for
someone to make a study of them on the spot.
Meyer noted in 1872 that Negritos frequently came from the mountains
to Santa Cruz, Laguna Province. These probably came from across the
Tayabas line, as none are reported in Laguna except from Santa Maria,
in the extreme northern part. Even these are probably very near
the boundary line into Rizal Province; perhaps they are over the
line. Tanay, Rizal Province, on the shore of Laguna de Bay, reports
some 300 Negritos as living in the mountains north of that town. From
descriptions given by natives of Tanay they do not appear to be pure
types. There is also a small group near Montalban, in Rizal Province,
not more than 20 miles from Manila.
Going northward into Bulacan we are in possession of more definite
information regarding the whereabouts of these forest dwellers. Zuniga
in 1803 spoke of the Negritos of Angat--in those days head-hunters who
were accustomed to send messages by means of knotted grass stalks. [10]
This region, the upper reaches of the Angat River, was visited by
Mr. E. J. Simons on a collecting trip for The Ethnological Survey
in February, 1903. Mr. Simons saw twenty-two little rancherias of
the Dumagat, having a total population of 176 people. Some of them
had striking Negroid characteristics, but nearly all bore evidence
of a mixture of blood. In some cases full-blooded Filipinos have
married into the tribe and adopted Negrito customs entirely. Their
social state is about the same as that of the Negritos of Zambales,
though some of their habits--for instance, betel chewing--approach
more nearly those of lower-class Filipinos. A short vocabulary of
their dialect is given in Appendix B.
Negritos are also found in northern Bulacan and throughout the
continuous mountain region extending through Nueva Ecija into Isabela
and the old Province of Principe. They are reported from Penaranda,
Bongabong, and Pantabangan, in Nueva Ecija, to the number of 500. This
region is yet to be fully explored; the same may be said also of that
vast range of mountains, the Sierra Madre, of Isabela and Cagayan. In
the Province of Isabela Negritos are reported from all the towns,
especially Palanan, on the coast, and Carig, Echague, Angadanan,
Cauayan, and Cabagan Nuevo, on the upper reaches of the Rio Grande
de Cagayan, but as there is a vast unknown country between, future
exploration will have to determine the numerical importance of the
Negritos. It has been though
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