THE ISLAND OF MINDORO. 
extremity of the island. Several smaller ramifications extend from 
this cordillera. One of these terminates at Mansaly, in the 
southeast, and another extends to within a few miles of the west 
coast in the neighbourhood of Sablayan. Independently of this 
chain, two other mountains tolerably high and craggy raise their 
heads. One of these forms the Point Calavite and the other 
submerges itself in the sea at Point Damali, The lowest and most 
marshy plains in the island are those which lie between these 
mountains and the central cordillera. The valley which crosses 
irom north to west, from Abra de Hog to Paluan and Mamburao, 
is traversable during the dry months j but that which crosses from 
north to east, from Calapan to Bongabon is not to be traversed at 
any time except by savages. In the centre of this last valley, 
between Naujan and Pola, at a distance of two leagues from the 
sea, there is a lake of six or seven leagues in circumference, fed by 
the waters which fall from the principal mountain chain, whose 
course obstructs those which form the Punta Damali. Those 
waters which do not pursue their course until they collect in this 
lake, or which overflow from it in the rainy reason, flood the entire 
valley, depositing in the lower parts so abundant a sediment, that 
when the waters retire or dry up, the land becomes six or seven 
inches more elevated. The church of the old-town of Naujan, 
situated in the immediate neighbourhood of the lake, has, in the 
course of less than 15 years, become buried in the mud as high as 
the key-stone of the arched door, and the inhabitants have found 
themselves obliged to remove to the beach. 
Nor is this the only change that the surface of the island of 
Mindoro has undergone. Every year the embouchures of the small 
rivers which run into the sea change their position, overcome by 
the continued action of the wind and sea. The Bay (enserada) of 
Pola is formed by the submersion of a portion of the coast in 1695, 
if we may credit the traditions handed down to us by the chronicles 
of the religious establishments. The town of Balalacao, in the 
south part of the island, was founded less than ten years ago upon 
a hill of a perfectly conical form in the middle of a green plain, 
well cultivated ;—the hill is now an isolated mount, and the plain 
has become an inlet of the sea in wdiich small vessels can anchor. 
In many of the ancient descriptions of this Archipelago we read 
that Mindoro was full of good ports and harbours but in reality 
there is only one at present in the entire island, that of Mangarin- 
Its excellent position may be perceived by the charts. It is on the 
south-east coast, is extensive and very deep, and contains a river 
which can be entered by gun-boats, with a canal which leads to an 
extensive lake of sufficient depth to admit small vessels, and which 
could be deepened with facility so as to form a dock that would not 
be inferior to the best in Europe. Puerto Galera, “ port of the 
galleys/’ as it -was called in the last century, is a fine port enough ; 
but large vessels can only enter at high water. Its position is suf- 
