The narrative is so vividly descriptive – it is like being
transported in time. Some of the people in the photos could be my great-great
grandparents or yours – absolutely possible! It will take you maybe 10 minutes
to read so please click the webpage address. Real interesting history: from the
time the Spaniards built a settlement in Lanao and withdrew for safety reasons –
it took another 250 years before they returned for more permanent settlements
and sailed the lake with gun-boats they virtually dragged to the Lanao heights
in pieces. Amusing thoughts – how did they do it?
transported in time. Some of the people in the photos could be my great-great
grandparents or yours – absolutely possible! It will take you maybe 10 minutes
to read so please click the webpage address. Real interesting history: from the
time the Spaniards built a settlement in Lanao and withdrew for safety reasons –
it took another 250 years before they returned for more permanent settlements
and sailed the lake with gun-boats they virtually dragged to the Lanao heights
in pieces. Amusing thoughts – how did they do it?
AMPHIBIOUS INFANTRY
A FLEET ON LAKE LANAO
By COLONEL PARKER HITT, U.S. Army (Retired)
A little to the west of the center of Mindanao lies Lake
Lanao, filling the crater of a vast, extinct volcano at an elevation of 2,300
feet above sea level.
Lanao, filling the crater of a vast, extinct volcano at an elevation of 2,300
feet above sea level.
It is the second largest body of fresh water in the
Philippines and its only outlet is the Agus River, breaking through the north
wall of the crater just east of Camp Keithley. Twenty miles away the south wall
of the crater rises 800 to 1,000 feet almost sheer out of the lake, while the
eastern shore is flat, alluvial soil brought down by the many streams flowing
in from the eastward. Except at some places on this east shore, boats drawing 4
to 6 feet can go close inshore almost anywhere. Some experimental soundings in
the center of the lake found no bottom at 1,000 feet. The wind is always tricky
and violent at times, over waters surrounded by mountains, and in this respect
Lake Lanao is no exception to the rule. The rainfall runs from 60 to 80 inches
a year, mostly in violent tropical showers, and formidable waterspouts are not
uncommon. The lake natives handle their vintas well under sail, oar, or paddle
and do most of their traveling by water, but it is noteworthy that their boats
are rarely found more than a mile or two from shore.
Philippines and its only outlet is the Agus River, breaking through the north
wall of the crater just east of Camp Keithley. Twenty miles away the south wall
of the crater rises 800 to 1,000 feet almost sheer out of the lake, while the
eastern shore is flat, alluvial soil brought down by the many streams flowing
in from the eastward. Except at some places on this east shore, boats drawing 4
to 6 feet can go close inshore almost anywhere. Some experimental soundings in
the center of the lake found no bottom at 1,000 feet. The wind is always tricky
and violent at times, over waters surrounded by mountains, and in this respect
Lake Lanao is no exception to the rule. The rainfall runs from 60 to 80 inches
a year, mostly in violent tropical showers, and formidable waterspouts are not
uncommon. The lake natives handle their vintas well under sail, oar, or paddle
and do most of their traveling by water, but it is noteworthy that their boats
are rarely found more than a mile or two from shore.
As a rule, they prefer to go around rather than across the
lake.
lake.
The Lanao Moros have always been considered to be the
wildest and most intractable of the Moro tribes. Their number in 1639, when the
Spaniards first reached the lake, is not known but there were settlements all
around its shores. At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth
centuries, estimates by the Spaniards and Americans agree on a figure of about
15,000 living within 5 miles of the lake's shores. There are no towns; each
chief and man of any importance has a cotta or fort, built of earth or rock
with bamboo, rattan vines, and even trees growing in the walls, and in this
cotta there are one or several houses of bamboo and thatch for the man, his
wives and his retinue.
wildest and most intractable of the Moro tribes. Their number in 1639, when the
Spaniards first reached the lake, is not known but there were settlements all
around its shores. At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth
centuries, estimates by the Spaniards and Americans agree on a figure of about
15,000 living within 5 miles of the lake's shores. There are no towns; each
chief and man of any importance has a cotta or fort, built of earth or rock
with bamboo, rattan vines, and even trees growing in the walls, and in this
cotta there are one or several houses of bamboo and thatch for the man, his
wives and his retinue.
The heavy armament of these cottas is usually several
"lantakas" which are brass or bronze muzzle-loaders of from 1- to 3-inch
caliber, loaded with nails, scraps of metal or even stones. Many of these guns
are genuine antiques, having originally come from Spanish and other ships of
the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries as piratical loot or
salvage from wrecks. Small arms of every variety and age are widely scattered
among the Moros and the twisted kris (dagger) and broad-bladed kampilan are
their hand-to-hand weapons. They are good fighters, particularly on the defensive
from within their cottas, and they have the savage's usual respect for force so
that, when once overcome, they accept the situation and make no more trouble
until the control over them weakens.
"lantakas" which are brass or bronze muzzle-loaders of from 1- to 3-inch
caliber, loaded with nails, scraps of metal or even stones. Many of these guns
are genuine antiques, having originally come from Spanish and other ships of
the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries as piratical loot or
salvage from wrecks. Small arms of every variety and age are widely scattered
among the Moros and the twisted kris (dagger) and broad-bladed kampilan are
their hand-to-hand weapons. They are good fighters, particularly on the defensive
from within their cottas, and they have the savage's usual respect for force so
that, when once overcome, they accept the situation and make no more trouble
until the control over them weakens.
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