340 ADAMS. 



No previous attempt lias been made to describe the physiograpliie and 

 geologic districts of Lejte and so the present report, although meager, may 

 serve as an introduction. The reconnaissance on which it is based was 

 made during April and the first half of May, 1909, while studying the 

 geologic conditions governing the drilling of deep and artesian wells for 

 the Bureau of Public AVorks. The island was circumnavigated and fifteen 

 coast towns and tliT'ce interior towns in the noi'thcastern pai't were 

 visited. 



Maps. — The best map of Leyte is by d'Almonte, published on a scale 

 of 1-200,000. It was evidently used in preparing the one published in 

 the Atlas de Filijjinas. On it the adjacent Islands of Biliran and Panaon 

 are shown in some detail. The two most notable errors which it con- 

 tains are in the representations of Lake Bito and tlie Leyte Eiver. Jagor, 

 who \'isited Lake Bito, has shown that it was drawn too large on Coello's 

 map, which may have been d'Almonte's source of information. The 

 description of the lake, translated from the Spanish edition of Jagor's 

 travels, is as follows: 



"The rain having passed, we arrived at the Bito River in an hour (from 

 Abuyog) by an agreeable road and in a banea ascended the river which follows 

 through hea\ry vegetation. The margins are low, level and sandy, and are 

 covered with tall bamboo and reeds. After having ascended ten minutes the 

 way was found obstructed by fallen tree trunks, which obliged us to make a 

 detour of halt an hour on land in order to reach the river above the obstruction. 

 Eafts of bamboo were constructed, on which we journeyed, very much crowded 

 because of their small size, due to the little amount of material available. We 

 arrived at the lake in ten minutes. To the north and south of the lake there 

 are hills. Seen from the center, the lake is nearly circular and is surrounded 

 by a forest. Coello represents it too large (4 sea miles instead of the one 

 which it has). It is about 1 league distant from Abuyog. •» » « y^e found 

 the greatest breadth to be 585 brazas, equal to 977 meters (its greatest breadth 

 must be a little more than 1 kilometer) and its length is about 1,007 brazas, 

 equal to 1,CS0 meters, or less than a mile. Soundings showed the bottom to 

 incline gradually toward the center where the depth is 8 brazas, equal to 

 13.3 meters." 



Lake Bito will be correctly shown on a Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 chart now in preparation for publication. 



There is a general impression among those who have an opinion in 

 regard to this lake, that it occupies a crater and that the hills which 

 surround it are the remnants of a crater rim, but there is no information 

 confirming this. The idea is suggested by the position and appearance 

 of the hills in the plain, as seen from a steamer when leaving Abuyog 

 for Dulag. The depth of the lake indicates a depression greater than 

 would be expected from the grade of the stream. The locality is worthy 

 of geologic investigation. 



The Leyte Eiver is much shorter than is indicated on published maps, 

 and does not have its source in Lake Danao, nor is Danao the source of 

 the Cancatoco Eiver, as is shown on some maps. Tlie Iwa.isan Eiver is 



