THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 
75 
1716, 1740, 1754, 1867, and 1880—the most severe 
being that of 1754, when for eight days the crater .threw 
out ashes and lava, darkening the sky to such an extent 
that artificial lights had to be used at mid-day in Manila, 
while the shocks of the explosions were sensible at a 
distance of 300 leagues. The red-hot lava falling into 
the lake raised the temperature of the neighbouring water 
to boiling point, and the fish, perishing in countless 
thousands, gave rise to an epidemic which is said to have 
cost the lives of 40,000 of the natives. The last 
eruption, that of July 1880, commenced before the great 
earthquake, *and stones of enormous size were projected 
to some distance into the lake. The lake of Taal is 
bounded on its south-west side by a low isthmus, formed 
entirely of volcanic ashes, which separates it from the 
sea, and it is evident that at some past period the walls 
forming the ancient crater yielded at this spot, and that 
the sea irrupted. At a later date a succeeding volcanic 
eruption cut off this arm of the sea and turned it into a 
lake. It is said to be still partially salt, and to contain 
various marine fish. Previous to the 1716 eruption the 
island itself used to be cultivated, but the great showers 
of ashes which fell in 1754 destroyed everything, and in 
1880 nothing was growing upon it but the coarse lalang 
grass. Since then this too has disappeared, and the 
island is now only a heap of cinders. 
Between Manila and the extreme north of Luzon 
there are few volcanoes, and none of them are active, but 
near Cape Engano, the north-east extremity of the island, 
Cagud (3920 feet) appears as the first of another isolated 
group. It is in a semi-active state, but has had no eruption 
in the present century. Of the Babuyanes Islands two 
are active, Camiguan and Babuyan Claro. In 1856 a 
volcano suddenly rose from the sea-shore of the island of 
