Bruce Edward Butler

Alouda Bruce Edward Butler

When American missionaries first visited Mindoro Island, The Philippines in the early 1950s, they found forty-five thousand indigenous people waiting for them. The Mangyan people knew from dreams, visions and divine visitations that "a strange-looking people" would come, bringing a "big black book" from which to teach them a new way of life. (Catherine L. Davis, The Spirits of Mindoro, Monarch Books,1998) In 1978, anthropologists discovered the Tau't Batu (Cave People), living in an inaccessible remote basin in the Philippines. The Cave People had no contact with humans outside of their valley before that time. The idea that any group of people could remain geographically and culturally isolated from the rest of the world into the late Twentieth Century is remarkable. As a young nation, the United States of America recognized the importance of its Pacific Ocean frontier. In 1838, they sent their first expedition to study this vast area. This group of scientists, led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, produced twenty-eight volumes of data and abundant specimens of flora and fauna. They also made contact with many island peoples. What do these seemingly unrelated facts have to do with the story you are about to read? Each is a historical anchor for Alouda.