144 The National Geographic Magazine 



The successive steps taken in chang- 

 ing the judicial system are of great in- 

 terest, and illustrate in a conspicuous 

 manner the adaptability of American 

 legal institutions to the greatest of our 

 new possessions. 



Until January 1, 1906, Spanish will be 

 the official language of all the courts, and 

 after that English ; meanwhile the su- 

 preme court and courts of first instance 

 may in any case order a duplicate record 

 of a case in the English language when- 

 ever, in the opinion of the court, the pub- 

 lic convenience and the interest of the 

 litigant parties will be promoted thereby. 

 This is a fortunate settlement of a diffi- 

 cult question, and is equally fair to the 

 English and Spanish speaking lawyers, 

 besides preventing the resentment which 

 would have followed had English been 

 forcibly imposed on the people by opera- 

 tion of law. 



EXPLORATION IS IN PROGRESS 



Although Spain had jurisdiction over 

 these islands for more than three centu- 

 ries, little topographic information had 

 been acquired regarding them, except 

 such as was of a very general character. 

 The coasts were badly mapped and in 

 many places are now known to have 

 been miles out of position. The coast 

 charts, made from Spanish surveys, are 

 so inaccurate as to be, on the whole, 

 worse than useless to mariners, while of 

 the interior of the larger islands little 

 was known except what could be seen 

 from the sea. Many maps of the archi- 

 pelago have been published embodying 

 the knowledge which had been acquired 

 both during the days of the Spanish 

 jurisdiction and in more recent times, but 

 they are all very much of the same char- 

 acter. 



Since American occupation much ex- 

 ploration and surveying have been done. 

 Wherever military operations have ex- 

 tended, surveys have been made and 

 maps prepared. In this way there have 

 been produced maps covering a large 

 part of Luzon, including the entire cen- 



tral portion of that island. Maps have 

 been made of several of the Visayan 

 Islands. The operations against the Ma- 

 lanao Moros have resulted in a map of 

 Lake Lanao and its surroundings in 

 Mindanao. The island of Jolo has been 

 mapped. 



The great work of charting the coasts 

 and harbors of the Philippines was com- 

 menced three years ago by the United 

 States Coast and Geodetic Survey , work- 

 ing in cooperation with the Philippine 

 government, and progress is being made 

 in the preparation of accurate and trust- 

 worthy charts of these dangerous coasts. 



THE ISLANDS ARE OF VOLCANIC 

 ORIGIN 



The entire archipelago is mountain- 

 ous or hilly. In the islands of Luzon, 

 Negros, and Mindanao are broad plains 

 and level valleys, but in general there is 

 comparatively little level land. Tropic 

 vegetation extends high up on the slopes 

 and covers the lesser mountains and 

 hills. Thus the ruggedness of a moun- 

 tain region is softened into rounded out- 

 lines. The mountain scenery is every- 

 where beautiful, but rarely appeals to 

 the eye with the element of grandeur. 



The archipelago is, for the most part, 

 of volcanic origin. It contains twelve 

 volcanoes which have been in eruption 

 within historic times, and scores which 

 are extinct or quiescent. Most of the 

 surface of the islands is floored with vol- 

 canic rocks and ash. In northern Luzon 

 there are, however, large areas under- 

 lain by metamorphic rocks, granites, 

 schists, and the like ; and several isl- 

 ands, notably Cebu and Bohol, are cov- 

 ered with a veneer of coral limestone. 

 The occurrence of these coral limestones 

 of very recent disposition, at various 

 places in the archipelago and at great 

 altitudes, as in Benguet province at a 

 height above sea of 5,000 feet, shows 

 that great oscillations of level have oc- 

 curred at times geologically very recent. 

 Of these oscillations there are other 

 abundant evidences in the existence of 



