THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 73 
smoking cone of Mayon with a full knowledge of the 
disaster which may at any moment befall him. 
The volcanoes of Luzon demand special consideration. 
Although, as has been already stated, the whole archi¬ 
pelago is more or less of volcanic origin, the acme of the 
manifestation of these subterranean forces appears to be 
reached in the southern part of the great island of which 
we are treating. Bulusan, situated within a few miles 
only of its terminal cape, is still partly active, but though 
two or three eruptions have taken place within the last 
half century, they have not occasioned any great destruc¬ 
tion. This cannot be said of Mt. Mayon, whose stupen¬ 
dous cone of nearly 9000 feet dominates the town of 
Albay. The first eruption known to the Spaniards was 
in 1616, and another occurred in 1766, which was 
attended with great loss of life and property, but both 
of these were eclipsed by that of 1st February 1814— 
one of the most appalling of the many volcanic catas¬ 
trophes which have visited the islands of Australasia. 
The rain of ashes was such as to bury whole villages and 
their coco-nut groves to a depth of 12 0 feet or more, and 
more than 12,000 people lost their lives. In Manila, 
208 miles distant, the ashes lay nearly two feet deep in 
the streets. Since then eruptions have been very fre¬ 
quent, but not so violent. The mountain has been 
ascended both by Jagor and von Drasche, and has been 
found to be without a crater—the steam and gas escaping 
from a mass of scoriae. The shape of the volcano is a 
nearly perfect cone, an evidence that its formation has 
been due to constant and prolonged action. In the Bay 
of Sorsogon—celebrated as the harbour in which the 
Acapulco galleons were built and fitted out—the land 
has recently sunk five or six feet. At Tibi, on the coast 
to the N.E., are fumaroles and hot springs somewhat 
