48 KEPORT OF FORESTRY BUREAU, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



where we find a population of 290 to the square mile, not a merchant- 

 able stick of timber is evident, with the exception of a small tract of 

 forest left in the northern end of this island, which forest must there- 

 fore be carefully looked after. 



The island of Panay, with a population of 150 to the square mile, is 

 almost denuded of good timber. In Luzon, where the population 

 averages 78 to the square mile, we find no timber in the vicinity of 

 centers of population. As we travel over the only line of railwaj 7 " in 

 the islands, from Manila to Dagupan, a distance of 120 miles, we fail 

 to see a single merchantable stick within several miles of the road. 

 But there are tracts in various parts of Luzon where much valuable 

 timber remains. In the northern end of the island, in Cagayan'and 

 Isabela provinces, there are at least 2,000,000 acres of valuable forest 

 remaining. The entire east coast of Luzon, from the northern end as 

 far south as Atimonan, comprising several million acres, is practically 

 a virgin forest. In northwestern Luzon very little merchantable tim- 

 ber is left, with the exception of the slopes above 3,000 feet, where we 

 find a species of pine (Pinus insularis) flourishing, all ages mingled 

 together. The maximum pines seen were close to 4 feet in diameter 

 and more than 100 feet in height. Here the pine obtains a diameter 

 of 12 inches in about twenty years. Almost every acre of these north- 

 western mountains is burnt over each year by the savages, but the 

 larger pines seem to survive these repeated scorchings. Through 

 central Luzon the timber has been cut away, leaving small tracts of 

 fairly good forest in a few places. In southern Luzon, in Tayabas 

 and the Camarines, we find some large tracts fairly well covered with 

 a variety of valuable tree species. 



As we enter the southwestern islands, extending from Mindoro 

 through to Paragua, we leave the more traveled routes, and find a 

 sparsely settled region where the virgin forests have been apparently 

 untouched. In this group you will find upward of 4,000,000 acres of 

 virgin forest extending from the water's edge to the summits of the 

 mountains. Some cutting has been done in this region, but it has 

 amounted to a mere thinning of the edges of the forest. This group 

 of islands' is celebrated for the great quantity of narra, or Philippine 

 mahogany, molave, ipil, and calantas (the Philippine cedar). Here we 

 find valuable hard woods 4 or 5 feet in diameter with magnificent clear 

 trunks for 80 feet up to the first limb. As a rule we find all over the 

 islands that the largest trees have not been felled, owing to the lack of 

 facilities for handling heavy timbers. Very little cleared land is found 

 in Mindoro. Its reputation as a death trap for white men will change 

 as a few hundred square miles are cleared of timber and its rich soil 

 devoted to agriculture. A vigorous thinning of at least 50 per 

 cent of the present forest growth of Mindoro and Paragua would 

 make them much more salubrious than at present. The island of 

 Mindanao, with an area of more than 23,000,000 acres, is almost 

 entirely covered by forest. The vast majority of the population of 

 this island is found in coast towns, with the exception of the region in 

 the north surrounding the Laguna de Lanao, where we find a large 

 population of Moros. Very little timber has been cut in this island 

 owing to the scarcity of labor and the distance to market. It would 

 be safe to estimate at least 10,000,000 acres of virgin forest for this 

 island alone. The southern part of this island, in the region southeast 

 of Cotabato, is noted for its gutta-percha, rubber, and other gums. 

 More than $300,000 was paid at Cotabato for these gums last year, 



