288 Voijage of the No vara. 



of Luzon* is its strongly-marked separation into two peninsu- 

 las, a northern, which comprises the larger portion, and a 

 southern, smaller island ; the former named Luzon by the 

 Spanish, the latter Camarinas. The length of the entire 

 island, including its numerous curves, is about 550 miles, and 

 its greatest width about 135 miles, but in many places it 

 is little more than thirty miles in breadth. The chain of the 

 Caraballos mountains traverse Luzon from north to south, and 

 sends off spurs in various directions, which impart an exceed- 

 ing hilly aspect to the entire island. 



The Spaniards divide Luzon into three main divisions ; 

 Costa, Contra-Costa, and Centre, corresponding pretty nearly 

 with the western side, the eastern side, and the interior of 

 the island, and formerly indicating in what order these dif- 

 ferent sections of the country had been subjected to the Span- 

 ish dominion. The latest distribution is into 35 provinces 

 and 12 districts. 



Manila, the capital of Luzon, as also of the whole Archipel- 

 ago, and the oldest European settlement in this region of the 

 globe, lies at the mouth of a small but rather rapid river, the 

 Pasig, which after a course of about 30 miles, draws off to 

 the sea the waters of the great Bay-Lake {Lagima de Baif). In 



* Spanish writers, treating of the Philippines, derive this name from " Losong," 

 which in the native language means the wooden mortar in which the rice, which 

 forms the chief subsistence of the inhabitants, is shelled and pounded. The first 

 strangers who came to this island, and found in every hut one of these very peculiar 

 clumsy-looking implements, spoke of the newly discovered island as " Isle de los 

 Losenes " (island of wooden mortars), whence in process of time it became trans- 

 formed into Luzon. 



