The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao: The R. F. Cummings Philippine ExpeditionCole, Fay-Cooper
History
The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao: The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition
Cole, Fay-Cooper
Ethnology -- Philippines -- Mindanao Island
This tribe is found in the mountains on the west side of Davao Gulf
beginning at an east and west line drawn through Bulatakay and extending
south to Sarangani Point, and they also appear in small numbers in the
Sarangani Islands which lie just south of the mainland. At Bulatakay
they are a day's march back from the coast and to reach them it is
necessary to pass for several hours through a rolling belt of forest
land, then as the mountains are approached, gently sloping cogon plains
about ten miles in width are crossed. West of Malalag they are still far
from the sea with a belt of hill Tagakaolo between them and the coast
people. In this region they have spread out in considerable numbers on
to the grass plains, and for this reason are locally known as Tagkogon
"dwellers in the cogon." On the gulf side of the divide, south of
Malalag, they are found in small groups far back in the mountains, while
between them and the sea are Tagakaolo, Kulaman and Moro. Along the
watershed between the districts of Davao and Cotabato they possess all
the territory and even extend in some numbers into the lowlands toward
Lake Buluan. They are distinctly a mountain people, having never reached
the sea, except near Sarangani Point, until after the advent of the
American. Since then a few hundred have been induced to move to the
coast plantations, and the town of Labau has been established on the
Padada river about six miles back of the coast. According to Mr. H. S.
Wilson, tribal ward headman for the Bila-an, this tribe numbers about
ten thousand persons, of which number fifteen hundred reside on the
Sarangani Islands.
The material here presented was gathered from the people of Labau, the
Malalag cogon, and those living near the headwaters of the Ma-al and
Padada rivers.
Formerly a neutral, uninhabited belt extended between them and the coast
people, and at stated intervals they went to recognized trading points
in this territory to exchange their agricultural and forest products for
salt, fish, and other articles of barter. Beyond this trading and an
occasional fight, they had few dealings with the coast people and seem
never to have encountered the Spaniard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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