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we find the potash content to be high among the mineral values of this 
plant, we may argue that it requires such a high amount as a requisite 
for its growth. A fairly exhaustive search over the island and a micro- 
scopical examination of a large number of the rocks from Cebu has shown 
them to be remarkably deficient in potash-bearing minerals. On the 
other hand, it can be demonstrated that the rocks from the well-known 
abaca districts are of a class which contain a considerable percentage of 
potash. It is not for a moment contended that other factors, such as 
drainage, humidity, ete., do not have much to do with this question, and 
for the present I will not discuss it further, as I intend to dwell more 
upon it in a future paper on the rocks and soil relations of Albay Proy- 
ince, which is one of the most flourishing of our abaca districts. 
Almost nine-tenths of Cebu’s great population is to be found on the 
alluvial plain, and here the chief products are rice and coconuts. ‘The 
soil in this situation is admirably adapted to rice culture, as the stiff 
paddy clay holds the water around the roots of the plants, but nevertheless 
this crop is not as extensively grown as it might be. ‘The coconut 
flourishes along the littoral. 
Cebu from the time of the landing of Magellan, nearly four hundred 
years ago, has been a land of trouble. That the human factor, the native 
and also the European, has played a part in fostering these conditions 
can not be gainsaid, but there are far deeper causes, which are material, 
physiographic, and geologic, matters of environment, peculiar to islands 
and especially peculiar to Cebu, which have played their part. These 
causes are as follows, especial stress being laid on the order in which they 
are given: (1) Tropical climate, (2) great population, (3) island habi- 
tat, (4) mountainous interior with narrow and interrupted coastal plain. 
It is the last factor which I wish to emphasize a little more fully, 
leaving the other points undiscussed. 
I have pointed out that the Cordillera is unfavorable as an abode for 
man; that the uplands, to support a population, require strenuous and 
improved agricultural methods; the coves are in the hands of a few. 
Owing to the physiography, therefore, the native must live at the coast, 
or, in other words, he is not encouraged to leave the sea and to go very 
far into the interior to take up agricultural pursuits. Plate VIII shows 
a portion of the coastal plain with the mountains rising abruptly back 
of it. The city in the foreground is Cebu. 
It is a well-known fact that the more primitive a people the smaller 
is the number which can find subsistence on a given area. For instance, 
the little Kingdom of Saxony can support an enormous proportion per 
square mile, but many factors, such as division of labor, the great number 
of vocations in life which spring up with an advanced civilization, the 
facilities for bringing in food stuffs from the outside, etc., make this 
possible. In more or less primitive communities each individual requires 
