e, and is the latest and highest
authority on all the subjects to which it relates, and they include
the solid information the business men of the United States want
respecting our Asiatic associations. The memorandum is herewith
submitted in substance, and all the particulars of public concern.

Area and Population.

These islands, including the Ladrones, Carolinas and Palaos, which
are all under the Government of Manila, are variously estimated at
from 1,200 to 1,300 in number. The greater portion of these are small
and of no more value than the islands off the coast of Alaska. The
important islands are less than a dozen in number, and 90 per cent. of
the Christian population live on Luzon and the five principal islands
of the Visayas group.

The total population is somewhere between 7,000,000 and 9,000,000. This
includes the wild tribes of the mountains of Luzon and of the islands
in the extreme south. The last census taken by the Spanish Government
was on December 31, 1887, and this stated the Christian population
to be 6,000,000 (in round numbers). This is distributed as follows:

Per
Area. Population. Sq. Mile.
Luzon 44,400 3,426,000 79
Panay 4,700 735,000 155
Cebu 2,400 504,000 210
Leyte 3,300 279,000 71
Bohol 1.300 245,000 188
Negros 3,300 242,000 73
====== ========= ===
59,800 5,422,000 91

The density of population in these six islands is nearly 50 per
cent. greater than in Illinois and Indiana (census of 1890), greater
than in Spain, about one-half as great as in France, and one-third
as great as in Japan and China, the exact figures being as follows:

Area. Population. Per Sq. Mile.
Illinois 56,000 3,826,351 68
Indiana 35,910 2,192,494 61
------ --------- ---
91,910 6,018,755 64

Spain 197,670 17,565,632 88
France 204,092 38,517,975 189
Japan 147,655 42,270,620 286
China 1,312,328 383,253,029 292

The next most important islands, in the order of population, are: