[Maycap Lake.] The first of the two, the Maycap Lake, is entirely embanked with the exception of a small opening fitted with sluices to supply water to a canal; and from its northern side, which alone admits of an open view, the southern peak of San Cristobal may be seen, about 73 deg. to the north-east.  Its banks, which are about eighty feet high, rise with a gentle slope in a westerly direction, till they join Mount Maiba, a hill about 500 feet high.  The soil, like that of the embankments of the other volcanic lakes, consists of rapilli and lava, and is thickly wooded.

[Lake Palakpakan.] Close by is another lake, Palakpakan, of nearly the same circumference, and formed in a similar manner (of black sand and rapilli).  Its banks are from thirty to one hundred feet high.  From its north-western edge San Cristobal lifts its head 70 deg. to the northeast.  Its waters are easily reached, and are much frequented by fishermen.

[Palm brandy.] About nine o’clock, a.m., I rode from Calauan to Pila, and thence in a northeasterly direction to Santa Cruz, over even, broad, and well-kept roads, through a palm-grove a mile long and a mile and a half broad, which extends down to the very edge of the lagoons.  The products of these palm trees generally are not used for the production of oil but for the manufacture of brandy.  Their fruit is not allowed to come to maturity; but the buds are slit open, and the sweet sap is collected as it drips from them.  It is then allowed to ferment, and subjected to distillation. [66] As the sap is collected twice a day, and as the blossoms, situated at the top of the tree, are forty or fifty feet above the ground, bamboos are fastened horizontally, one above the other, from one tree to another, to facilitate the necessary ascent and descent.  The sap collector stands on the lower cross-piece while he holds on to the upper.

[Bought by government.] The sale of palm-brandy was at the time of my visit the monopoly of the government, which retailed it in the Estanco (government sale rooms) with cigars, stamped paper, and religious indulgences.  The manufacture was carried on by private individuals; but the whole of the brandy was of necessity disposed of to the administration, which, however, paid such a high price for it that the contractors made large profits.

[Profit in manufacture.] I afterwards met a Spaniard in Camarines who, according to his own account, must have made considerable and easy gains from these contracts.  He had bought palm-trees at an average price of five reals apiece (they usually cost more, though they can be sometimes purchased for two reals).  Thirty-five palms will furnish daily at least thirty-six quarts of tuba (sugar-containing sap), from which, after fermentation and distillation, six quarts of brandy of the prescribed strength can be manufactured.  One man is sufficient to attend to them, and receives for his trouble half the proceeds.  The administration pays six cuartos for a quart of brandy.  My friend the contractor was in annual receipt, therefore, from every thirty-five of his trees, of 360 x 1/2 x 5 cuartos = $40.50.  As the thirty-five trees only cost him $21.875, his invested capital brought him in about 200 per cent.