"It happens that a chief with bellicose and sanguinary instincts, who leads a nomad life and does not belong to the peaceful class which is given to farm life, organizes a gang of men of his sort, makes incursions in the wildest parts of the woods and raids the lone huts inhabited by savage and nomad families; he kills by treachery the grown-up people and carries off the children, which he can easily master; he then sells them to the peaceful farm dwellers, who sell them in their turn to the Christian pueblos. "As I have already said, such cases are happily rare. In Iligan and Misamis, which are far from the capital of the province, and therefore from the Court and the provincial authorities, the slaves have had less opportunity to claim their rights, and it is not astonishing that neither the slaves nor their masters have a true notion of what is meant by individual liberty, although the former are at least sure of their lives since they left the jurisdiction of the Moros, at whose absolute mercy they were, and are much better treated among the Christians. "I intend taking all necessary measures within my jurisdiction in order to put an end to such a hateful trade, and wait for any further instructions which you may deem it convenient to give me." Unfortunately neither the measures taken by Governor Corrales nor those adopted by his successors have sufficed to end this "hateful trade" in the province of Misamis. In July of the present year, [70] a man accused of holding two Bukidnon children in slavery did not deny the charge, but set up the defence that he was a resident of Misamis, where there was no law against this crime. He had been proceeded against under an anti-slavery law passed by the commission for the provinces under its exclusive jurisdiction, on the theory that he resided in Agusan. He won his case, proving that his house was about a hundred yards over the line. The revelations contained in the reports above mentioned naturally called for action. Inspector Sorenson's report was referred to the commission with the following indorsement:-- "Office of the Civil Governor, "Manila, August 13, 1903. "The Senior Inspector of Constabulary in the Province of Isabela reports that there is quite a slave trade in the Cagayan Valley. The report of Sorenson, the Inspector, is submitted to the Commission and I suggest a reference to Commissioner Wright in order that he may include in the Criminal Code some clauses which will enable us to reach this abuse. (Signed) "Wm. H. Taft, "Civil Governor."