5 CHAPTER XV.

THE INSURRECTION IN THE PHILIPPINES. THE archipelagoof the Philippines was the last vestige of the eastern empire of Spain. It had been the possession of the Spanish crown for three centuries; and though it is now the fashion to speak as if the Viceroys at Manila had done nothing but misgovern the province, the record of Spain ■_ ,i . -i , by regulations imposed in the interest of her American and West Indian colonies. The loss of Peru and Mexico to the mother-country was thus anindirect gainto the Philippine,-.

The surface extent of the islands is rather more than that of Great Britain and Ireland. The population is about seven and a half in these islands can compare very favourably with that of the neighbouring European colonies. To take the nearest parallel, it may safely be said that Java,under the rule of Holland,has fared no better than Luzon under that of Spain.

The islands, large and small, are said to number nearly twothousand. They are the summits of volcanic cones and ridges rising from the tropic sea. Between the islands the depths are enormous. In the -Sulu Sea there are soundings of over two thousand fathoms. The whole structure of the land is volcanic. There millions. Of these, more than six millions are natives, mostly of the Malay race. The native Christians, some three millionsinall,are known as "Indios "; the Mohammedan natives, about a quarter of a millionin number, are called by the Spaniards "Moros."

The white race are partly men of mixed descent, partly colonists from Spain, and traders representing other European countries. Latterlv, in spite of prohibitive laws, there has been a considerable Chinese immigration, and official returns set down the yellow race at 40.000, COMMODORE PFUF1 are several active craters, and earthquakes are so frequent that there is hardly a weekin which the instruments of the Manila Observatory do not registei some greater or less disturbance. The islands arc, in fact, the southernmost portion of that long volcanic, earthquake-shaken chain which extends northward by Formosa and theisland kingdom ofJapan to Corea.

The narrow valleys and the steep mountain sides are clothed with a rich luxuriance of tropical vegetation. Where the jungle has been cleared and the landbrought into cultivation, it produces tobacco, hemp, cotton, sugar, cocoa, and many more valuable articles of commerce. The islands would have been even more productive if it had not been for a long period the policy of Spain torestrict their trade and probably fall short of the real numbers.

Luzon, the largest of the Philippines, had a civil system of administration,but all the other islands were under the direct military rule of the captain-general at Manila. In eachnative village, however, there was a headman, a kind of native mayor, who was responsible to the authorities. And the tax collectors— who gathered in the head-tax, the hut-tax,and the fee for the brand on cattle— were also natives for the most part. This, however, was not an advantage, for they frequently abused their position, to the loss of the villagers, and their owngain. If they had been fairly collected the taxes were not by any means heavy. There was a church establishment in the isl supported in part out of the taxes, but about