consist for the most part of dark brown rocks,
honey-combed in many places by the action of the waves. The islands
are fertile, abounding in hogs, cattle, horses, mules, and many
other agreeable things; while in order that, like other countries in
this sublunary world, they may lay claim to a portion of
disagreeables, they are infested with mosquitoes and endless
varieties of loathsome insects; and the fish that are found around
the coasts are not fit for food. So much for the country--now for
the natives:--They are tall, robust, and active; the men wear
scarcely any covering, and the women only a petticoat of matting.
Both sexes stain their teeth black, and many of them tattoo their
bodies. The Ladrone Islands were originally discovered by Magellan,
who called them 'las Islas de las Ladrones' or the islands of
thieves; because the Indians stole everything made of iron within
their reach. At the latter end of the seventeenth century, they
obtained the name of Marianne from the Queen of Spain, who sent
missionaries thither to propagate the Christian religion. Guajan is
the largest island of the group. Near the Ladrones lies the famous
pyramidal rock called 'Lot's wife.' A sea neither broken nor
interrupted for an immense space in all directions, here dashes with
sublime violence on the solid mass which rises almost
perpendicularly to a height of 350 feet. On the south-east side is a
deep cavern, where the waves resound with a prodigious noise."

MR. BARRAUD. "The Philippine Isles fall to my share. They are,
correctly speaking, in the Eastern Archipelago. Luzon, the most
northerly, is the largest: it is a long narrow island, and, like all
the others, abounding in volcanoes. Gold, iron, and copper have been
found in the mountains, and rock salt is so abundant in some parts
as to be an article of export. These islands are exceedingly
mountainous and fertile, but from the large swamps are very
unhealthy. There are no beasts of prey, but numerous herds of
cattle; the inhabitants, however, are too indolent to profit by
these gifts of nature; they are actually too idle to make their
cow's milk into butter, and throughout the islands use hog's lard
instead, because they will not be at the trouble of keeping and
milking the cows. Rice is the chief support of the population.
Sugar, coffee, and many other delightful things grow here, and
cotton shrubs thrive well. Manilla is the only port of trade in the
Philippines: it is a for