r by the woman, who then acquires her freedom, or by
the seducer, whom she then follows. The husband has not the right to
detain her, if he takes the money, or even if he should refuse it;
but the latter contingency is not likely to arise, since that sum of
money will enable him to buy for himself a new wife.

[Basira ravine.] In the afternoon we reached a vast ravine, called
"Basira," 973 meters above Uacloy, and about 1,134 meters above
the sea, extending from south-east to north-west between lofty,
precipitous ranges, covered with wood. Its base, which has an
inclination of 33 deg., consists of a naked bed of rock, and, after every
violent rainfall, gives issue to a torrent of water, which discharges
itself violently. Here we bivouacked; and the Igorots, in a very short
time, built a hut, and remained on the watch outside. At daybreak
the thermometer stood at 13.9 deg. R. [150]

[At the summit.] The road to the summit was very difficult on account
of the slippery clay earth and the tough network of plants; but the
last five hundred feet were unexpectedly easy, the very steep summit
being covered with a very thick growth of thinly leaved, knotted, mossy
thibaudia, rhododendra, and other dwarf woods, whose innumerable tough
branches, running at a very small height along the ground and parallel
to it, form a compact and secure lattice-work, by which one mounted
upwards as on a slightly inclined ladder. The point which we reached *
* * was evidently the highest spur of the horseshoe-shaped mountain
side, which bounds the great ravine of Rungus on the north. The top
was hardly fifty paces in diameter, and so thickly covered with trees
that I have never seen its like; we had not room to stand. My active
hosts, however, went at once to work, though the task of cutting a path
through the wood involved severe labor, and, chopping off the branches,
built therewith, on the tops of the lopped trees, an observatory, from
which I should have had a wide panoramic view, and an opportunity for
taking celestial altitudes, had not everything been enveloped in a
thick mist. The neighboring volcanoes were visible only in glimpses,
as well as San Miguel Bay and some lakes in the interior. Immediately
after sunset the thermometer registered 12.5 deg. R. [151]

[The descent.] On the following morning it was still overcast; and
when, about ten o'clock, the clouds became thicker, we set out on
our return. It was my intention to have passed