-to-do people of the place, committing many barbarous acts, and plundering their houses.Most of the Spanish residents escaped from the town in a lorcha, and, after a terrible voyage of sixteen days, suffering from hunger, and undergoing many severe privations, arrived in Zamboanga more dead than alive. The veteran missionary, Father Urios, and three otherSpaniards, could not escape, and remained in the power of the bandits.This is only one instance of what is going on all over the island. In the words of one who knows the country well, Mindanao has become a seething hell, and is in a condition more dreadful than ever before in historic times.But amongst these various tribes, Christian or heathen, there is said to be one subject, and one only, upon which they all agree. They have combined to resist by force the American invasion. If it is attempted to conquer them by force of arms, it will be a difficult, a tedious, and a costly operation—a campaign far more sickly than that now proceeding in the arable lands around Manila, where the ground is hard, the country very level, and where field-guns can be taken anywhere during the dry season. It is my belief that, if skilfully handled, half the island—the eastern half—could be pacified without war, although, no doubt, gangs of bandits would have to be destroyed; but this could be done by the Visayas and the converts, organised as a militia, and paid whilst on active service.But this pacification requires the assistance of the missionaries. They are not likely to give that assistance unless terms are made with them, and one of those terms will surely be that they shall be allowed to continue their beneficent work unhindered and unvexed.So the United States Government is confronted with a dilemma. Either they must shoot down the new Christians, to introduce and enforce freedom of worship which the converts do not want, and cannot understand, or they must negotiate with the Jesuits for them to use their influence to pacify the island, and thus subject themselves to the abuse and the outcry such a proceeding will bring upon them from the divines and missionaries of Protestant sects, and from their political opponents.As for the western half of the island, a part may be pacified with the help of the missionaries, but military operations on a considerable scale will be required there sooner or later against the Moros of Lake Lanao.This would be a holy war, a war of humanity, and I would say to the Americans: Look back on the deeds of your forefathers, on the days when your infant navy covered itself with imperishable glory, when it curbed the insolence of the Bashaw of Tripoli, the Bey of Tunis, and the Dey of Algiers, teaching all Europe how to deal with Mediterraneanpirates. Inspire yourselves with the Spirit of Decatur and his hero-comrades whose gallant deeds at Tripoli earned Nelson’s praise as being “the most bold and daring act of the age,” and do not hesitate to break up this last community of ex-pirates and murderous slave-hunters.The Moros of Lake Lanao could be simultaneously attacked from north and south. In 1894, the Spaniards attacked by the north, and transported all their artillery and stores and their small steamers built in sections, by paths on the eastern side of the River Agus. Some of the Moros remained neutral in that campaign. Such were the Dattos of Lumbayangin and Guimba. Their cottas were spared. The distance in a straight line from the mouth of the Agus near Iligan to the lake is fifteen miles.The path winds a good deal, and the country is hilly, wooded on the heights, and intersected by streams. There is a path on the west bank of the Agus, the country there is more open, and a large part of it is under cultivation. A good outfit of mountain-guns would be required on this northern expedition.The other attack could be made from the south, the forces landing at Fort Baras, or at Lalabuan. From either of these places there is what in the Philippines is called a road to Ganasi at the southern end of the lake. The distance in a straight line is about twenty miles. The two roads join at about half way, just before coming to the cotta of Kurandangan in the Sultanate of Puálas.This road is reported to have no steep gradients, no boggy parts, and no unfordable streams. The country is fairly open, as there is no thick forest, but only scrub andcogon, or elephant grass. From a description given by a Tagal who traversed this road, it appears to be practicable for field artillery. The combined attack, north and south, could be supported by an advance from the eastward of irregular forces of the Montéses from thereduccionesof the Tagoloan, Sawaga and Malupati Rivers, if they were supplied with arms and ammunition for this purpose.It seems to me that we have here the usual three courses; the fourth, to do nothing, and allow Moro and Christian to fight it out, would be unworthy of the United States, or of any civilized government.1. Put a stop to slave-hunting and murdering by a military expedition against the Moro Dattos.2. Maintain garrisons to keep the peace and protect themissionaries and their converts and trust to their efforts to gradually convert the Moros.3. Arm all the Christian towns round about the Moros and organise the men as local militia, so that they can protect themselves against Moro aggression.All these courses are expensive, the second less expensive than the first, the third less expensive than the second.However, if either the second or third course is adopted, it is very probable that before long the first course would become imperative, for the Moros are faithless and treacherous in the extreme, and no treaty unsupported by bayonets has the least chance of being respected.To adopt the second or third course, then, only amounts to putting off the