230 The Philippine Journal of Science isie 



Lake Buhi is said to have formed during an eruption of Mount 

 Iriga in 1641. As quoted by Jagor," from Estado Geografico, 

 the account is as follows : 



I was informed by the priests of the neighboring hamlets that the 

 volcano (Iriga) untU the commencement of the seventeenth century had been 

 completely conical and that the lake (Buhi) did not come into existence 

 until half the mountain fell in at the time of its great eruption. This 

 statement I found confirmed in the pages of Estado Geografico "On the 

 4th day of January, 1641 — a memorable day — ^for on that day all the known 

 volcanoes began to erupt at the same hour — a lofty hill in Camarines in- 

 habited by heathen fell in, and a fine lake sprang into existence upon its site. 

 The then inhabitants of the village of Buhi migrated to the shores of the 

 new lake, which on this account was henceforward called Lake Buhi." 



A section of the otherwise nearly perfect cone of Mount Iriga, 

 on the side next to Lake Buhi, has been removed, and great 

 blocks and fragments that might well have been parts of the 

 missing section are scattered across the valley below the lake. 

 The outlet of the lake, which empties into Bicol River, flows 

 across this fragmental material in a series of falls and rapids, 

 and it seems probable that the stream has been obstructed by 

 fragmental ejecta from Mount Iriga. Lake Buhi is certainly too 

 deep, however, to have originated from the obstruction in the 

 river. If the historic account of the origin is to be credited, 

 there must have been at the same time a subsidence in the 

 area now occupied by the lake. 



OTHER LAKES OF LUZON 



Among the lakes of Luzon that are yet to be described, those 

 of larger area are fluctuating bodies of water which occupy 

 swampy places and abandoned river courses in the low-lying 

 river valleys. In the central valley of Luzon there are several 

 lakes of this character, among which may be mentioned Candaba 

 swamp in Pampanga Province close to the boundary with Bula- 

 can Province ; Lake Canaren in Tarlac Province near the bound- 

 ary with Nueva Ecija Province; an unnamed swamp near 

 Hagonoy, Bulacan; and another swamp near Bayombong, Pan- 

 gasinan. Adams ^* accounts for Candaba swamp, which covers 

 an area of some 50 square kilometers during flood season, as 

 an area lying between the main channels of Pampanga and 

 Quingua Rivers which has failed to receive sufficient sediments 

 to build it up as rapidly as the adjacent portions of the delta 

 region. A swampy area in Cagayan Province in northern Lu- 



" Reisen in den Philippinen. Wiedmann'she Buchhandlung, Berlin (1873), 

 109. 



" Op. cit., 75. 



