[A policy of peace.] Fortunately there arrived soon after a countermand from Manila, where the authorities seemed to have been gradually convinced of the harmful tendency of such violent measures.  It could not be doubted that this intelligence would quickly spread amongst the ranchos; and, acting upon the advice of the commandant (upon whom, very much against his inclination, the conduct of the expedition had devolved), I lost no time in availing myself of the anticipated season of quiet.  The Government have since adopted the prudent method of purchasing the tobacco, which is voluntarily cultivated by the Igorots, at the ordinary rate, and, where practicable, encouraging them to lay out new fields, instead of destroying those in existence.

[A populous fertile district.] The next day at noon I left Naga on horseback.  The pueblos of Mogarao, Canaman, Quipayo, and Calabanga, in this fertile district follow so thickly upon one another that they form an almost uninterrupted succession of houses and gardens.  Calabanga lies half a league from the sea, between the mouths of two rivers, the more southerly of which is sixty feet broad and sufficiently deep for large trading vessels. [145]

[A bare plain and wretched village.] The road winds round the foot of the Isarog first to the north-east and then to the east.  Soon the blooming hedges cease, and are succeeded by a great bare plain, out of which numerous flat hillocks raise themselves.  Both hills and plain, when we passed, served for pasturage; but from August to January they are sown with rice; and fields of batata are occasionally seen.  After four hours we arrived at the little village of Maguiring (Manguirin), the church of which, a tumble-down shed, stood on an equally naked hillock; and from its neglected condition one might have guessed that the priest was a native.

[Many mountain water courses.] This hillock, as well as the others which I examined, consisted of the debris of the Isarog, the more or less decomposed trachytic fragments of hornblende rock, the spaces between which were filled up with red sand.  The number of streams sent down by the Isarog, into San Miguel and Lagonoy bays, is extraordinarily large.  On the tract behind Maguiring I counted, in three-quarters of an hour, five considerable estuaries, that is to say, above twenty feet broad; and then, as far as Goa, twenty-six more; altogether, thirty-one:  but there are more, as I did not include the smallest; and yet the distance between Maguiring and Goa, in a straight line, does not exceed three miles.  This accounts for the enormous quantity of steam with which this mighty condenser is fed.  I have not met with this phenomenon on any other mountain in so striking a manner.  One very remarkable circumstance is the rapidity with which the brimming rivulets pass in the estuaries, enabling them to carry the trading vessels, sometimes even ships, into a main stream (if the expression may be allowed), while the scanty contributions of their kindred streams on the northern side have scarcely acquired the importance of a mill-brook.  These waters, from their breadth, look like little rivers, although in reality they consist of only a brook, up to the foot of the mountain, and of a river’s mouth in the plain; the intermediate part being absent.