Note 4 — Letters from Father Mateo Gisbert to the Reverend Fathers and Brothers of Veruela

Dr. Barrows says (Census of Philippines, i, p. 461): “Manobo is a native word which, in the Bagobo language on the Gulf of Dávao, means ‘man.’ It is so given in Padre Gisbert’s vocabulary and also in a special vocabulary taken for the ethnological survey. Blumentritt, however, suggests—and I believe with merit—that Manobo here in Northern Mindanao is a derivation of Manubo, which is itself derived from Masuba, meaning ‘people of the river.’ This term Manobo should be retained for all of this great group living along the affluents and tributary streams of the river Agusan, and the term might, with propriety, I believe, be extended to the Montes farther west and back of Misamis. If there are objections to applying the term Manobo to these pagans of Misamis, I would suggest the application of our general term Bukidnon.”