114 



farther to the south show the same tendency, but not so 

 noticeably. Naturally, the lower-lying and therefore the warmer 

 portions of the islands are the better known. 



Until a generation ago, botanical information regarding the 

 Philippines had been obtained either by expeditions which spent 

 a comparatively short time in the islands, or by resident Spaniards, 

 and much of the work of the latter was unreliable. Both explored 

 the country around Manila, and most of the visitors penetrated 

 at least as far into the country as the great lake of Laguna de 

 Bay, and climbed some of the hills in its rear. Another some- 

 what frequent stop was at Zamboanga, in Mindanao ; but atten- 

 tion was almost confined to Luzon. A much more strenuous 

 collector was Hugh Cuming, who spent several years there 

 gathering shells, plants and birds, and in so doing seems to have 

 visited nearly all of the principal islands. There is strong in- 

 ternal evidence that he never reached very high levels on any of 

 the mountains, and was not beyond the edge of the hills of 

 northern Luzon. The difficulties were not all physical. The 

 Spanish hold upon the wilder portions of the group was so slight 



itively shoi 



Aboi 



yye; 



s before the Am 



Benguet, 

 i of the 



.vhich is 



e province for 



>n, Seb 



ing the 



>uth- 



more recently Loher penetrated into Lepanto-Bontoc, adjoining 

 Benguet on the north. 



A few of the species which to us most strongly suggest tem- 

 perate conditions were known before their day. Oaks were de- 

 scribed by Blanco in 1837, and several kinds are now known; 

 the first pine was described in 1847, having been collected by 

 Cuming a few years before. Some beautiful orchids sent to 

 England by him had brought collectors representing many of the 

 lead.ng horticultural firms of Europe to the islands, and one of 

 them, Wallis, discovered the beautiful white Philippine lily, Lilium 

 Philippine nse, now frequently cultivated, which is very abundant 

 in the pine forests of Benguet, the most southern home for any 

 species of this genus. 



