[64] They take baths for their maladies, and have hot springs for this purpose, particularly along the shore of the king’s lake (Estang du Roy, instead of Estang de Bay by a printer’s mistake apparently), which is in the Island of Manila.—­Thevenot.

[65] “One can scarcely walk thirty paces between Mount Makiling and a place called Bacon, which lies to the east of Los Banos, without meeting several kinds of natural springs, some very hot, some lukewarm, some of the temperature of the atmosphere, and some very cold.  In a description of this place given in our archives for the year 1739, it is recorded that a hill called Natognos lies a mile to the south-east of the village, on the plateau of which there is a small plain 400 feet square, which is kept in constant motion by the volume of vapor issuing from it.  The soil from which this vapor issues is an extremely white earth; it is sometimes thrown up to the height of a yard or a yard and a half, and meeting the lower temperature of the atmosphere falls to the ground in small pieces.”—­Estado geograph., 1865.

[66] Pigafetta says that the natives, in order to obtain palm-wine, cut the top of the tree through to the pith, and then catch the sap as it oozes out of the incision.  According to Regnaud, Natural History of the Coco-tree, the negroes of Saint Thomas pursue a similar method in the present day, a method that considerably injures the trees and produces a much smaller quantity of liquor.  Hernandez describes an indigenous process of obtaining wine, honey, and sago from the sacsao palm, a tree which from its stunted growth would seem to correspond with the acenga saccharifera.  The trees are tapped near the top, the soft part of the trunks is hollowed out, and the sap collects in this empty space.  When all the juice is extracted, the tree is allowed to dry up, and is then cut into thin pieces which, after desiccation in the sun, are ground into meal.

[67] Pigafetta mentions that the natives were in the habit of making oil, vinegar, wine, and milk, from the coco-palm, and that they drank a great deal of the wine.  Their kings, he says, frequently intoxicated themselves at their banquets.

[68] A number of the Illustrated London News, of December, 1857, or January, 1858, contains a clever drawing, by an accomplished artist, of the mode of travelling over this road, under the title, “A macadamized road in Manila.”

[69] Erd and Picketing, of the United States exploring expedition, determined the height to be 6,500 English feet (7,143 Spanish), not an unsatisfactory result, considering the imperfect means they possessed for making a proper measurement.  In the Manila Estado geographico for 1865, the height is given, without any statement as to the source whence the estimate is derived, as 7,030 feet.  The same authority says, “the large volcano is extinct since 1730, in which year its last eruption took place.  The mountain burst into flames on the southern side, threw up streams of water, burning lava, and stones of an enormous size; traces of the last can be observed as far as the village of Sariaya.  The crater is perhaps a league in circumference, it is highest on the northern side, and its interior is shaped like an egg-shell:  the depth of the crater apparently extends half-way down the height of the mountain.”