soil is of inferior fertility. Rice is scarcely produced
at all, and the staple food of the people is
sago. In language, manners, and political institutions,
the people of this quarter agree among
themselves, and differ essentially from all their
neighbours. They are far inferior to the inhabitants
of the first two divisions in civilization, in
power, and in knowledge of useful arts. They
never acquired of themselves the use of letters.
The fourth division is the least distinctly characterized,
but points of dissimilitude sufficiently
striking and obvious mark its character, to
entitle it to be considered separately. It extends
from the parallel of 116° E. longitude to
about 128°, and from north latitude 4° to 10°, and
includes the north-east angle of Borneo, the great
island of Mindanao, and the Sooloo Archipelago.
The vegetable products of this division are in a
good measure peculiar, but partake, in some degree,
of the character of those of the three first divisions
united. The clove and nutmeg are indigenous,
but of imperfect and inferior quality. Sago
is very often consumed, but rice is, again, the
principal article of food. In civilization the inhabitants
are superior to those of the third division,
and inferior to those of the fr s t, or even of the
second. Their language, manners, and institutions,
are peculiar, agreeing among themselves,
and differing from those of all their neighbours,
The fifth and last division is the well-known
group of the Philippines, extending from the pa-
rallel of 10° to 19° of north latitude. A geogra-
phical situation so different from that of all the
other countries of the Archipelago, produces much
relative difference of climate and production. This
division is the only portion of the Archipelago
within the limit of the boisterous region of hurricanes,
and this circumstance alone gives a peculiar
character to the country. The soil is of eminent
fertility, and rice is the food of the more civilized
races. The mould is eminently favourable to the
growth of the tobacco plant and sugar-cane, but produces
neither the pepper of the first division, the
fine spiceries of the third, nor some of the delicate
and peculiar fruits which characterize those countries
of the Archipelago which lie within ten degrees
of the equator, and which are unknown to all
other regions of the earth. The manners, the political
institutions, and, above all, the language of
the' inhabitants, differ in genius and form from
those of the inhabitants of all the other divisions.
Such are the particular characters of the different
divisions of this great country. The more general
features of the whole Archipelago, and those
distinctive marks which characterize it from other
portions of the world, are easily enumerated. It
has the common characters of other tropical countries,—
heat, moisture, and luxuriant vegetation.