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THE CAROLINE ISLANDS. 



1 HE ingenious Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, in 

 1605, was for looking to the south for the motlier of 

 so many islands (en demanda de la madre de tantas 

 Idas) which had already then been discovered in 

 the Great Ocean. We have found this mother in the 

 continent, to the east of which they are situated, 

 as the sea-fowl are met with to windward of the 

 rocks, which are their native country, whether 

 they return to their nests every evening with the 

 setting sun.. 



This image, which is particularly applicable to 

 the islands of the first province, forced itself 

 again upon us, as we returned, from the distant 

 Radack, in the east, to the western Carolinas ^ 

 from the strayed child to the children in the mo- 

 ther's lap. A more bountiful nature receives us, 

 and the same people, with the same amiableness, 

 are more cidtivated. 



The seas in which the Carolinas are situated, 

 are subject to violent storms, which mostly mark 

 the chanije of the monsoon. These hurricanes, 

 which the Spaniards on the Philippine and Marian 

 islands call by the Tagalese name Bagyo, some- 

 times destroy all the fruits on the low islands, so 

 that the inhabitants are compelled to subsist for a 



N 3 



