INTRODUCTION.

The great number of inquiries addressed to the War Department from all parts of the United States calling for information regarding the Philippine Islands, has indicated that a printed compendium of such information would be practically useful to the American people. The present work is designed to furnish such information.

The standard literature relating to the Philippines at the time of American occupation was generally confined to books in Spanish, German, French, and Dutch, and largely of ancient date. The English books were usually translations, Admiralty surveys, trade statistics, and consular reports. The hydrographic data contained in Spanish and English charts and instructions and United States compilations from the same, were limited to the requirements of navigators only.

In the compilations of this work not only the existing literature but all available reports from military, naval, and civil officers, giving the observations and results of campaigns, expeditions, reconnaissances, etc., have been consulted. When this data was collected by provinces it was submitted to officers returning from the Philippine Islands to make corrections and additions from their personal knowledge and experience. Their replies were universally commendatory of the character and scope of the work and of its value for ready refererence. In many instances their replies were accompanied by new material which was incorporated in the text.

A feature is the spelling and pronunciation of local geographic names. This subject has been given careful consideration. The value of letters affected by symbols of sounds is phonetically explained, as is also the etymology of words whose origin, whether foreign, Spanish, Tagálog, or native, is indicated. The origin of the names of places, in the various dialects of all the islands, is shown by the following abbreviations:

Nat. Native word common to more than one dialect.

The work thus completed contains the most recent and authoritative information, from official and other sources, respecting the Philippine (Archipelago) Islands, their geography, physical features, areas, communications, population, towns, resources, wealth, products, industries, commerce, finances, social economy, natural history, military occupation, and civil government, followed by an alphabetically arranged descriptive list of islands, provinces, districts, townships (pueblos), cities, towns, hamlets, ranges, mountains, peaks, volcanoes, rivers, seas, straits, gulfs, sounds, bays, lakes, promontories, capes, points, light-houses, and other mapped objects and places, numbering upward of 10,300, with maps, charts, and illustrations.

The encyclopedic features have reference only to information of a practical nature associated with the places described.

EXPLANATION OF THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF NAMES.

If we except some foreign names, especially the English names or places situated on the island of Palawan and surrounding seas, the orthography of the geographical names of the Philippine Archipelago is in the main Spanish. It is so in spelling and also in accentuation.

The Spanish colonists not only gave names in their own language to different places in the islands, but in writing the native words in Roman characters used, as was to be expected, the Spanish spelling and accent. Alcántara, Nueva Ecija, La Laguna, La Unión, and many other names are genuine Spanish. On the other hand, Luzón, Pampanga, and Bulacán, illustrations of originally indigenous words with Spanish spelling and sound, are native words written as they sounded to the Spanish ear, therefore but the development into a Spanish form of the native words, as Lusong (Luzón), which means a rice mortar; Kapangpangan, a place where river banks abound; Bulakan (with the accent on the second syllable), a country where cotton is raised and grown.

A great number of native names, however, have been kept, although in several cases some differences may be observed between the native sound and the Spanish spelling, on account either of the location of accent or of subordinating the word to Spanish grammatical rules.

There is pending a controversy among Spanish writers and Filipino scholars, with whom a good many foreign authorities agree, in reference to the orthography of native names.

The contention of the latter is chiefly that c after any vowel, and before a, o, and u, must be superseded by k; c before e and i by s; j by h; o and u in diphthongs by w; qu by k.

Thus Antique must be Antike; Abúcay must be Abúkay; Balábac must be Balábak; Loay must be Lway; Lalauan must be Lalawan; Cebú must be Sebú; Jalajala must be Halahala. As it is not the pur pose to indulge in this linguistic discussion, it may be said in passing that the general sentiment of Americans in the islands favors the reform intended by the native writers, since such movement is harmonious with the value of letters in the English language and with he modern writing of Malayan words. English books and maps have already adopted it.

In this Gazetteer, however, the old Spanish orthography is generally retained, pending official action taken to implant the change referred to, not only because the Government publications follow that system, but also with the view of avoiding further confusion on the subject.

ACCENTUATION.

Some of the most general rules relating to Spanish accentuation are here set forth in a condensed way, so as to give an idea as to the proper place for accent marks, as follows:

I. All words ending in a vowel, or in n or s, which are accented on the last syllable must bear the accent mark on that syllable (Alcalá, Bacón, Alós), the rule being that the greater part of words ending in a vowel, or in n or s, are accented on the penultimate (Alfonso, Balbagan, Calamianes).

II. All words ending in a consonant other than n or s and which are accented on the penultimate must bear the accent mark (Abúyog, Apálit, Balábac), the rule being that the greater part of words ending in other consonants than n or s are accented on the last syllable (Ambil, Bagac, Dumanjug).

III. All words accented on a syllable previous to the penultimate must bear the accent mark (Álcántara, Príncipe).

We omit here many other rules, because the above-mentioned suffice to enable the reader to familiarize himself with the accentuation of the names contained in the Gazetteer.

KEY TO PRONUNCIATION.

Irrespective of having attached to each name its pronunciation by means of orthoepical representations, familiar to English-speaking people, there are given in the accompanying table the sounds of the letters of the Spanish alphabet, and of certain signs peculiar to native writing:

Sounds like English h before e and i..

lue and ui after g sound like e and i, respectively

Is not pronounced in Spanish names

Is like English h in native names....

Like English h.....

As in English.

Sounds like the letters lli in the English million......

m

As in English.

Has the sound of the letters ni in the English pinion..

Agútay.
Sibuguey.

Lanao, Mauban.

Canahauan, Laoag.

Bontoc.

Casolgan, Colasi, Culili.

Cervera (Sp.), Cinapuran

(nat.).

Chocolate, Chongos.

Gapán, Golo, Gusá.

Gerona, Gimanoc.
Guernica, Guiguintô.
Horadada.
Hagonoy.
Janiuay, Jaro.

Llana-Hermosa.

San o Niño.

Sounds like ng in the English word singer; without the tilde Mangaldán, Pantabangán. sounds like ng in the word finger.

Sounds like k. Ue and ui after a sound like e and i respect- Quensitog, Quinabugan. ively.

As in English.

Reference may be made to the little care the Spaniards took in correctly pronouncing the nasal consonant ng or simply ğ, and the deep vowels. For instance, Balanga is pronounced by Spaniards bah-lahn'-gah (the last a with a flat sound), and by the native is pronounced bah-lang'-ach (the last vowel with a deep and somewhat guttural sound).