evil day.The missionaries can be of the greatest service in pacifiying the Moros whenever the power of the dattos is broken and when slavery can be put an end to. The object of the expedition I have spoken of should not be to exterminate the Moros, but merely to break the power of the dattos and pandits, and to free their followers and slaves from their yoke.It is generally taken for granted that a Moro cannot be converted, but this is not the case in Mindanao. Father Jaoquin Sancho, S.J., informs me that when the political power of the dattos has been destroyed, their followers have been found ready to listen to the teachings of the missionaries and beginning by sending their children to school, then perhaps sanctioning the marriage of their daughters with Christians, they have finally cast in their lot with the Roman Catholic Church, not in scores, nor hundreds, but by thousands. He says that his colleagues baptized in one year after 1892, in the district of Davao alone, more than three thousand Mahometan Moros. He adds that their religious receptivity is much greater than that of the heathen tribes, that once baptized they remain fervent Christians, whilst the Mandayas, Manobos, Montéses and other heathen are only too apt, with or without reason, to slip away to the forests and mountains and resume their nomadic life, their heathen orgies, and human sacrifices.I have already spoken of the success of the missionaries on the Rio Grande and of their industrial and agricultural orphanage at Tamontacca, where they were bringing up hundreds of children of both sexes, mostlyliberated slaves of the Moros, to be useful members of society. This noble institution occupied the very spot where the former Moro Sultan of Tamontacca held his court.Two or three more institutions like this, established at points a few miles distant from Lake Lanao, andprotected from aggressionon the part of the Moro, would gradually undermine the power of the Dattos by affording an asylum to all fugitive slaves attempting to escape from cruelties of their masters.For years past the Spaniards have protected all slaves who have fled to them from their masters. The Datto Utto applied to General Weyler to restore to him forty-eight slaves who had taken refuge at a Spanish fort on the Rio Grande, but Weyler refused, reminding the datto that he had signed an engagement to keep no slaves, but only free labourers, who had the right to fix their residence where they pleased.I assume that no slaves who seek the shelter of the Stars and Stripes will ever be sent back again into bondage.As a guide to the strength of the expedition which will sooner or later have to be sent against the Moros of Lake Lanao, I may say that the total war strength of the Moros of Mindanao was estimated in 1894 at 19,000 fighting-men, 35 guns, 1896 Lantacas and 2167 muskets or rifles. (Seelist, p. 387).They have probably since then obtained a large supply of rifles and ammunition. This traffic in arms should be at once stopped.Swords and spears they have in abundance.But of these 19,000 men many have submitted to the Spanish rule, or have become allies of the Spaniards, like the Datto Ayunan, the Datto Abdul, the Sultan of Bolinson and many others.Probably 10,000 men would be the very utmost that the Moros of Lake Lanao could bring on the field, and only a part of these would have fire-arms, which they could have little skill in handling.They would on no account give battle in the open, but would fight in the bush, and desperately defend their cottas. They would not concentrate their forces, for want of transport for their food supply; besides, the nature of the country would prevent this.They could not stop a flotilla from being launched on the lake and from capturing the islands as a base of operations.The flotilla would be operating on inside lines of communication. It could threaten one side of the lake, and in less than two hours be landing troops on the opposite side.In fact, with a moderate force, their subjugation would not be so difficult as has often been supposed.It should be made clear to the Sácopes and to the slaves that the war is waged against the Sultans and Dattos, that the people would have their lives and property and the free exercise of their religion guaranteed to them, and that the adults should be exempt from taxation and conscription for the rest of their lives or for a term of years. Then the resistance would soon slacken, and the sultans and dattos might be captured. Those who would not conform to the new condition of things might be allowed to emigrate to Borneo or elsewhere, but their subjects and slaves should by no means be allowed to go with them, for they will soon become useful agriculturists and good Christians, and Mindanao cannot spare them.The question of slavery, more especially of slave-concubines, will require delicate handling, but by adopting a conciliatory but firm policy, this curse may gradually be got rid of without causing disturbance or bloodshed. Cranks and faddists should not be allowed to handle this question, but it should be placed in the hands of some one well versed in human nature, and a true friend of freedom.The wise policy of the British authorities in Zanzibar and Pemba is well worthy of imitation.As happens in Africa, the greatest impediment to the conversion of the heathen polygamist is the obligation to renounce all his wives but one. This is a sore trial, more especially when they have paid a good price for them, or if they are good cooks.Father Urios having persuaded a Manobo, who wished to be baptized, to do this, the man said to him: “Of my two wives I have decided to keep the elder, but I make a great sacrifice in separating from the other, for I had so much trouble to obtain her. Her father would only give her to me