the
contrary, that trees, which were torn up by the roots, took the place
of the sea for one hour on the shore, so that no water could be seen.

[Unreliable authorities.] The data of the Estado Geografico are apt to
create distrust as the official report on the great earthquake of 1641
describes in detail the eruptions of three volcanoes, which happened at
the same time (of these two were in the South of the Archipelago and
one in Northern Luzon) while Camarines is not mentioned at all. This
suspicion is further strengthened by the fact that the same author
(Nierembergius) whose remarks on the eruptions of 1628 in Camarines
are quoted, gives in another book of his a detailed report on the
events of 1641 without mentioning this province. If one considers
the indifference of the friars toward such events in Nature, it is
not improbable that the eruptions of 1641 when a mountain fell in in
Northern Luzon and a lake took its place, has been transferred on the
Iriga. To illustrate the indifference it may be mentioned that even
the padres living at the foot of the Albay could not agree upon the
dates of its very last eruptions.

[Another attempt at mountain climbing.] When I was at Tambong, a small
hamlet on the shore of the lake belonging to the parochial district
of Buhi, I made a second unsuccessful attempt to reach the highest
point of the Iriga. We arrived in the evening at the southern point
of the crater's edge (1,041 meters above the level of the sea by my
barometrical observation), where a deep defile prevented our further
progress. Here the Igorots abandoned me, and the low-landers refused
to bivouac in order to pursue the journey on the following day; so I
was obliged to return. Late in the evening, after passing through a
coco plantation, we reached the foot of the mountain and found shelter
from a tempest with a kind old woman; to whom my servants lied so
shamelessly that, when the rain had abated, we were, in spite of
our failure, conducted with torches to Tambong, where we found the
palm-grove round the little hamlet magically illuminated with bright
bonfires of dry coconut-leaves in honor of the Conquistadores del
Iriga; and where I was obliged to remain for the night, as the people
were too timorous or too lazy to cross the rough water of the lake.

[Pineapple fiber preparations.] Here I saw them preparing the fiber
of the pine-apple for weaving. The fruit of the plants selected
for this purpose is general