arthquakes so often
felt in the island of Luzon. Over almost the whole of these
mountains, where fire has played so conspicuous a part,
there is a great depth of vegetable earth, and they are
covered with a most splendid vegetation. Their declivities
nourish immense forests and fine pastures in which grow
gigantic trees--palm trees, rattans, and lianas of a
thousand kinds, or gramineous plants of various sorts,
particularly the wild sugar cane, which rises to the height
of from nine to twelve feet from the ground; in their
interior are rich mines of copper, gold, iron, and coal.

[Illustration: Growing tobacco on the Philippine islands.]

"There are two distinct and strongly marked seasons in the
island of Luzon, namely, the rainy or the wintry season, and
the dry or summer season. For six months of the year--that
is from June to December--the wind blows from the south-west
to the north-east, and then the declivities of the mountains
and all the western side of the island are in the season of
the rains; in the six other months, the wind changes, and
blows from the north-east to the south-west, when all the
eastern parts of the island have the season of winter.
During the rainy season, the incessant fall of rain on the
mountains causes the rivers, both large and small, to
overflow and to become torrents, that rush down upon the
plains, covering them with water, and depositing the broken
earth and slime which they have gathered in their course. In
the dry season, water is supplied for irrigation from
reservoirs, which are carefully filled during the rains.
From these causes it follows that without any manuring, and
with scarcely any improvement from human industry, the soil
of the Philippines is as fertile as any in the world; so
that, without great labor, the cultivator has most abundant
harvests."

The above description of the Philippines by Gironiere gives a faithful
account of the vast resources of the islands. Of the products
cultivated rice and tobacco are the most important. The finest tobacco
plantations are situated in the northern parts of the island of Luzon,
and furnish the finest quality of Manilla tobacco. That grown in the
Visayos is of an inferior quality, and is sold to merchants holding a
permit to purchase at the shipping ports and transport to M