312 SMITH. 



The principal Cordilleras are the Sierra Madre Eange (northeast Lu- 

 zon), the great Cordillera Central (from Benguet northward to the 

 Pacific Ocean), the Zambales Eange (western Luzon), the central ranges 

 of the various Visayan Islands (Panay, Negros, Cebu, Leyte, Samar, 

 Masbate), most of which have only one large central line with two or 

 more secondary ones which are lower and therefore come into the category 

 of the intermediate upland. There are in Panay an eastern and western 

 cordillera both fairly well developed. The Island of Palawan belongs to 

 the Mindoro-Busuanga-Palawan system and is practically cordillera and 

 little else. 



A cordillera of only moderate height extends along the Zamboanga 

 Peninsula, in Mindanao; a group of fairly high peaks is located in a 

 cluster about Lake Lanao; a very irregular group of high points is 

 found in southern Mindanao, and a well-defined north and south range 

 lies east of the Agusan Eiver; but the continuous and high cordillera 

 usually shown on Spanish maps, in line with Mounts Apo and Matutan, 

 does not exist. This country for the greater part is quite low, and instead 

 of having a well-defined line of mountains it only possesses a few high 

 points at wide intervals. The highest altitude on the trail which crosses 

 this range is 595 meters. 



As a rule the cordillera in the Philippines is very forbidding country, 

 being the home of the most primitive people such as Negritos, Igorots^ 

 Kalingas, Ifugaos, etc., in Luzon, Manobos in Mindanao, and also the 

 haunts of brigands (ladrones as they are called here). (See Plate II 

 for the situation of the principal Cordilleras.) 



VOLCANOES. 



I have made no special studies of the volcanoes of the Philippines. 

 Mr. H. Gr. Ferguson, of the division of mines, Bureau of Science, has 

 been collecting data for the past three years and intends to publish a 

 paper on this subject. Therefore, I have quoted the following from his 

 introductory remarks : 



The many volcanoes in the long chain of islands festooning the continent of 

 Asia, from Burma to Alaska, for the greater part fall into definite zones, most 

 clearly so in the islands of the Dutch East Indies. In the Philippines there are 

 also several well-defined belts of volcanoes. Becker 2 has shown that for the 

 southern islands of the Archipelago there are two main curved systems intersect- 

 ing at an angle of about 60 degrees. He regards one of these lines as containing 

 the group of extinct volcanoes forming the Island of Sulu, the Cagayanes Islands, 

 and Panay. A second and better marked line, belonging to the same system, 

 starts from Darvel Bay in Borneo and contains, in the Sulu Archipelago, many 

 recently extinct volcanoes; and in the northward continuation, Tigas and Can- 



2 21st Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. (1901), 546. 



