104 ADAMS. 



Geodetic chart shows 6 meters at a point west of Talim Island as 

 the deepest sounding. There are but a few places where a boat can 

 reach the land. The height of the lake above sea level is stated on the 

 Coast and Geodetic chart to be from 0.7 to 1.3 meters. Prom inquiry 

 it was learned that the level of the lake varies as much as 2 meters 

 between its lowest and highest stages. The highest stages have been 

 produced by exceptionally heavy rains during the wet seasons of certain 

 years. It is stated in a footnote in Abella's report on Mount Maquiling 

 that the original site of the town of Bay, which is the oldest of the towns 

 founded on the shores of the lake, was to the west of the mouth of 

 Bay Biver, and is now covered by water. Becker, referring to this 

 statement, says that the change is seemingly due to slight earth move- 

 ments. Bay is now located on the same -river further inland. Martinez 

 de Zuniga states that a town called Tabuco, which, according to official 

 records existed on the western shore of the lake in 1603, is now under 

 water; the settlement having been moved to the present village of 

 Cabuyao. Becker also notes that the small island of Sunuli near 

 Los Banos is now united to the mainland. It is probable that the 

 name Sunuli refers to Malilimbas Point which contains the crater lake 

 called Laguna de los Caimanes. It is described by some as an island, 

 by others as a peninsula, depending upon the stage of the water in the 

 lake at the time of the observation. The moving of the towns above 

 mentioned from their sites may have been brought about by the flooding 

 of the lowlands on which they were situated, and possibly the cutting 

 of the shore by changes in the channels of the rivers entering the lake 

 near them. The writer had the misfortune to spend a night on board 

 a small steamer which was run on the mud at the mouth of Bay 

 Biver in order to escape the fury of a typhoon which caused high waves 

 in the shallow lake. Near the point where the primitive settlement of 

 Bay is supposed to have been situated, there are now some houses, and 

 during the storm they were easily accessible in hancas. Such a position 

 would manifestly be insecure for building a town, and it is not im- 

 probable that the original settlement was moved to escape the disaster 

 which might be wrought by similar high water. 



Becker states that the lake basin is merely a portion of the great 

 plain of Luzon separated from the main area by a slight undulation of 

 the surface. The escarpment which is found lying to the west of the 

 alluvial lands bordering the lake, has already been explained as a fault 

 scarp which has receded westward by erosion. The escarpment descends 

 gradually from Mount Gonzales to elevations of about 40 meters and is 

 cut through by the valley of the Pasig Eiver to the east of Manila. It 

 is probable that this ridge is a part of a fault block which has been 

 raised more than the country occupied by the lake, and the elevation 

 may have been gradual so that the cutting of the channel of the Pasig 



