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It is remarkable that in the Bisayan language of the Philippines the term for people so marked, whom the Spaniards call pintados, is batuc. This practice is common in the islands near the coast of Sumatra, as will hereafter be noticed.
A great diversity of languages and dialects prevails; amongst them the Bisayan, Tagalog, Ilocano, Bicol, Pangasinan, and Pampangan are the most important. Although Sr. Barrantes had the best official materials at his disposal, too much value must not be attributed to his figures, for the sources from which he drew them are tainted with errors to an extent that can hardly be realized in Europe.
The waters around us were thickly studded with vessels which had taken refuge from the storm in the Bisayan ports, and were now returning to Manila.
As dread and the scarcity of inhabitants in the Bisayan Islands cause great ranges of the coast to be left unsettled, it is very easy for the Moros to find numerous lurking-places and strongholds whenever they are pressed, and their constant practice, in these cases, is to enter the rivers, ground their vessels, and hide them among the mangroves and thick foliage, and fly with their arms to the mountains, thus almost always laughing at the efforts of their opponents, who seldom venture to follow them into the thickets and morasses, where the musket is of no use and a single step cannot be taken with any security.
It would be unnecessary to add that the provincial magistrates of Camarines and Albay ought to co-operate, with their fourteen gunboats and other smaller vessels, in the measures adopted by the commander of the Bisayan establishment, distributing their forces according to the orders given by him, and by undertaking to guard the straits of San Bernardino.
With regard to the superfluous gunboats, it would be expedient to distribute them gratuitously among the marine provinces and Bisayan Islands, on the only condition of their being always kept fit for service; as, in one sense, the great expenses of maintaining them would be thus saved by the treasury, and, another, the inhabitants of those portions of the coast would be in possession of means sufficiently powerful to repel the aggressions of the Moros, who commit great ravages on their settlements.
Besides as the Bisayan Indians are perfectly acquainted with the mode of making war on the Moros, the meaning of their signals and manoeuvers and the kind of places on shore in which they take shelter when pursued at sea, the employment of such auxiliaries would be extremely useful.
Consequently, it would not be possible to expect the provincial commanders stationed there would be able to disengage any part of their naval force, in order to place it at the disposal of the officer commanding the Bisayan vessels.
We sailed along the coast of Cavite till we reached Point Santiago, the southwestern extremity of Luzon, and then turned to the east, through the fine straits that lie between Luzon to the north and the Bisayan islands to the south. As the sun rose, a beautiful spectacle presented itself.
It is as favorably situated with regard to the eatern portion of the Bisayan group as Iloilo is for the western, and is acquiring increased importance as the emporium for its products. Its distance from Samar is twenty-six, from Leyte two and a half, from Bohol four, and from Negros eighteen miles.
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