a shallow river, full of
transparent blocks. It is a fine-meshed, longish, four-cornered net,
having its ample sides fastened to two poles of bamboo, which at the
bottom were provided with a kind of wooden shoes, which curve upwards
towards the stems when pushed forwards. The fisherman, taking hold of
the upper ends of the poles, pushes the net, which is held obliquely
before him, and the wooden shoes cause it to slide over the stones,
while another person drives the fish towards him.

[Fossil beds.] On the right bank, below the cavern, and twenty
feet above the surface of the water, there are beds of fossils,
pectunculus, tapes, and placuna, some of which, from the fact of
their barely adhering by the tip, must be of very recent date. I
passed the night in a small hut, which was quickly erected for me,
and on the following day attempted to pass up the river as far as the
limits of the crystalline rock, but in vain. In the afternoon we set
out on our return to Basey, which we reached at night.

[Recent elevation of coast.] Basey is situated on a bank of clay,
about fifty feet above the sea, which towards the west elevates itself
into a hill several hundred feet in height, and with steep sides. At
twenty-five to thirty feet above the sea I found the same recent beds
of mussels as in the stalactitic cavern of Sogoton. From the statements
of the parish priest and of other persons, a rapid elevation of the
coasts seems to be taking place in this country. Thirty years ago
ships could lie alongside the land in three fathoms of water at the
flood, whereas the depth at the same place now is not much more than
one fathom. Immediately opposite to Basey lie two small islands,
Genamok and Tapontonan, which, at the present time, appear to be
surrounded by a sandbank at the lowest ebb-tide. Twenty years ago
nothing of the kind was to be seen. Supposing these particulars to
be correct, we must next ascertain what proportion of these changes
of level is due to the floods, and how much to volcanic elevation;
which, if we may judge by the neighboring active solfatara at Leyte,
must always be of considerable amount.

[Crocodiles.] As the priest assured us, there are crocodiles in the
river Basey over thirty feet in length, those in excess of twenty
feet being numerous. The obliging father promised me one of at least
twenty-four feet, whose skeleton I would gladly have secured; and he
sent out some men who are so practised in the captur