in exchange for fifteen slaves. As I did not possess them, I was obliged to take the field against the timid tribes in an unknown country, and to capture thesefifteen slaves. I was obliged to fight often, and to kill more than thirty men.”The illustration represents a scene from the labours of Father Gisbert amongst the Bagobos. He is exhorting a blood-stained old datto and his wives and followers to abandon their human sacrifices, exhibiting to them the image of the crucified Redeemer, whose followers he urges them to become.As regards the maintenance of the missions, I do not for one moment doubt that the liberality of the Roman Catholics of the United States is quite equal to the needs of the pioneers of civilisation, who have laboured with such remarkable success.Altogether the Jesuits administered the spiritual, and some of the temporal affairs of 200,000 Christians in Mindanao.They educated the young, taught them handicrafts, attended to the sick, consoled the afflicted, reconciled those at variance, explored the country, encouraged agriculture, built churches, laid out roads, and assisted the Administration. Finally, when bands of slave-hunting, murdering Moros swept down like wolves on their flocks, they placed themselves at the head of their ill-armed parishioners and led them into battle against a ferocious enemy who gives no quarter, with the calmness of men who, long before, had devoted their lives to the Master’s cause, to whom nothing in this world is of any consequence except the advancement of the Faith and the performance of duty.They received very meagre monetary assistance from the Spanish Government, and had to depend greatly upon the pious offerings of the devout in Barcelona and in Madrid. It is to be feared that these subscriptions will now fall off as Spain has lost the islands; if so, it is all the more incumbent upon the Roman Catholics of America to find the means of continuing the good work.I feel sure that this will be so—Christian charity will not fail, and the missions will be maintained.For their devotion and zeal, I beg to offer the Jesuit missionaries my profound respect and my earnest wishes for their welfare under the Stars and Stripes.To my mind, they realise very closely the ideal of what a Christian missionary should be. Although a Protestant born and bred, I see in that no reason to close my eyes to their obvious merit, nor to seek to be-little the great goodthey have done in Mindanao. Far from doing so, I wish to state my conviction that the easiest, the best, and the most humane way of pacifying Mindanao is by utilising the powerful influence of the Jesuit missionaries with their flocks, and this before it is too late, before the populations have had time to completely forget the Christian teaching, and to entirely relapse into barbarism.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.[To face p.387.List of Posts in Mindanao Garrisoned by Detachments of the Native Army with Spanish Officers in 1894.Field Officers.Officers.Men.1st District.San Ramon..112Infantry.Santa Maria..134Infantry.Margos-sa-tubig..260Infantry.2nd District.Fort Weyler, Mumungan17321Infantry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..118Artillery.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..2112Engineers.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..130Cavalry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..3158Disciplinary Battn.Iligan..130Tercio Civil.Almonte..258Infantry.Almonte....8Artillery.Almonte..120Disciplinary Battn.Tangok, Alfonso XIII...120Infantry.Balatacan, Infanta Isabel..120Infantry.Trocha de Tucuran, Sta. Pax and Sta. Eulalia Maria Cristina..3150Infantry.Dapitan.Sundangan..132Infantry.Parang-parang13500Infantry.Parang-parang..112Artillery.Parang-parang..260Disciplinary Battn.Parang-parang..360Engineers.Matabang..3200Infantry.Matabang....10Artillery.Baras..3200Infantry.Baras....10Artillery.Sarangani.Glan..245Infantry.Makra..132Infantry.Balut..120Infantry.Tumanao..1 Sergt.15Infantry.5th District.Cottabato..3100Infantry.Cottabato..112Artillery.Libungan..1 Sergt.12Infantry.Tamontaca..120Infantry.Taviran..122Infantry.Tumbao..160Infantry.Kudaranga..120Infantry.Reina Regente..3100Infantry.Pikit..160Infantry.6Artillery.Pinto....60Infantry.6Artillery.Coast.Pollok..1 Sergt.11Infantry.Panay..111Infantry.Lebak..111Infantry.2652758This number is exclusive of the garrisons of Zamoanga and Davao.Basilan2 officers, 50 men.Estimate of the Moro Forces in Mindanao in the Year 1894.District.Fighting-men.Guns.Lantacas.Rifles.Tucaran1,000254162Parang-parang2,500229117Malabang3,5001342265Baras2,00041923Lake Lanao andsurrounding district10,000261,4521,60019,000351,8962,167The fighting-men of the River Pulangui, and the Rio Grande comprised within the 5th District are not included in this list, as many of them have submitted to the Spaniards, and there appears little to fear from them. Only those who are quite independent and war-like, and who may be considered dangerous have been set down.Population of Mindanao in 1894.As given by José Nieto Aguilar.Districts.Area in Hectares.PopulationTotal.Christians.Moros.Heathen.1Zamboanga2,984,69617,0008,00090,000115,0002Misamis (Dapitan and Camiguin Is.)1,098,000116,000100,00020,000236,0003Surigao1,070,19068,0008,00012,00088,000Bislig441,29121,076..10,00031,0764Davao1,044,3331,500..17,30018,800Cotta-bato2,829,3794,00080,0005120,0005204,000227,576196,000269,300692,876
The present condition of the island is most lamentable. Nothing could be more dreadful; robbery, outrage and murder are rampant. Every evil passion is let loose, and the labour of years has been lost. Mindanao, which promised so well, has relapsed into savagery, as the direct consequence of the Spanish-American war, and the cession of the Archipelago to the United States.
