The _Basanes_ are a very timid people who inhabit the mountains of Mindoro Island. They have long, lank hair and whitish faces, and do not appear to be of one of the original races. They are occasionally met with (when they do not hide themselves) in the cordillera which runs north-west to south-east and then ends off in two spurs, between which, after passing Mount Halcon, there is a large valley leading to the southern shore. The _Manguianes_, another Mindoro wild tribe, come to the coast villages sometimes to barter, and bring pieces of gold for the purpose. They also wear gold jewellery made of the metal extracted by themselves. There is another race of people whose source is not distinctly known, but, according to tradition, they descend from the Sepoys who formed part of the troops under British command during the military occupation of Manila in 1763 (_vide_ p. 88). The legend is, that these _Hindoos_, having deserted from the British army, migrated up the Pasig River. However that may be, the sharp-featured, black-skinned settlers in the Barrio de Dayap, of Cainta Town (Morong district), are decidedly of a different stock to the ordinary native. The notable physical differences are the fine aquiline nose, bright expression, and regular features. They are Christians--far more laborious than the Philippine natives, and are a law-abiding people. I have known many of them personally for years. They were the only class who voluntarily presented themselves to pay the taxes to the Spaniards, and yet, on the ground that generations ago they were intruders on the soil, they were more heavily laden with imposts than their fellow-neighbours until the abolition of tribute in 1884. There are also to be seen in these Islands a few types of that class of tropical inhabitant, preternaturally possessed of a white skin and extremely fair hair--sometimes red--known as _Albinos_. I leave it to physiologists to elucidate the peculiarity of vital phenomena in these unfortunate abnormities of Nature. Amongst others, I once saw in Negros Island a hapless young Albino girl, with marble-white skin and very light pink-white hair, who was totally blind in the sunny hours of the day. The _Mahometan_ and other tribes, inhabiting the Sulu Sultanate, Mindanao, Palauan (Paragua) and the adjacent islands of the South constituting "Moroland," are described in Chapters x. and xxix. CHAPTER X Mahometans and Southern Tribes