o gives the
name of the genus as Ugena. The glossy, wiry stems are used in the
making of fine hats, mats, cigarette and cigar cases, etc. See Census
of Philippines, iv, p. 166.

[337] The balate is an echinoderm found abundantly in the Visayas, of
which Delgado describes three varieties (p. 935): namely the Holothuria
scabra (Jager), which is white; the Holothuria atra (Jager), which
is black; and the bacongan or Synapta similis (Semper), which is of
larger size. The second variety is most esteemed. It was sold dry
in the Visayas or taken to Manila and sold, where they were worth
thirty-five or forty or even more silver pesos per pico. The Chinese
especially esteemed them (and do so yet) and large sums were paid
for them in that country. The Filipinos occasionally ate them fresh,
but only in the absence of fish.

[338] Juan Francisco de San Antonio was born in Madrid in 1682, and
made his profession in the Franciscan order at the age of twenty. In
1724 he brought a mission band to the islands, and spent there the rest
of his life. His lifelong employ was in preaching, and as instructor in
theology--save fifteen years spent in Indian villages near Manila. He
died in that city May 29, 1744, the same year in which the last volume
of his Cronicas was published. See Huerta's Estado, p. 537.

[339] These are the Tagablis or Tagabili, also called Tagabelies,
Tagabaloy, Taga-bulu, Tagbalooys, etc. Murillo Velarde, in his map,
places them west of Caraga and Bislig in Mindanao, but this district
has been found to contain only Manobos and Mandayas. They are probably
the heathen Malay people living between the bay of Sarangani and Lake
Buluan, whence their name, meaning perhaps "people of Buluan." See
Blumentritt's Native Tribes of Philippines (Mason's translation),
and Census of Philippines, i, p. 476.

[340] The cloth made from abaca alone is called sinamay; that
made of abaca and pineapple fiber, jusi; and that from a specially
selected grade of abaca, much finer and more difficult to extract
than commercial hemp or that used in making other cloths, lupis. See
Census of Philippines, iv, p. 19.

[341] Zuniga (Estadismo) mentions the Chinese mestizo population of
Tambobong or Malabon (now in Rizal province) as about 7,500. Some of
them had acquired by trade property to the value of 40,000 pesos. The
tribute collected from all the Chinese mestizos of Luzon numbered
10,500, over 8,000 of which came from the provinces immediate