It should be understood that Spain, far from drawing any profit from Mindanao, has, on the contrary, expended annually considerable sums, derived from the revenues of Luzon and Visayas, in maintaining a squadron of gunboats to police the seas, and keep down piracy, in building and garrisoning forts to suppress the slave-trade, and in assisting the missionaries to attract the heathen, by providing them with seeds, implements of husbandry, and with clothing, also in giving them fire-arms and ammunition to protect themselves from the Moros.
Annuities were paid to friendly Moro dattos as rewards for services rendered, or as compensation for the cession of some of their rights.
The Moros have always been the great danger to the peace of the island, as the Visayas have always been the mainstay of Spanish authority.
Had it not been for the war with America, the Moros would have been, by this time, completely subdued.
Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.[To face p.377.
Lake Lanao: Seat of the Moro Power, according to Nieto.
[To face p.377.
Even as it was, half the island was practically free fromdanger from them. If you draw a line on the map from Cagayan de Misamis to the head of the Bay of Sarangani, it will roughly divide the island into halves. The Moros who lived to the eastward of this line were pacific, and some thousands of them had been baptized, and had given up polygamy and slave-trading.
Had they risen in arms—which was not at all likely—they could have been put down by the Visayas militia under the local authorities.
To the west of this line, until quite lately, the Spanish garrisons dotted along the banks of the Rio Grande from Polloc and Cotta-bato to Piquit and Pinto, dominated the Moro dattos of that region, and nearly joined hands with the forts and garrisons on the rivers running into the Bay of Macajalar.
The only remaining seat of the Moro power was the country around Lake Lanao, where the dattos had formed the Illana confederation to resist the advances of the Christians.
This lake has never been surveyed, and no two maps agree on its size, shape or position. It is, however, known to be very different from the other large lakes in Mindanao, which are shallow, whilst this, on the contrary, is deep; in some places, three or four fathoms will be found close in shore. At Lúgud and Tugana the banks are steep.
There are five or six islands in it; the largest is called Nuza. It is high and flat-topped, situated near the middle of the lake, and on it are five hundred houses.
The length of the lake may be about 14 miles, and its greatest breadth about the same.
There is a road all round it, reported to be in good condition for vehicles, except at Taraca, where the ground is soft. This road may be about fifty miles long, and is said to have houses on both sides of it nearly all the way. The accompanying sketch, from D. José Nietos’ map, shows forty-three towns clustered round the lake, but in reality it is only one vast town, and the names are those of districts or parishes, each under the rule of a datto. The Sultan lives at Taraca.
The land about the lake is very fertile, and is cultivated by the slaves.
The produce is of excellent quality, and the Moros not only supply themselves, but export annually about 1000 tons of rice, and 900 tons of coffee.
The River Agus, which drains the lake, is not navigable.
Although it has a great body of water, the impetuosity of the current, rushing amongst rocks, forms dangerous rapids.
The surface of the lake must be considerably above the sea-level.
The approaches to the northern end of the lake on both sides of the river were defended by many cottas, or forts. Most of those were taken and destroyed by the Spanish forces in 1894–96, but they are now probably being rebuilt.
Half-way between the lake and the Bay of Iligan stands Fort Weyler, which had a strong garrison of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers, and was impregnable to any Moro attack. To the south of the lake, on the shores of Illana Bay, stand Forts Corcuera and Baras, whilst to the westward, between Illana Bay and Panguil Bay, lie four forts across the narrow isthmus called Alfonso XIII., Infanta Isabel, Santas Paz, and Eulalia and Maria Cristina.
These, with the trocha, or military road of Tucúran, cut off the Illano Moros from communication with their brethren of Sibuguey, or with their former victims, the Subanos.
Further to the northward, Fort Almonte kept watch over the quondam pirates of the Liangan River.
These forts and posts were garrisoned by nearly 3000 regular troops, all natives, except the artillery (seeList of Posts in Mindanao, p. 386), and in addition a field force of several thousand men, also of the regular army, was encamped at Ulama, Pantar, and other places to the north of the lake, and three small steam-vessels had been transported overland in sections, and launched upon the lake.
Thus everything was ready for the final blow, for the Moros were completely hemmed in by Spanish garrisons or Jesuitreducciones; but the breaking out of the Tagal insurrection, in 1896, obliged General Blanco to withdraw, not only the field army, but to reduce the garrisons in order to hold Manila and Cavite until the Peninsular troops could arrive.
Later on, the war between the United States and Spain, and the immediate destruction of the Spanish naval forces by the American squadron, caused the Spanish authorities to sink the flotilla in the lake, to abandon all the posts onthe north coast of Mindanao, the trocha of Tucúran, and all the forts on the Rio Grande, and to concentrate their whole force at Zamboanga, leaving the recently-converted heathen and the missionaries to defend themselves against the Moros as best they could.
The missionaries of the district of Cotta-bato have taken refuge in Zamboanga, fearing to fall into the hands of the Moros, who would exact a heavy ransom for their delivery. As for the hundreds of liberated slave children, both girls and boys, who were gathered together under the protection of the missionaries at the asylum of Tamontaca, they are doubtless once more in the hands of the cruel Moros of Lake Lanao; some, perhaps, have been sold by these wretches to the heathen tribes for twenty or thirty dollars each, to be offered up as sacrifices to Tag-busan, the god of war of the Manobos, or to Dewata, the sanguinary house-god of the Guiangas.
The missionaries of the north of Mindanao were recalled by the Father Superior to Manila; but in some of the towns the native converts and Visayas have detained them by force, and keep a watch on them to prevent their escape. They treat them well, and allow them to exercise their ministry.
As there are no Moros in that part of the island, the missionaries are not in danger, for they are much beloved by their converts, whose only desire is to keep them amongst them.
The district of Davao has been, like other localities, the scene of murder and pillage since the withdrawal of the Spanish authorities. At midnight of February 6th, the bad characters and outlaws of the chief town, under the leadership of Domingo Fernandez, a native of Zamboanga, and formerly interpreter and writer in the office of the Governor of Davao, rose in arms, and attacked the house of Don Bonifacio Quidato, sub-lieutenant of the local militia. They cut his throat, and bayoneted his wife as she lay in her bed. They then attacked all the well-to-do people of the place, committing many barbarous acts, and plundering their houses.
Most of the Spanish residents escaped from the town in a lorcha, and, after a terrible voyage of sixteen days, suffering from hunger, and undergoing many severe privations, arrived in Zamboanga more dead than alive. The veteran missionary, Father Urios, and three otherSpaniards, could not escape, and remained in the power of the bandits.
This is only one instance of what is going on all over the island. In the words of one who knows the country well, Mindanao has become a seething hell, and is in a condition more dreadful than ever before in historic times.
But amongst these various tribes, Christian or heathen, there is said to be one subject, and one only, upon which they all agree. They have combined to resist by force the American invasion. If it is attempted to conquer them by force of arms, it will be a difficult, a tedious, and a costly operation—a campaign far more sickly than that now proceeding in the arable lands around Manila, where the ground is hard, the country very level, and where field-guns can be taken anywhere during the dry season. It is my belief that, if skilfully handled, half the island—the eastern half—could be pacified without war, although, no doubt, gangs of bandits would have to be destroyed; but this could be done by the Visayas and the converts, organised as a militia, and paid whilst on active service.
But this pacification requires the assistance of the missionaries. They are not likely to give that assistance unless terms are made with them, and one of those terms will surely be that they shall be allowed to continue their beneficent work unhindered and unvexed.
So the United States Government is confronted with a dilemma. Either they must shoot down the new Christians, to introduce and enforce freedom of worship which the converts do not want, and cannot understand, or they must negotiate with the Jesuits for them to use their influence to pacify the island, and thus subject themselves to the abuse and the outcry such a proceeding will bring upon them from the divines and missionaries of Protestant sects, and from their political opponents.
As for the western half of the island, a part may be pacified with the help of the missionaries, but military operations on a considerable scale will be required there sooner or later against the Moros of Lake Lanao.
