234 The Philippine Journal of Science 1921 
are current about such, but they have not yet got into the 
literature. 
Mr. E. H. Taylor, formerly of the Bureau of Science, who has 
traveled extensively in the Archipelago making zodlogical 
studies, has kindly contributed the following memorandum rela- 
tive to some modern cave-dwellers on Coron Island: r 
There is a limestone cave on Coron Island, directly across from the 
town of Coron on Busuanga Island, inhabited at the present time by a 
very primitive people known as Tagbanuas. At the time of my visit there 
was no one at home, but there were remains of fire, pots, a hammock, etc., 
testifying to the recent occupation of the cavern. This cave is about 20 
meters above the sea and close to shore. In addition to the articles named 
there was a large kitchen midden consisting mainly of shells of edible 
molluscs and fragments of pottery. Just opposite this site are three small 
limestone islands. In one of these is a very small burial cave containing 
three cadavers, and one very recent coffin made of bamboo and nipa. Ac- 
cording to report in Coron there are many Tagbanua cave dwellers on 
islands north of Palawan and on Culion. 
Geography.—The site of the Batwaan caves is close to the 
trail from Aroroy to Mandaon and about five hours by foot 
from Mandaon and about eight from Aroroy; that is to say, 
about 32 kilometers from Aroroy and almost due south of that 
place (fig. 1). Batwaan valley is about 8 kilometers long 
and 5 kilometers wide, and roughly oval in shape. It is sur- 
rounded by a rim of low hills with fairly steep escarpments 
toward the valley and more gentle slopes away from the valley. 
The caves are found in a large limestone mesa (Plate 1), which 
rises about 100 meters above the floor of a large, flat-bottomed 
valley, through which runs Batwaan Creek. The general 
situation is shown in the sketch, fig. 2. The limestone mesa 
is roughly 0.5 kilometers long and 200 meters wide. The 
formations in this region are generally sedimentary, but this 
valley lies very close to the contact between the igneous rock 
of the central cordillera of the island and the Tertiary sediments 
which din away from the cordillera to the west. On the trail 
to Batwaan from Aroroy there is much conglomerate exposed, 
and in the hills forming the western rim of Batwaan Valley 
there is conglomerate and sandstone with here and there patches 
of residual limestone. The large limestone mesa in the center 
of the valley is a residual block left by erosion. Formerly- 
limestone probably overlay much of this region. This limestone 
is correlated with the lower member of the Malumbang lime- 
stone, which is lower Pliocene or upper Miocene in age. On 
fresh fracture the rock is compact and creamy white; it 
