Products.—Mangoes, plantains, mangosteen, jack-fruit, medlars, and in general most of the Malayan fruits are to be met with; the lanzon occurs in the north, and the durian in the south, more especially in the Sulu Islands. Rice is the staple food of the natives, but, though it is extensively cultivated, the supply is not always equal to the demand. Sweet potatoes (camote), a kind of yam (palawan), the ground-nut, and gourds are pretty generally grown, as well as occasionally peas, potatoes, and in the higher regions even wheat. The plants which are of primary commercial importance are tobacco, Manila-hemp, sugar-cane, coffee, and cocoa.
Tobacco was made a Government monopoly by Captain General José Basco y Vargas in 1781, and remained so till 1st July 1882. Though it was free to any one to grow the plant to any extent he pleased, the Government was the only purchaser, fixed its own price, and, paying its debts according to its own convenience, was sometimes three or four years in arrear. Besides, certain districts were bound to furnish a certain quantity of the leaf, and the peasant was thus often forced under severe penalties to devote himself to the tobacco crop when he would have obtained better results from something else. The best tobacco comes from the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, and it is there that the cultivation is most systematically carried on; but the plant is also grown in other provinces of Luzon (Union, Ilocos, Lepanto, &c.) as well as in the Visayas Islands. The average production in the ten years 1872-81 was 214,400 quintals (each 101.43 English ℔), of which 114,400 were from Isabela and Cagayan. About 25,000 quintals were sent to Spain as tribute, and another portion was sold by public auction for foreign export. For tobacco of the first class from Cagayan and Isabela the Government paid in recent years between 13 and 14 dollars per quintal, for the second class between 10 and 11, for the third between 7 and 8, and for the fourth between 6 and 7. About 280 million cigars were manufactured annually in six factories employing 20,000 hands, 95 millions for foreign export and the rest for home consumption. Of the foreign cigars 50 millions went to Singapore, Java, the Moluccas, and India, 30 millions to China and Japan, 4 millions to Australia, and 11 millions to Europe. Hitherto tobacco-planting has been carried on (with few exceptions) only by people of small means; but since the abolition of the monopoly several companies have been started, and the whole condition of the industry will probably soon be greatly modified. Abacá or Manila-hemp (q. v.) is best grown in the south-east of Luzon, in Samar, Leyte, and Bohol. Its cultivation requires little trouble, and the plantations, usually small, are each the property of a native family. Hand-labour and a few simple machines of native construction are all that is required in the preparation of the fibre. The abacá districts are generally very poor. Coffee was introduced, probably from Brazil, in the latter part of the 18th century, but the first plantation on a large scale was formed only in 1826. The cultivation is now pretty extensive. Philippine coffee appears in the European markets as Manila or Zamboanga coffee. The former, which comes from Batangas, Cavite, and Laguna to the amount of 70,000 piculs (a Spanish picul = 140 ℔) per annum, is a small but well-flavoured berry; the latter, principally grown in Mindanao and Sulu, which send a good deal of their produce direct to Singapore, is in less repute, because, while the berry is larger, less care is bestowed on the gathering and sorting. France was at one time the only great purchaser of Philippine coffee, but about two-thirds of the crop now finds its way to Spain, England, the Netherlands, and Austria. In general far too little care is given to the plantations. Sugar is extensively cultivated, and the export has increased from 1,399,434 piculs in 1871 to 3,382,664 in 1881. About a third of the whole is produced by Pampanga; and Cavite, Laguna, Pangasinan, Bulucan, and Bataan also contribute. About 1,200,000 piculs are exported from Iloilo, which collects from Panay and Negros, &c. The finest is probably that from Capiz in Panay, where, as in this southern district generally, the violet-coloured cane is grown. Most of the larger plantations (some exceeding 1000 acres) are monastic property, and are leased out to Chinese half-breeds, who are said to succeed better than Europeans. The smaller are cultivated by the proprietors with the assistance of their families and relatives, and less frequently of bond or hired labourers. A tendency has shown itself since 1870 to create larger estates, and to import better machinery; but it will be some time before the Philippine sugar-crop is generally treated according to scientific methods. The finest Manila quality is sent to Spain, and the secondary qualities to England; for the Iloilo sugars the United States are the principal destination.
Trade.—Before the conquest there was considerable commercial intercourse between the Philippines and China and Japan, but this, which would naturally have developed enormously if the Spanish trade between Manila and America (Navidad and Acapulco) had been left free, was interrupted, and at times almost completely stopped, by a series of absurd restrictions, devised in the supposed interest of the trade between Spain and America. For a long period only a single galleon, under Government supervision, was allowed to proceed yearly from Manila to Acapulco, the value of the cargo each way being bound not to exceed a certain sum. Direct trade with Europe via the Cape was commenced in 1764; but, as if the exclusion of all except Spanish ships was not sufficient, a practical monopoly of this field of enterprise was in 1785 bestowed on the Royal Company of the Philippines. With the close of the 18th century a certain amount of liberty began to be conceded to foreign vessels; the first English commercial house was established at Manila in 1809; and in 1834 the monopoly of the Royal Company expired. Manila remained the only port for foreign trade till 1842, when Cebu was also opened; Zamboanga (Mindanao), Iloilo (Panay), Sual (Luzon), Legazpi or Albay (Luzon), and Tacloban (Leyte) are now in the same category, but only Manila, Iloilo, and Cebu have proved of real importance, as they are the only ports where foreign-bound vessels have hitherto loaded. The following table shows how rapidly the trade of the country has recently developed.
