Negritos of Zambales | Page 8

Geographical Features
This little-known and comparatively unimportant province stretches
along the western coast of Luzon for more than 120 miles. Its average
width does not exceed 25 miles and is so out of proportion to its length

that it merits the title which it bears of the "shoestring province." [12]
The Zambales range of mountains, of which the southern half is known
as the Cordillera de Cabusilan and which is second in importance to the
Caraballos system of northern Luzon, forms the entire eastern boundary
of Zambales and separates it from the Provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac,
and Pampanga. A number of peaks rise along this chain, of which
Mount Pinatubo, 6,040 feet in height, is the highest. All of the rivers of
Zambales rise on the western slope of these mountains and carry
turbulent floods through the narrow plains. Still unbridged, they are an
important factor in preventing communication and traffic between
towns, and hence in retarding the development of the province. Another
important factor in this connection is the lack of safe anchorages. The
Zambales coast is a stormy one, and vessels frequently come to grief on
its reefs. At only one point, Subig Bay, can larger vessels find
anchorage safe from the typhoons which sweep the coast. The soil of
the well-watered plain is fertile and seems adapted to the cultivation of
nearly all the products of the Archipelago. The forests are especially
valuable, and besides fine timbers for constructional purposes they
supply large quantities of pitch, resin, bejuco, and beeswax. There are
no industries worth mentioning, there being only primitive agriculture
and stock raising.
The following opinions of Zambales set forth by a Spanish writer in
1880 still hold good: [13]
There are more populous and more civilized provinces whose
commercial and agricultural progress has been more pronounced, but
nowhere is the air more pure and transparent, the vegetation more
luxuriant, the climate more agreeable, the coasts more sunny, and the
inhabitants more simple and pacific.

Historical Sketch
According to Buzeta, another Spanish historian, it was Juan de Salcedo
who discovered Zambales. [14]

This intrepid soldier [he says], after having conquered Manila and the
surrounding provinces, resolved to explore the northern part of Luzon.
He organized at his own expense an expedition, and General Legaspi
gave him forty-five soldiers, with whom he left Manila May 20, 1572.
After a journey of three days he arrived at Bolinao, where he found a
Chinese vessel whose crew had made captives of a chief and several
other natives. Salcedo, retook these captives from the Chinese and gave
them their liberty. The Indians, who were not accustomed to such
generosity, were so touched by this act that they became voluntary
vassals of the Spaniards.
It seems that nothing further was done toward settling or evangelizing
the region for twelve years, although the chronicler goes on to say that
three years after the discovery of Bolinao a sergeant of Salcedo's
traversed the Bolinao region, receiving everywhere the homage of the
natives, and a Franciscan missionary, Sebastian Baeza, preached the
gospel there. But in 1584 the Augustinians established themselves at
the extreme ends of the mountain range, Bolinao and Mariveles. One of
them, the friar Esteban Martin, was the first to learn the Zambal dialect.
The Augustinians were succeeded by the Recollets, who, during the
period from 1607 to 1680, founded missions at Agno, Balincaguin,
Bolinao, Cabangan, Iba, Masinloc, and Santa Cruz. Then in 1680, more
than a hundred years after Salcedo landed at Bolinao, the Dominicans
undertook the active evangelization of the district.
Let us now examine [continues the historian [15]] the state of these
savage Indians whom the zealous Spanish missionaries sought to
convert. Father Salazar, after having described the topography of this
mountainous province, sought to give an idea of the political and social
state of the pagans who formed the larger part of the aboriginal
population: "The principal cause," he said, "of the barbarity of these
Indians, and that which prevents their ever being entirely and
pacifically converted, is that the distances are so great and
communication so difficult that the alcaldes can not control them and
the missionaries find it impossible to exercise any influence over
them."

Each village was composed of ten, twenty, or thirty families, united
nearly always by ties of kinship. It was difficult to bring these villages
together because they carried on wars continually, and they lived in
such a state of discord that it was impossible to govern them; moreover
they were so barbarous and fierce that they recognized only superior
power. They governed through fear. He who wished to be most
respected sought to inspire fear by striking off as many beads as
possible. The one who committed the most assassinations was thus
assured of the subordination of all. They made such a glory