Philippine

3707

Philippine

 

go up the river one hundred and sixty miles,
and rafts forty miles farther. This is by far
th • most important stream in the archipelago
in this regard, as all the tobacco raised in
this, the chief tobacco region, is taken out
down the river. In Mindanao, the Rio Grande
de Mindanao and the Agusan, the largest
rivers of the island, each more than 200 miles
long, are navigated by small steamers for
considerable distances. The coasts are very
intricate and dangerous by reason of the
coral reefs which border them and, except
'or such parts as have been charted by the
Coast Survey since American occupation,
they are very badly charted. Good harbors
that are safe in all winds and easy of access
are few. The bay of Manila, thirty miles
wide, is too open to afford safe anchorage,
An artificial harbor with piers has been con-
structed, however, making Manila one of the

the southwest monsoon these conditions are
changed, this being the wet season for most
of the archipelago. The amount of annual
rainfall ranges in different places from 25 to
100 inches, the heaviest being upon the east-
em coast of Luzon and Mindanao. The aver-
age rainfall at Manila, determined by many
years of observation, is 50 inches (approxi-
mately that of the Gulf coast in the U. S.)
seven-tenths of which falls in the monsoon
season. Although the heat is tempered by
proximity to the sea, the temperature is high
at all times of the >^Tear. At Manila, which in
this matter well represents the archipelago,
the mean annual temperature is 80° f. The
mean of the coolest month, January, is 77°,
and of the warmest month, May, it is 84°.
The average daily range in temperature is
but 12°.
The archipelago is of volcanic origin, lying

Copyright Ewing Galloway, N. Y.
Philippine Islands: Natives preparing the rice fields.

few ports in the Orient where vessels can tie
up to piers to load and unload.
The climate of the islands is the result of
several conditions — their insular position;
their location within the tropics, and within
the area subject to the monsoon influences of
Asia; and their topography. For eight months
of the year, from October to June, the pre-
vailing wind is the northeast trade, and for
the remaining four months the southwest
monsoon. During this monsoon period the is-
lands, especially those toward the n., are sub-
ject to frequent typhoons, or baguios, as they
are locally called. They often cause great
damage to shipping and to the native towns*
The eastern coast of the islands is moun-
tainous, and therefore receives most of the
rain brought by the northeast trades. For
two-thirds of the year this is a stormy re-
Kion, while the remainder of the archipelago
enjoys fine weather. During the prevalence of

within the Pacific volcanic belt. In the archi-
pelago there are some dozen active volcanoes
and numerous extinct cones. In many locali-
ties there are evidences, in the form of lakes
and interrupted drainage, of recent changes
of level. Earthquakes are fairly frequent in
all parts of the archipelago. The flora is
tropical and luxuriant, and in general re-
sembles that of other East Indian Islands.
Certain features of the Australian flora are
traceable in the s., and in the n. are plants
related to the flora of southern China. One
noticeable peculiarity is the vast number and
variety of fiber plants, in which this archi-
pelago excels all other parts of the earth.
It is plain that both fauna and flora have
been isolated for a long period, in which time
the species have developed away from the
parent form. Largely on account of these
peculiarities, these islands form an interesting
locality for study for both botanist and