This would be a holy war, a war of humanity, and I would say to the Americans: Look back on the deeds of your forefathers, on the days when your infant navy covered itself with imperishable glory, when it curbed the insolence of the Bashaw of Tripoli, the Bey of Tunis, and the Dey of Algiers, teaching all Europe how to deal with Mediterraneanpirates. Inspire yourselves with the Spirit of Decatur and his hero-comrades whose gallant deeds at Tripoli earned Nelson’s praise as being “the most bold and daring act of the age,” and do not hesitate to break up this last community of ex-pirates and murderous slave-hunters.
The Moros of Lake Lanao could be simultaneously attacked from north and south. In 1894, the Spaniards attacked by the north, and transported all their artillery and stores and their small steamers built in sections, by paths on the eastern side of the River Agus. Some of the Moros remained neutral in that campaign. Such were the Dattos of Lumbayangin and Guimba. Their cottas were spared. The distance in a straight line from the mouth of the Agus near Iligan to the lake is fifteen miles.
The path winds a good deal, and the country is hilly, wooded on the heights, and intersected by streams. There is a path on the west bank of the Agus, the country there is more open, and a large part of it is under cultivation. A good outfit of mountain-guns would be required on this northern expedition.
The other attack could be made from the south, the forces landing at Fort Baras, or at Lalabuan. From either of these places there is what in the Philippines is called a road to Ganasi at the southern end of the lake. The distance in a straight line is about twenty miles. The two roads join at about half way, just before coming to the cotta of Kurandangan in the Sultanate of Puálas.
This road is reported to have no steep gradients, no boggy parts, and no unfordable streams. The country is fairly open, as there is no thick forest, but only scrub andcogon, or elephant grass. From a description given by a Tagal who traversed this road, it appears to be practicable for field artillery. The combined attack, north and south, could be supported by an advance from the eastward of irregular forces of the Montéses from thereduccionesof the Tagoloan, Sawaga and Malupati Rivers, if they were supplied with arms and ammunition for this purpose.
It seems to me that we have here the usual three courses; the fourth, to do nothing, and allow Moro and Christian to fight it out, would be unworthy of the United States, or of any civilized government.
1. Put a stop to slave-hunting and murdering by a military expedition against the Moro Dattos.
2. Maintain garrisons to keep the peace and protect themissionaries and their converts and trust to their efforts to gradually convert the Moros.
3. Arm all the Christian towns round about the Moros and organise the men as local militia, so that they can protect themselves against Moro aggression.
All these courses are expensive, the second less expensive than the first, the third less expensive than the second.
However, if either the second or third course is adopted, it is very probable that before long the first course would become imperative, for the Moros are faithless and treacherous in the extreme, and no treaty unsupported by bayonets has the least chance of being respected.
To adopt the second or third course, then, only amounts to putting off the evil day.
The missionaries can be of the greatest service in pacifiying the Moros whenever the power of the dattos is broken and when slavery can be put an end to. The object of the expedition I have spoken of should not be to exterminate the Moros, but merely to break the power of the dattos and pandits, and to free their followers and slaves from their yoke.
It is generally taken for granted that a Moro cannot be converted, but this is not the case in Mindanao. Father Jaoquin Sancho, S.J., informs me that when the political power of the dattos has been destroyed, their followers have been found ready to listen to the teachings of the missionaries and beginning by sending their children to school, then perhaps sanctioning the marriage of their daughters with Christians, they have finally cast in their lot with the Roman Catholic Church, not in scores, nor hundreds, but by thousands. He says that his colleagues baptized in one year after 1892, in the district of Davao alone, more than three thousand Mahometan Moros. He adds that their religious receptivity is much greater than that of the heathen tribes, that once baptized they remain fervent Christians, whilst the Mandayas, Manobos, Montéses and other heathen are only too apt, with or without reason, to slip away to the forests and mountains and resume their nomadic life, their heathen orgies, and human sacrifices.
I have already spoken of the success of the missionaries on the Rio Grande and of their industrial and agricultural orphanage at Tamontacca, where they were bringing up hundreds of children of both sexes, mostlyliberated slaves of the Moros, to be useful members of society. This noble institution occupied the very spot where the former Moro Sultan of Tamontacca held his court.
Two or three more institutions like this, established at points a few miles distant from Lake Lanao, andprotected from aggressionon the part of the Moro, would gradually undermine the power of the Dattos by affording an asylum to all fugitive slaves attempting to escape from cruelties of their masters.
For years past the Spaniards have protected all slaves who have fled to them from their masters. The Datto Utto applied to General Weyler to restore to him forty-eight slaves who had taken refuge at a Spanish fort on the Rio Grande, but Weyler refused, reminding the datto that he had signed an engagement to keep no slaves, but only free labourers, who had the right to fix their residence where they pleased.
I assume that no slaves who seek the shelter of the Stars and Stripes will ever be sent back again into bondage.
As a guide to the strength of the expedition which will sooner or later have to be sent against the Moros of Lake Lanao, I may say that the total war strength of the Moros of Mindanao was estimated in 1894 at 19,000 fighting-men, 35 guns, 1896 Lantacas and 2167 muskets or rifles. (Seelist, p. 387).
They have probably since then obtained a large supply of rifles and ammunition. This traffic in arms should be at once stopped.
Swords and spears they have in abundance.
But of these 19,000 men many have submitted to the Spanish rule, or have become allies of the Spaniards, like the Datto Ayunan, the Datto Abdul, the Sultan of Bolinson and many others.
Probably 10,000 men would be the very utmost that the Moros of Lake Lanao could bring on the field, and only a part of these would have fire-arms, which they could have little skill in handling.
They would on no account give battle in the open, but would fight in the bush, and desperately defend their cottas. They would not concentrate their forces, for want of transport for their food supply; besides, the nature of the country would prevent this.
They could not stop a flotilla from being launched on the lake and from capturing the islands as a base of operations.
The flotilla would be operating on inside lines of communication. It could threaten one side of the lake, and in less than two hours be landing troops on the opposite side.
In fact, with a moderate force, their subjugation would not be so difficult as has often been supposed.
It should be made clear to the Sácopes and to the slaves that the war is waged against the Sultans and Dattos, that the people would have their lives and property and the free exercise of their religion guaranteed to them, and that the adults should be exempt from taxation and conscription for the rest of their lives or for a term of years. Then the resistance would soon slacken, and the sultans and dattos might be captured. Those who would not conform to the new condition of things might be allowed to emigrate to Borneo or elsewhere, but their subjects and slaves should by no means be allowed to go with them, for they will soon become useful agriculturists and good Christians, and Mindanao cannot spare them.
The question of slavery, more especially of slave-concubines, will require delicate handling, but by adopting a conciliatory but firm policy, this curse may gradually be got rid of without causing disturbance or bloodshed. Cranks and faddists should not be allowed to handle this question, but it should be placed in the hands of some one well versed in human nature, and a true friend of freedom.
The wise policy of the British authorities in Zanzibar and Pemba is well worthy of imitation.
As happens in Africa, the greatest impediment to the conversion of the heathen polygamist is the obligation to renounce all his wives but one. This is a sore trial, more especially when they have paid a good price for them, or if they are good cooks.
Father Urios having persuaded a Manobo, who wished to be baptized, to do this, the man said to him: “Of my two wives I have decided to keep the elder, but I make a great sacrifice in separating from the other, for I had so much trouble to obtain her. Her father would only give her to me in exchange for fifteen slaves. As I did not possess them, I was obliged to take the field against the timid tribes in an unknown country, and to capture thesefifteen slaves. I was obliged to fight often, and to kill more than thirty men.”
The illustration represents a scene from the labours of Father Gisbert amongst the Bagobos. He is exhorting a blood-stained old datto and his wives and followers to abandon their human sacrifices, exhibiting to them the image of the crucified Redeemer, whose followers he urges them to become.
As regards the maintenance of the missions, I do not for one moment doubt that the liberality of the Roman Catholics of the United States is quite equal to the needs of the pioneers of civilisation, who have laboured with such remarkable success.
Altogether the Jesuits administered the spiritual, and some of the temporal affairs of 200,000 Christians in Mindanao.
They educated the young, taught them handicrafts, attended to the sick, consoled the afflicted, reconciled those at variance, explored the country, encouraged agriculture, built churches, laid out roads, and assisted the Administration. Finally, when bands of slave-hunting, murdering Moros swept down like wolves on their flocks, they placed themselves at the head of their ill-armed parishioners and led them into battle against a ferocious enemy who gives no quarter, with the calmness of men who, long before, had devoted their lives to the Master’s cause, to whom nothing in this world is of any consequence except the advancement of the Faith and the performance of duty.
They received very meagre monetary assistance from the Spanish Government, and had to depend greatly upon the pious offerings of the devout in Barcelona and in Madrid. It is to be feared that these subscriptions will now fall off as Spain has lost the islands; if so, it is all the more incumbent upon the Roman Catholics of America to find the means of continuing the good work.
I feel sure that this will be so—Christian charity will not fail, and the missions will be maintained.
