imilar to the almond-tree,
although its trunk and leaves are much larger. These leaves are nearly
as large as the palm of the hand and shaped like a heart. It apparently
dies in September and revives in January, when the flower appears,
before the leaf; it is different from the balete, being larger and
of a different shape, and red like a ruby.

Among other plants brought from Nueva Espana to the Filipinas is the
anona, [59] which has grown larger and is more successfully raised
in these islands; it yields a most delicious and delicate fruit. It
also loses its leaves, but soon renews them, almost as quickly as
does the balete.

But, to return to the river of Manila--over which the passage to
the baths is made in boats, large or small according to the number
of passengers--by going up the stream the lagoon is reached; this,
with its forty leagues of circumference, is one of the most remarkable
objects in the world. All that region is full of rivers, villages,
and groves. The lagoon itself is of fresh water, and has many islets
which render it beautiful. It abounds in fish, and in herons, ducks,
and other water-fowl. Above all, it contains many crocodiles or caimans
(which there are called _buaya_), which cause great havoc among the
poor fishermen and traders who navigate the river--especially in
stormy weather, when the waters become tumultuous, as often happens,
and swamp their vessels.

Of the mission at Tigbauan, and what the fathers of the Society
accomplished there. Chapter XI.

In January of the year fifteen hundred and ninety-two, one of us two
who were employed at Taitai had to depart for the island of Panai to
give instruction and continue the work of conversion in the encomienda
of Tigbauan. The island of Panai, as I have already said, is in the
province of the Pintados, in the diocese of Sebu. It is a little
more than a hundred leguas in circumference, and, in all its extent,
most temperate and fertile. Its inhabitants are the Bissayas, a white
people, who have among them some blacks--the ancient inhabitants of the
island, who occupied it before the Bissayas did. They are not so dark
or ugly as are the natives of Guinea, but are very diminutive and weak;
but in their hair and beard they closely resemble the Guineans. They
are much more barbarous and untamed than are the Bissayas and most of
the Filipinos, for they have not, like those peoples, houses or fixed
sites for their villages. They do not sow