these lonely and unhealthy mountains. Vic
told me that there had been so much sickness in Florida Blanca that
there was no quinine left in the place. My own stock was getting low,
and Vic and his family, as well as myself, used it daily. I had cured
the old Negrito chief with it, and he was very grateful to me, and
presented me with some very fine arrows in return.

For some time past I had heard rumours of an extraordinary tribe of
Negritos who lived further back in the mountains, and were named
Buquils, and whose women were reported to have beards. Vic, whom
I always found to be most truthful in everything, and who rarely
exaggerated, declared it was true, and furthermore told me that
these Buquils had long smooth hair, which proved that they could not
have been Negritos. Besides, I learnt that they were quite a tall
people. Nowhere in the whole world is there such a diversity of races
as in the Philippines, and so it would be quite impossible even to
guess what they were. Vic had once seen some of them himself when they
came on a visit to the lower mountains. Though I thought the story,
as to the women having beards, a fable, I determined to visit them
before I left these mountains, and the old Negrito chief, who also told
me that the women really did have beards, offered to lend me some of
his people to carry my things. But one day Vic heard that his lather
was dying, and when I tried to cheer him up he sobbed in a mixture
of broken Spanish and English, "One thousand senoritas can get, one
thousand children can get, but lose one father more cannot get." On
this account I had to return to Florida Blanca, and besides we were
all very bad with constant attacks of fever, and in this village we
could at all events get bread, milk and eggs to recuperate us. The
American had left for a long holiday, so I managed to hire a small
house where I could sort my collections before returning to Manila,
where I intended catching a steamer for the south Philippines.

One day the village priest (a Filipino) called on me, and in course
of conversation we spoke about these Buquils. He was most emphatic
that it was true about the women having beards, and he also told me
that no Englishman, American or Spaniard had ever penetrated so far
back in the mountains as to reach their villages. When he had left I
thought it over, and decided to go and see them for myself, though I
was still suffering from fever. Vic, whose father had recovered