LUKBAN
uniting that arm of the sea called the Western Sea of Samar on the north and the bay of San Pedro and San Pablo on the south.
Towards the end of the 19th century at the beginning of the American pacification campaigns, the coasts of Samar had yet to be explored, especially the eastern coast, which is irregular, mountainous, and bordered with small islands and large rocks.
On the map, Samar looks like an oblong square but is very irregular in the southwestern part. It is about 20 leagues long in a straight line from north to south, and about 20 leagues wide in the northern part from east to west. The interior part is mountainous,“ with sheer ravines and swift, rushing rivers. In the rainy season, the floods--the dreaded avenidas--pile the water high in the gorges and sweep everything from their path. It was a place of great snakes and malaria mosquitos and sludgy, oozing swamps on the fringes of the forested mountains. Here and there were the abandoned kaingins( swidden farms)- the clearings of the mountain tribes, grown high with lush cogon grass and tigbao …. there were not five miles of road on the island.” 4
The area of Samar and the adjacent islands was estimated to be 13,471 square kilometers. At the turn of the 20th century, its population reached 185,386. Its principal towns were Catbalogan, the capital, with a population of 6,072, Balangiga, with 4, 130, Basey with 12,852, Borongan, with 12,563, Calbayog, with 20,725, Catarman with 9,495, Catubig with 11,517; Gandara with 11,101, and Guiuan with 12,872. Its mountains were said to be populated with about 10,000 natives“ who live an independent and almost savage life.” 5
Yet parts of Samar were fertile valleys under cultivation producing crops that gave sustenance to its population. It had an abundance of fine lumber that was especially suitable for shipbuilding, many varieties of wild fruits, various kinds of bamboo, roots suitable for food, rattan, game, and fish. Wax and honey, abundant in the extensive forests, were much prized by the inhabitants. Coconuts were also grown in abundance, and many of the inhabitants were engaged in extracting the oil, particularly in the vicinity of Guiuan. At the time of the American pacification campaign, the inhabitants produced rice, coconuts and hemp, the last two being their cash crops that they sold to merchants to trade in the pueblos. Special mention was made of a medicinal plant called“ isigud” or the fruit of San Ignacio, known also as Catbalogan seed, because it was grown in the vicinity of that town. It was said to be an antidote for certain kinds of poisons. 6
Catbalogan is strategically located at the central point among several coastal towns. This was seen by the early Jesuit missionaries who came in 1596 in their mission of evangelization, although their first
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