94 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
ancl an average breadth of 20 miles, although at Ulugan 
Bay it is only 3 miles across. Its area is probably 
about 5000 square miles, and it is thus the third in size 
of the Philippine Islands. Its northern extremity is 
much broken, and studded with small islands, so as to 
form several good harbours, while its whole north¬ 
western coast is bordered by an extensive submarine 
bank, with numerous reefs and islets. Considering its 
breadth the island is very high throughout its whole 
extent, many of the peaks reaching 5000 feet, and one 
6843 feet. Towards the north the coast is formed by 
vertical limestone cliffs. Although the island is not 
known to have any volcanoes, it is possible that they 
may exist, as there are two active craters on the island 
of Dumaran at its northern end. 
Politically Palawan is one of the Philippine Archi¬ 
pelago, but it cannot be considered so geographically. 
The soundings show that, together with the Calamianes 
and Cuyos islands, it is connected with Borneo by a bank 
which is hardly submerged 50 fathoms. North of the 
Calamianes, in the Mindoro Strait, the great depths of 
700 to 800 fathoms are reached. Not one of the few 
mammals peculiar to the Philippines is known to inhabit 
Palawan, while, on the other hand, the genera Hystrix, 
Mams , and Myclaus , abundantly found in Borneo, occur 
there, but in no other island of the Philippines. The 
avifauna shows similar evidence of a preponderating 
western element, and of this element being the original, 1 
and we must therefore conclude that the island forms an 
integral portion of the Bornean group rather than of 
the Philippines. 
The greater part of Palawan is unexplored, owing 
in part to the untrustworthy character of the natives. 
1 See Mr. A. H. Everett in Proc. Zoolog. Soc. 1889, p. 220. 
