Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

248 AUSTRALASIA.whose slopes occupy the whole space between the buys of San Miguel aud Lagonoy,terminating in a regular cone, 6,450 feet high. Ysarog has been quiescent throughoutmodern times, and the only sign of former energy appears to be a spring ofcarbonic acid near the summit.The northern part of the Camarines peninsidais dominated by the two volcanicmasses of Colasi and Labo (Tetas de Polantuna), which, however, have no craters,and apparently have been at rest since prehistoric times. Majayjay (6,500 feet)and San Cristobal (7,660 feet), south-east from Manilla, are also extinct. But westof them stands the volcano of Taal, which, although only 780 feet high, is one ofthe most remarkable in the Philippines. It occupies, with two other lesser cones,rig. lOS.— Centeal Past or Luzon.Scale 1 : ?,600 000.=MANILLA.-^^=.^'Fast oF Gan islet in the middle of Lake Bombon, which is separated from the ChinaSea by a low narrow isthmus. Taal, whose flanks are furrowed by deep gorges,terminates in an enormous crater, out of all prof)ortion with its size. "Purgatory,"as the natives call this crater, has a circumference of over 4,300 yards, and containsin its depths secondary craters, numerous crevasses emitting vapours, and two bluelakelets charged with sulphuric and hydrochloric acids in the proportion of oversix per cent. Formerlj' the two other volcanoes in the island—the Great andLittle Binintiang—ejected ashes alternately, and the bed of the lake itself wasoccasionally in a state of erujition ;but since 1749 all the underground forceshave been centred in Mount Taal, which casts up showers of pidverised rock, but