LOS BANOS 222 LUZON
of Lorius, is not found in any island of the Archipelago west of New Guinea, nor at
all in the Philippines. The loories of naturalists are, in fact, confined to New Guinea
and its adjacent islands.
LOS BANOS, in Spanish, “ the baths,” is the name of a town in the province of
the Laguna in the island of Luzon. I t lies near the southern shore of the great lake
of Bay, and at the skirt of the mountain Maquiling, in north’latitude 14° 9' 40”. By
the natives it goes under the name of Mayit, signifying “ hot.” Early in the history
of the Spanish Philippines, the Eranciscan friars brought these hot springs into
notice, and they soon came into repute for their sanative qualities. A convent and
an hospital were in time built near them. The heat of the water at its issue from
the springs, for there are many of them, is 67° of Reaumur, and the chief chemical
contents of the water, are muriates of lime, of magnesia, and of soda, with a small
quantity of iron, the muriate of lime forming 60 per cent, of the whole matter in
solution. The country in the neighbourhood of the springs is naked, mountainous,
Bterile, and hardly fit for any kind of cultivation, so that the common necessaries of
home have to be brought to the town, which in 1845 had a population of 1859 souls.
Fishing on the lake is the principal employment of the inhabitants.
LUBANG. This is the name of the largest of a group of small islands lying off
the western coast of Luzon, and off the north-western end of the large island of
Mindoro, with which and other islands it constitutes the province of Mindoro. Its
town, of the same name, contained in 1845 a population of 6040 souls, of which
1139 contributed to the poll-tax, which amounted to 11,395 reals of plate. The
inhabitants cultivate rice, cacoa, coffee, and pepper, and find some employment in
the collection of the eggs of the turtle, an animal that much frequents their coast.
From the large population of this very small island compared to that of the large
one of Mindoro, to which it is annexed, and from the immediate neighbourhood to
it of the small islet of Ambil, which is an active volcano, it is to be suspected that
its soil is volcanic and fertile, and the interior being mountainous, most probably
well supplied with water for irrigation. It may be remarked that the names Lubang
and Ambil are both Malay, and do not belong to the Philippine languages unless by
adoption. The first means a hole, cavity, or excavation, and the last “ to take or
seize.” They may have been imposed by the pirates who have immemorially harassed
the coasts of Mindoro.
LUSE. The name of the highest mountain of Sumatra, 11,250 feet above the level
of the sea, and situated in north latitude 3° 40' towards the western side of the island
and in the territory of Aehin.
LUZON. The largest island of the Philippine group, and after Java the most
fertile and populous of all the islands of the Asiatic Archipelago. The name is thus
generally written by the Spaniards; sometimes, however, as Lupon, which in our
maps and charts has been converted into Luconia. Luzon is probably derived from
the Malay and Javanese word lfisung, “ a mortar,” borrowed by the Philippine
islanders, and by them pronounced, losong. There is a tradition that when the
Spaniards first arrived in the island they asked its name, and the natives fancying
they asked that of a rice mortar which was before them at the moment, replied
accordingly, and hence the name. There is no ground, however, it is obvious, for
this whimsical etymology. The Spaniards did not land on Luzon until 1569, or
until 48 years after the discovery of the Archipelago, and as they had heard of its
existence, for it is expressly stated they had done so, it is impossible they could have
fallen into so ridiculous a mistake. Besides this, the island must have been familiar
to them, and must have precluded the necessity of asking its name when they reached
it in force, to effect it3 conquest. The name, indeed, seems to have been known to
Europeans from the time of their first arrival among the eastern islands. Thus
De Barros in enumerating the nations trading with Malacca before the arrival
of the Portuguese, names the Lupoes as one of them, and even Pigafetta, one of
the first discoverers, although he had not seen or described the island, tells us in
his account of Borneo that the fleet of the king of that place was commanded by a
son of the King of Luzon,” a name which could not well refer to any other place.
In all probability, therefore, the name of Luzon, or as the Malays would pronounce
it, Lasung, was imposed by this people, and given by them in the first instance not
to the whole island but to the country about the great bay of Manilla, with which
they traded, and a few of the inhabitants of which they had even converted to
Mahommedanism before the arrival of the Spaniards, to whom, moreover, they were
. interpreters. It may even be conjectured that
as Pigafetta informs us, *be ear y £ remarkable feature of the country that
the Malayan name was given tiro the peninBula which forms its western barrier,
presents itself m entering tn y , ^ gogs under tlie nam0 0f Lozon,
and the most conspicuous prpmo ,^ the igland itself, divided as they were into
or “ the mortar. That th . different languages, should have had a common
many nations and tr“^ ’ofPwhictf in an likelihood, even the insularity was unknown
name for their country, >
to them, is highly improbable. , gQ thftt ^ ig in the game
Luzon lies.between north latitudes India_ >To the north and west it
climate as a large st by the north Pacific, while to the south it
is bounded by the C h i n a Sea, to t ? f Borneo, the northern
has all the greater islands of the Philippine group that of a bent
limit of the is vCTy irregular. Its most striking character
arm— brazodoblado and „gulag a northern embracing the main body of the
is its distinct division into two pen > called by the Spaniards the upper or
island, and a scuthern or s u t l e r ¿ h o leL a n d measured in a
L u z o m a and the last the fflwe beudS as much as 550. Its greatest
straight line is about 420 miles o g, y excluding the isthmus, it does not
breadth is about 135 miles, bu T ? as ig about 50 miles in length, and varies
exceed SO The isthmus called Computed at 52,328 geographical
in breadth from 10 to 20 miles. 1 he area oi n, ^ ^ ^ Ireland_ A
square miles, so that * do® " the whole 0f it, from north to south, branching
range of mountains limB throug ;Hiand a decidedly mountainous character,
out in different scj¿^¿ afnam e of the Montes Caraballos, and according to
This range goes under the g «.¡.them or central. The branching of the mountheir
localities are called northern, so j lntitnde One branch
monsoon. The heights of the
exposed to the whole lorce o received very little attention. I t is
mountains of Luzon is a subject w enerally exceed one-half the altitude of
tolerably certain, however, that they do not ge ? , d thafc reckoned
those of Sumatra, Java, Bali meLureT This i l Banajao, called also
the highest m the island» this is reckoned to be 2233
M" 2 34 milgadas or about 6214 English feet above the level of the sea. Snow,
varas and 34 p S » hie-hest neaks of the mountains of Luzon, notwithcertainly,
never felU d; t g f ^ the equator. Between the mountain ranges
i S s S s n s S S S S - p1“ ’ & the °n* piain3-of r ch extent 316
r nr on the northern end of the island, and having a comparatively short
western coast oi on ™e „narpntlv the largest river of the island runs through
course with a rapid cur • PP yf it but being also known as the Aparri,
river calledLe Abulug, which also debouches at the northern end of the island
further west than the Tajo. Two rivers of considerable size called by the Spaniards
the Chico and Grande of Pampanga, pass through the fruitful Provincei of the last; name,
and unite before falling into the sea in the Bay of Manilla. The Chico or little river,
is the source of the united stream, and issues from the great lake “ „ “ aV,
united stream is computed to have a course of three and twenty eag .
large river is called the Abra, from the province of this name. This has its origin
in the Western Caraballos, in latitude 16° 47', and after receiving many affluents falls
into the sea by three branches near the headland of Namagpacan, on the western
coast. This river and its branches are navigable for small vessels. The Agno-gr