THE MALAYAN AKCHIPELAGO. 117 



1897, it was again active, pouring forth streams of lava and 

 ejecting ashes in large quantities. Liboy and two other localities 

 were destroyed with many of their inhabitants. According to 

 Roth, Caramuan seems to consist also of crystalline schists, 

 and lignite beds ; and this peninsula, together with the islands 

 of Batan and Saramar, makes the third, easternmost ridge. 



The form of Masbate is geniculate. Its peculiar outline 

 has already attracted the attention of v. Drache. One arm con- 

 forms itself to the prevalent, south easterly direction, the other 

 wing assumes a south-westerly trend, oriented exactly like 

 Paragua. Thus the mountain-system diverges just as in the 

 Eastern Alps. Its geology is, however, unknown. 



In Cebu, diorite and its tuffs make the foundation, covered 

 with the Nummulitic and the post-Pliocene limestone, with the 

 Miocene marl intercalated between the limestone-complex. The 

 whole has been folded into parallel ridges, corresponding to 

 the direction of the west arm of Masbate. 



The Miocene lignite bed* recurs here as in Camarines. The 

 same seam appears in the Isla de Negro, and in West Mindanao 

 near the Bay of Sibuguey. It seems probable, as Suess has 

 rightly remarked, that Cebu, Negro, and West Mindanao con- 

 stitute an independent system, which starts from Masbate and 

 reaches Borneo through the Sulu group. Sulu or Jolo, the 

 largest of the group is basaltic, and fringed with coral reefs. 

 The same is the case of Ilo-ilo, lying further north. 



Leyte may be considered as the prolongation of the east 

 arm of Masbate. It is geologically unknown, though it is said 



* The marl at the coal mine of Alpaco, 298 m. high, contains Vicarya cdlosa, Jenk., which 

 characterises the later Miocene of the East Indian Archipelago. K. Martin, Sammlungen 

 des geologischen Reichs- Museumm in Leiden, Bd. V, Heft 3, p. 60, Tlie same fossil recurs iu 

 Tsuki-yoshi, Mino province, in Central Japan. 



