another. They are more docile than are their neighbors. The Manobos are lazy and warlike and constantly on the hunt for slaves. The Moros thereabout are a race of thieves and are exceedingly treacherous. The Atás or Negritos live in the interior, and but little is known of them. Their number may reach 25,000, and they possess their own language. The letter of July 26 is written in a slightly depressed tone. Father Gisbert gives a short Bagobo genealogy. They have indulged in human sacrifice for many years. Human sacrifices prove, though it seems a paradox, a lucrative and real business, and not only Bagobos, but Moros and others traffic in them. Various details of a human sacrifice are given. The fifth letter of December 24, relates the results of a visit to the island of Sámal. There the Moros of the Dávao district, afraid that the Christian conversion is about to prevail, machinate to keep control, and oppose missionary efforts. The action of the Spanish authorities in giving titles as captains and lieutenants to Christians makes such persons the real datos of the island and weakens the hereditary allegiance. The remnants of the Moros about Dávao ask for villages, but it is only pretense, in order that they may continue to live under their old customs, and so that the datos may not lose the few followers left to them. It is advised that the people be encouraged to desert their datos and panditas, and that all the Moros be assembled into one village. The many small villages of the Moros, each with its dato and pandita, are an obstacle to the reduction and conversion of the heathens.

The letter written by Father Pablo Cavalleria to Father Francisco Sanchez from Isabela de Basílan in the island of Basílan, December 31, 1886, gives a great deal of most important information regarding the Moros of that island. The native race is evidently fewer in number than the Moros (who number ten or twelve thousand), and is partially christianized. The Moros inhabit the coast and the interior, the former being known as Sámal Laút, who are fishermen, and the latter as Yacans, who are agriculturists. They are hostile to each other. With the Sámal Laút are mingled also Joloans and Malays. Personal descriptions of the Moros, their mental characteristics, their religion, marriage and mortuary customs, etc., are given. Their chief feast is the celebration of the birth of Mahomet, though that date is not fixed but depends rather on when there is sufficient food for a good feast. They are superstitious, and perform various superstitious rites. They have seven heavens and seven hells, each with its distinctive signification. Their method of fighting is described. Their hatred toward the Christians is well shown in a native song quoted by Father Cavalleria.

Father Pablo Pastells, in a letter to the father provincial, written from Manila, April 20, 1887, devotes considerable space to an ethnological survey of the peoples of Mindanao. The population of that island is divided into Malays and Indonesians (although the latter has no foundation), and Negritos; and there is still another division into Old Christians, New Christians, and heathens. The first named number 186,000, and their customs are influenced to a greater or less degree by those of the heathens according as they are more or less removed from them. Father Pastells describes their social life in many details, which shows that they have become “reduced” fairly well to a half civilized life. The New Christians date from 1876 (the date when the Jesuits reëntered Mindanao) and are scarcely to be differentiated in life and customs from the heathens from whom they have proceeded. The heathens (among whom are evidently numbered the Moros) aggregate 300,000, and among them are found Chinese and Japanese crossings, says Father Pastells. In greater or less detail, is set forth information concerning the Mamanuas, Manobos, Mandayas, Manguangas, Monteses,