| Entered. | Cleared. | Spanish. | British. | |||||
| Vessels. | Tons. | Vessels. | Tons. | Vessels. | Tons. | Vessels. | Tons. | |
| 1875 | 341 | 235,418 | 315 | 222,613 | 232 | 87,593 | 245 | 186,983 |
| 1876 | 311 | 216,785 | 311 | 224,442 | 194 | 86,001 | 241 | 186,631 |
| 1877 | 356 | 251,417 | 351 | 249,649 | 268 | 104,344 | 226 | 187,585 |
| 1878 | 445 | 303,420 | 446 | 305,168 | 369 | 178,491 | 314 | 234,848 |
| 1879 | 458 | 317,069 | 478 | 325,695 | 395 | 231,432 | 318 | 212,695 |
| 1880 | 542 | 449,937 | 524 | 459,145 | 454 | 391,312 | 328 | 201,966 |
The American trade increased in this period from 101 vessels (129,439 tons) to 164 (202,653). The value of the imports rose from $11,987,162 to $25,493,319 and of the exports from $14,837,796 to $23,450,285. In 1883 333 vessels (270,000 tons) entered at Manila alone, the Spanish numbering 110 (93,000 tons) and the British 132 (92,000 tons); the exports in the same year were valued at $29,996,000.
The manufactures of the Philippines consist of a variety of textile fabrics (piña fibres, silk, cotton), some of great excellence and beauty, hats, mats, baskets, ropes, furniture, coarse pottery, carriages, and musical instruments.
Islands and Provinces.—The Batanes and Babuyanes, the most northerly of the Philippines, have an area of only 280 square miles, with 8700 inhabitants, who pay no tribute. The rearing of horses is the principal occupation. The chief settlement is San José de Ibana in the island of Batan. Camiguin, the southernmost of the Babuyanes, is about 30 miles from the coast of Luzon.
Luzon or Luçon, with an area of 40,885 square miles, is the largest island in the whole archipelago, and as the seat of the Government at Manila it is the most important. The northern trunk, so to speak, extends north and south for 340 miles. From the mountains known as Caraballos of Balar or Nueva Ecija two ranges bifurcate and stretch northward—the Sierra Oriental, skirting the eastern coast till it ends at Cape Engaño, and the Sierra Occidental, keeping all the way at a distance of 25 or 30 miles from the western. Between these ranges lies the basin of the Rio Grande de Cagayan, which with its numerous affluents (Bangag, Nayon, Mayat, Pongul, Ibulao, &c., from the east; Calao, Cabagan, Pinacananauang, and Tulay from the west) forms the largest river-system in the whole archipelago. On the western slopes of the Sierra Occidental rise two other large rivers—the Abra, which reaches the sea at Vigan or Villa Fernandina, and the Agno, which after a winding course falls into the Gulf of Lingayan. To the south-west of the mountains extends a comparatively flat region, which continues southwards to the Bay of Manila and forms one of the richest agricultural districts in the island. It is watered by the lower part of the Agno and its lower tributaries, and the Rio Grande de Pampanga with its affluents, which ultimately discharges into Manila Bay, and thus forms a convenient water-way for conveying produce to the capital. There are also in these lowlands a number of extensive lagoons, such as that of Candava. To the west of the flat region the country rises into the considerable Cordillera de Zambales, which contains a number of peaks 5000 or 6000 feet high, and terminates northwards in a great peninsula forming the Gulf of Lingayan and southwards in a similar promontory (Sierra de Mariveles) which helps to form the Bay of Manila. To the east and south of this bay the general configuration is again hilly and even mountainous; but the large area of 350 square miles is occupied by the Laguna de Bay, connected with Manila by the Pasig, on which small steamers ply. The depth of this basin, though the southern side is bordered by a semicircular range of extinct volcanoes 6000 or 7000 feet high, seldom exceeds 4 fathoms. Two long capes project from the northern side, the western one being continued by the island of Talim. From the south-east corner of the trunk of Luzon there extends for 180 miles a very irregular peninsula formed by a series of Cordilleras running in a north-westerly and south-easterly direction. The following are the provinces and districts into which Luzon is divided, with their chief towns: Manila (258,274 inhabitants[1] in 1877), Manila; Bulacan (252,149), Bulacan; Pampanga (226,309), Bacolor; Principe (4158),
- ↑ The figures of the censuses may be trusted for the provinces of Luzon, &c., but often give no idea of the actual native population of the remoter districts.
