Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

2-46 AUSTRALASIA.the surrounding waters. But about the Gulf of Davao, in South Mindanao, thecontrary movement of subsidence has taken place, as shown by the dead or dyingforests invaded by the sea.The Philippines abound in minerals. The natives collect gold in the alluviaof all the islands, but especially in the province of Benguet, Central Luzon, andabout the north-east point of Surigao, in Mindanao. Copper is common in theLepanto hills bordering on the same central district of Luzon, where from timeimmemorial the natives have extracted the ore and wrought it into implementsand ornaments. The blacksmiths also have at hand an excellent iron ore for theirarms and instruments.Cebu is said to contain lead-glance yielding nearly half ofits weight in pure metal, while the solfataras of many extinct volcanoes haveformed inexhaustible deposits of sulphur.Extinct or still active craters are relatively as numerous in the Philippines asin the Eastern Archipelago, and all seem disposed in regular axes coinciding withthose of the islands themselves. In the islet of Dumaran, at the north-east endof Paragua, rise the two active cones of Alivancia and Talaraquin, and Sulu hasalso its burning mountain, which, however, appears to have been quiescent sincethe eruption of 1641. Sarangani, or Sangil, at the southern extremity of Mindanao,hasalso been at rest since the seventeenth century. On the range runningthence northwards stands the Apo volcano, which was ascended by Montano in1880, and found to be the highest in the Philij^pines (10,-310 feet). The islet ofCamiguin, belonging to the same coast range, forms another igneous cone, whichwas the scene of a violent outburst in 1871.West of Apo follow in the direction from south to north several cones, such asSugut (Cottabato), Macaturin, and Malindang, all probably extinct, but apparentlyconnected through the western islands with the Taal volcano in Luzon. Along thisline occiirs the still active Malaspina or Canloon, in the northern part of Negros(9,0-40 feet).The eastern coast range in Mindanao, consisting mainly of basalts, appears tocontain no volcano, unless the large and deep lake Mainit, near the extreme headlandof Surigao, is to be regarded as an old crater. The coast range is continuednorthwards through the island of Leyte, where the argillaceous soil, near thewooded crater of an extinct cone, yields about one-fourth of pure sulphur.But the igneous energy of the Philippines is concentrated mainly in Luzon,where the superb Bulusan volcano stands at the southernmost extremity connectedby a narrow isthmus with the peninsula of Camarines. Farther north follow thecraterless Poedal, and on the Gulf of Albay, the Albay, or Maj'on volcano, themost dreaded as well as one of the highest (9,000 feet ?) in the whole archipelago.Mayon, which is of almost perfectly regular form, covers at its base a circuit ofover eighty square miles, its flanks are clothed with forests to a height of abouttwo thousand feet, but higher up little is visible except deposits of scoria;, whichare very difficult to scale.Nevertheless, both Jagor and Von Drasche reached thesummit, the latter in 1876, when no trace could be detected of a crater properlyso called During its frequent eruptions Mayon ejects little lava but prodigious