For their devotion and zeal, I beg to offer the Jesuit missionaries my profound respect and my earnest wishes for their welfare under the Stars and Stripes.
To my mind, they realise very closely the ideal of what a Christian missionary should be. Although a Protestant born and bred, I see in that no reason to close my eyes to their obvious merit, nor to seek to be-little the great goodthey have done in Mindanao. Far from doing so, I wish to state my conviction that the easiest, the best, and the most humane way of pacifying Mindanao is by utilising the powerful influence of the Jesuit missionaries with their flocks, and this before it is too late, before the populations have had time to completely forget the Christian teaching, and to entirely relapse into barbarism.
Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.[To face p.387.
Double-barrelled Lantaca of Artistic Design and Moro Arms.
[To face p.387.
List of Posts in Mindanao Garrisoned by Detachments of the Native Army with Spanish Officers in 1894.Field Officers.Officers.Men.1st District.San Ramon..112Infantry.Santa Maria..134Infantry.Margos-sa-tubig..260Infantry.2nd District.Fort Weyler, Mumungan17321Infantry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..118Artillery.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..2112Engineers.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..130Cavalry.Fort Weyler, Mumungan..3158Disciplinary Battn.Iligan..130Tercio Civil.Almonte..258Infantry.Almonte....8Artillery.Almonte..120Disciplinary Battn.Tangok, Alfonso XIII...120Infantry.Balatacan, Infanta Isabel..120Infantry.Trocha de Tucuran, Sta. Pax and Sta. Eulalia Maria Cristina..3150Infantry.Dapitan.Sundangan..132Infantry.Parang-parang13500Infantry.Parang-parang..112Artillery.Parang-parang..260Disciplinary Battn.Parang-parang..360Engineers.Matabang..3200Infantry.Matabang....10Artillery.Baras..3200Infantry.Baras....10Artillery.Sarangani.Glan..245Infantry.Makra..132Infantry.Balut..120Infantry.Tumanao..1 Sergt.15Infantry.5th District.Cottabato..3100Infantry.Cottabato..112Artillery.Libungan..1 Sergt.12Infantry.Tamontaca..120Infantry.Taviran..122Infantry.Tumbao..160Infantry.Kudaranga..120Infantry.Reina Regente..3100Infantry.Pikit..160Infantry.6Artillery.Pinto....60Infantry.6Artillery.Coast.Pollok..1 Sergt.11Infantry.Panay..111Infantry.Lebak..111Infantry.2652758
This number is exclusive of the garrisons of Zamoanga and Davao.
Basilan2 officers, 50 men.
Estimate of the Moro Forces in Mindanao in the Year 1894.District.Fighting-men.Guns.Lantacas.Rifles.Tucaran1,000254162Parang-parang2,500229117Malabang3,5001342265Baras2,00041923Lake Lanao andsurrounding district10,000261,4521,60019,000351,8962,167
The fighting-men of the River Pulangui, and the Rio Grande comprised within the 5th District are not included in this list, as many of them have submitted to the Spaniards, and there appears little to fear from them. Only those who are quite independent and war-like, and who may be considered dangerous have been set down.
Population of Mindanao in 1894.As given by José Nieto Aguilar.Districts.Area in Hectares.PopulationTotal.Christians.Moros.Heathen.1Zamboanga2,984,69617,0008,00090,000115,0002Misamis (Dapitan and Camiguin Is.)1,098,000116,000100,00020,000236,0003Surigao1,070,19068,0008,00012,00088,000Bislig441,29121,076..10,00031,0764Davao1,044,3331,500..17,30018,800Cotta-bato2,829,3794,00080,0005120,0005204,000227,576196,000269,300692,876
1The territory of Sibuguey is almost unexplored.2The principal industry of Christians or Moros, is washing the sands and alluvial soils for gold, which is found in abundance. Agriculture is progressing.3The principal industry is washing the sands and mining for gold.4From Jesuit records the Christian population of Davao was 12,000 in 1896. This number included over 3000 converted Moros. There were also some 2,000 Moros residing there. The Jesuits residing on the spot must know best.5Nieto gives the total as 200,000. I have divided them as above.
1The territory of Sibuguey is almost unexplored.
2The principal industry of Christians or Moros, is washing the sands and alluvial soils for gold, which is found in abundance. Agriculture is progressing.
3The principal industry is washing the sands and mining for gold.
4From Jesuit records the Christian population of Davao was 12,000 in 1896. This number included over 3000 converted Moros. There were also some 2,000 Moros residing there. The Jesuits residing on the spot must know best.
5Nieto gives the total as 200,000. I have divided them as above.