g
that his vessel would fall into their clutches, slipped anchor and put
out to sea again, escaping shipwreck with the greatest difficulty. The
pirates, as a rule, do not kill their prisoners, but employ them as
rowers. But Europeans seldom survive their captivity: the tremendous
labor and the scanty food are too much for them. Their clothes always
being stripped off their back, they are exposed naked to all sorts
of weather, and their sole daily support is a handful of rice.

CHAPTER XII

[Camarines.] No favorable change in the weather was expected in
Albay before the month of January. It stormed and rained all day. I
therefore determined to change my quarters to South Camarines, which,
protected from the monsoon by the high range of hills running along
its north-eastern boundary, enjoyed more decent weather. The two
provinces of Camarines form a long continent, with its principal
frontage of shore facing to the north-east and to the south-west;
which is about ten leagues broad in its middle, and has its shores
indented by many bays. From about the center of its north-eastern
shore there boldly projects the Peninsula of Caramuan, connected with
the mainland of Camarines by the isthmus of Isarog. The north-eastern
portion of the two provinces contains a long range of volcanic hills;
the south-western principally consisted, as far as my investigations
permitted me to discover, of chalk, and coral reefs; in the midst
of the hills extends a winding and fertile valley, which collects
the waters descending from the slopes of the mountain ranges, and
blends them into a navigable river, on the banks of which several
flourishing hamlets have established themselves. This river is called
the Bicol. The streams which give it birth are so abundant, and the
slope of the sides of the valley, which is turned into one gigantic
rice-field, is so gentle that in many places the lazy waters linger
and form small lakes.

[A chain of volcanoes.] Beginning at the south-eastern extremity, the
volcanoes of Bulusan, Albay, Mazaraga, Iriga, Isarog, and Colasi--the
last on the northern side of San Miguel bay--are situated in a straight
line, extending from the south-east to the north-west. Besides these,
there is the volcano of Buhi, or Malinao, a little to the north-east of
the line. The hamlets in the valley I have mentioned are situated in
a second line parallel to that of the volcanoes. The southern portion
of the province is sparsely