o, while their language
is so closely related that individuals of the two divisions, meeting for
the first time can carry on a conversation. There is, however,
considerable variation between the dialects, both in intonation and
vocabulary.

Further study may result in raising this branch to the dignity of a
tribe, but the information at hand does not justify us in considering
them other than a dialect group of the Bagobo.

II. BILA-AN.

SYNONYMS.

(a) TAGALAGAD--"dwellers in the back country" is the name generally
applied to this tribe by the coast natives.

(b) TAGKOGON--"dwellers in the cogon"--The group living on the grass
plains west of Malalag.

(c) BULUAN, BULUANES--The members of this tribe dwelling near to Lake
Buluan. This group is sometimes identified with the Tagabili or Tagabulu
who also reside in that region.

(d) BIRA-AN, BARA-AN--Synonym for BILA-AN, often used by the neighboring
Bagobo.

(e) VILANES, BILANES.

(f) BALUD or TUMANAO--name sometimes applied by early writers to the
Bila-an who live on the Sarangani Islands.

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 establishe