and the lake of Bay (a freshwater
lake, of many leguas in circumference), and extends along the coasts
of this arm, both northern and southern, more than fifty leguas
in a direct line, southeast and northeast--that is, from Manila to
Silangan, which is an island very near to that of Luzon. There ends
the archbishopric [of Manila]; also the Tagal province (which is
divided into six or eight districts of alcalde-mayor and corregidor)
and the Tagal language.
11. The second and last province of this eastern arm is Camarines,
which has a different language, and belongs to another bishopric. It
begins at the village of Paracali, which is on the northern coast and
has some rich gold mines. It is distant from Manila sixty leguas,
and extends almost forty eastward, as far as the extremity of this
island. Here is the city of Nueva Caceres, where there is a bishopric
and a cathedral, and an alcalde-mayor; the Spanish population
is very small, but there are many Indians, as also in the entire
province. Inland from these two provinces there are some Cimarron
Indians, who are not yet conquered. This arm [of land] is almost a
hundred leguas long, and ten to twenty wide; its northern ports are
mentioned below in section 91.
12. At the center where these two arms of land meet, in the middle
and on the shores of a beautiful bay--closed in from the sea; thirty
leguas in circumference, and eight wide; and everywhere clear,
soundable, and safe--at the mouth and on the banks of the great
river of Bay [i.e., Pasig River] (which, having flowed four leguas
from its own lake, empties into this sea) is built the distinguished
city of Manila, the capital and court of Filipinas. It is, for its
size, the richest in the world; a special account of it will soon
be given. Entrance into this bay is furnished by a passage on its
western side, four leguas in width. In the middle of this passage,
eight leguas from Manila and opposite this city, is an islet called
Maribelez; it is inhabited, and is two leguas in circuit in 14 1/2 deg.
latitude. It serves as a watch-tower to look for foreign ships,
which can be seen fifteen leguas at sea.
13. The "Modern Geographer," which was printed at Amsterdam in four
large volumes in Latin and Castilian, containing the geographical
maps of the world, does not present a map of these islands, although
it gives a special one of the Molucas or Ternate Islands which are
adjacent to the Filipinas. For lack of faciliti
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