FERGUSON. 



CLIMATE. 



The rainfall of Masbate is well below the average for the Philippines 

 (2,800 millimeters), observations at Port Palanoc (Masbate) for the 

 years 1904, 1905, and 1906 giving an average annual rainfall of only 

 1,446 millimeters.^ At only four out of the ■ sixty-four stations in the 

 Islands do the records show a smaller rainfall. 



The dry season extends from February to May, inclusive, only 17 pei' 

 cent of the total rainfall occurring during these four months. Througli- 

 out the remainder of the 3'ear the rainfall is fairly evenly distributed. 

 Destructive typhoons visited the island in November, 1905, and Sep- 

 tember, 1908. 



PEEVIOUS WORK. 



Earlier writers on the geology of the Philippines have noticed the 

 geniculate form of this island. 



Von Draselie - first called attention to tbis junction of the two principal trends 

 of the Visayan Islands. Koto ' suggests a similarit}' to the divergence of the 

 mountain system of the Eastern Alps. Suess * notes a possibility of similarity 

 of structure to that of Porto Rico. Becker '- speaks of two main, curved fissure 

 systems parallel to the two arms of Masbate. 



In spite of its significant form it was not until several years after the American 

 occupation that the island was visited by geologists. Gold had been discovered 

 in workable amounts near Aroroy in 1900 or 1901 and the development of the 

 industry led to visits by members of the Mining Bureau." Mr. A. J. Eveland made 

 a short visit to tlie mining district in 190-i and noted in his report' the topo- 

 graphical youth of the district and the limestone benches on the west side of 

 Porta Barrera. Mr. H. B. McCaskey and Mr. H. M. Ickis made a more extensive 

 visit to the raining district in 1906. Mr. McCaskey in his report' was the first 

 to call attention to the fact that the great majority of the mineral veins strike in 

 a northwestherly direction, parallel to the principal axis of the island. 



TOPOGEAPIIY. 



It is my ])urpose to show that the principal topographic features of 

 the island may be resolved into two principal series of lineaments, 

 parallel to. the general directions of the two jjrongs of the island, which 

 are themselves a part of the two principal trends of the Yisayan Islands 



■ Maso, Rev. M. S., S. J.: The rainfall in the Philippines. Bull. P. I. Weather 

 Bur., Manila (1907). 



"Fragmente zu einer Geologie der Insel Luzon. Vienna. 1S78. 



° B. Koto: On the geologie structure of the Malayan Archipelago. Joiirn. 

 College Sci., Tokyo (1899), Pt. 2, 11, 117. 



'E. Suess: The face of the earth. (English translation) Oxford. (190()1, 

 2, 173. 



°G. F. Becker: Report on the geology of the Philippine Islands. Bull. U. S. 

 Oeol. Surv. 21st Ann. Rept. (1901), Pt. 3, 54C. 



° Now Division of Mines, Bureau of Science. 



' Manuscript in Bureau of Science. 



* Manuscript in Bureau of Science. 



