Philippine Islands, situated in 5° 30'-19° 42' N. lat.. and 117° 14'-126° 4' E. long., in the great In- dian Archipelago, to the north of Borneo and Celebes, are more than twelve hundred in number, and have an area of about 150,000 square miles. The popula- tion is over 6,000,000, three fourths of whom are sub- ject to Spain. The remainder are governed, according to their own laws and customs, by independent native princes. Luzon, in the north, has an area of 51,300 square miles, and Mindanao, or Magindanao, in the south, fully 25,000. The islands lying between Luzon and Mindanao are called the Bisayas, the largest of which are: Samar, area 13,020 square miles; Miudoro, 12,600; Panay, 11,340; Leyte, 10,080; Negros, 6300; Masbate, 4200; and Zebu, 2352. There are upwards of a thousand lesser islands of which little is known. To the south-west of the Bisayas lies the long, narrow isl- and of Paragoa or Palawan, formed of a mountain-chain with low coast-lines, cut with numerous streams, and exceedingly fertile. The foiests abound in ebony, log- wood, gum-trees, and bamboos. To the north of Luzon lie the Batanen, Bashee, and Babuyan islands, the first two groups having about 8000 inhabitants, the last un- peopled. The Sooloo Islands form a long chain from Mindanao to Borneo, having the same mountainous and volcanic structure as the Philippine Islands, and all are probably fragments of a submerged continent. Many active volcanoes are scattered through the islands; Mayon, in Luzon, and Buhayan, in Mindanao, often causing great devastation. The mountain-chains run north and south, and never attain a greater elevation than 7000 feet. The islands have many rivers, the coasts are indented with deep bays, and there are many lakes in the interior. Earthquakes are frequent and destructive. The soil is extremely fertile, except where extensive marshes occur. In Mindanao are numerous lakes, which expand during the rainy season into in- land seas. Rain may be expected from May to Decem- ber, and from June to November the land is flooded. Violent hurricanes are experienced in the north of Lu- zon and west coast of Mindanao. Especially during the changes of the monsoons, storms of wind, rain, thunder
and lightning prevail. The weather is very fine, and heat moderate, from December to May, when the tem- perature rapidly rises and becomes oppressive, except for a short time after a fall of rain. The fertility of t he soil and the humid atmosphere produce a richness of veg- etation which is nowhere surpassed. Blossoms and fruit hang together on the trees, and the cultivated fields yield a constant succession of crops. Immense forests spread over the Philippine Islands, clothing the moun- tains to their summits; ebony, iron-wood, cedar, sapan- wood, gum-trees, etc., being laced together and gar- landed by the bush-rope or palasan, which attains a length of several hundred feet. The variety of fruit- trees is great, including the orange, citron, bread-fruit, mango, cocoa-nut, guava, tamarind, rose-apple, etc.; other important products of the vegetable kingdom be- ing the banana, plantain, pine-apple, sugar-cane, cot- ton, tobacco, indigo, coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, cassia, the areca-nut, ginger, pepper, etc., with rice, wheat, maize, and various other cereals. Gold is found in river-beds and detrital deposits, being used, in the form of dust, as the medium of exchange in Mindanao. Iron is plentiful, and fine coal-beds, from one to four feet thick, have been found. Copper has long been worked in Luzon. There are also limestone, a fine variegated marble, sulphur in unlimited quantity, quicksilver, ver- milion, and saltpetre — the sulphur being found both native and in combination with copper, arsenic, and iron. Except the wild-cat, beasts of prey are unknown. There are oxen, buffaloes, sheep, goats, swine, harts, squirrels, and a great variety of monkeys. The jun- gles swarm with lizards, snakes, and other reptiles; the rivers and lakes with crocodiles. Huge spiders, taran- tulas, white ants, mosquitoes, and locusts are plagues which form a set-off to the beautiful fireflies, the brill- iant queen -beetle (Elater noctilucus), the melody of myriads of birds, the turtle-doves, pheasants, birds-of- paradise, and many lovely species of paroquets, with which the forests are alive. " Hives of wild bees hang from the branches, and alongside of them are the nests of humming-birds dangling in the wind." The caverns along the shores are frequented by the swallow, whose edible nest is esteemed by the Chinese a rich delicacy. Some of them are also tenanted by multitudes of bats of immense size. Buffaloes are used for tillage and draught; a small horse for riding. Fowls are plentiful, and incredible numbers of ducks are artificially hatched. Fish is in great abundance and variety. Mother-of- pearl, coral, amber, and tortoise-shell are important ar- ticles of commerce. The principal exports are sugar, tobacco, cigars, indigo, Manilla hemp, coffee, rice, dye- woods, hides, gold-dust, and beeswax.
Native Population. — The Tagals and Bisayans are the most numerous native races. They dwell in the cities and cultivated lowlands; 2,500,000 being converts to Roman Catholicism, and a considerable number, espe- cially of the Bisayans, Mohammedan. The mountain districts are inhabited by a negro race, who, in features, stature, and savage mode of living, closely resemble the Alfoors of the interior of Papua, and are probably the aborigines driven back before the inroads of the Ma- lays. A few of the negroes are Christian, but they are chiefly idolaters, or without any manifest form of relig- ion, and roaming about in families, without fixed dwell- ing. The Mestizos form an influential part of the pop- ulation ; by their activity engrossing the greatest share of the trade. These are mostly of Chinese fathers and native mothers.