TAAL VOLCANO.
This smoke poured out for nearly all the time until July 10. On that day heavy showers of mud, black as ink, began to fall. Terrible sounds were heard, as of cannon being fired off inside the mountain. The land trembled, and great waves from the lake dashed against the shore. Dead fish, alligators, and snakes were cast up on shore, and the town of Balili (bä lē´lē) was soon a swamp of black, liquid mud.
Then fire began to pour out of the crater. It lasted until September 25, when there was another great shower of stones. The people of Taal were driven from their homes and fled for their lives. Then, writes Fray Francisco Venenchillo (ven en chēl´yō), who, through these dreadful weeks of disasters, kept a daily journal of all that he observed, “a fearful storm of thunder and lightning began, and never stopped until December 4.”
In the meanwhile the volcano was still in eruption, and awful things kept happening. Lake Bombon rose and swept over the town of Taal. On November 14 inky darkness settled over the country. This lasted for two days, during which, even as far away as Manila, candles were needed at noonday. During these two days, fire and lava poured out steadily from the mountain. At last, on December 2, began a two days’ hurricane. It wiped out the town of Taal, and then all was quiet.
In all, the trouble lasted for six months and seventeen days. The towns of Taal, Sananan (sän ä´nän), Sala (sä´lä), and Lipa (lē´pä) were wholly ruined, and great harm was done in towns fifteen miles distant from the volcano. It was a marvelous event, and traces of it are still to be seen in all the country around Lake Bombon.
Never since then has there been such an overflow from Taal volcano. The ruins of the old town of Taal may still be seen just where the Pansipit (pän sē´pit) River enters the lake, but they are being overgrown by grasses and flowers. In a few years they will be quite hidden. The present town of Taal is farther up the river. It is noted for the fine sugar produced there. This sugar is well known, and commands a good price in foreign markets. Excellent cotton stuffs are also made there.
When Governor-General Arandia had formed his new King’s Regiment, he at once found work for it to do. Besides the regiment he collected a body of good native troops and began a campaign against the Igorrotes. The Spanish had never been able to subdue these people. In Arandia’s day they were still as wild and savage as when the Europeans first came to the islands. Arandia set out to conquer them or to kill every one of them that could be found.
The war was carefully planned. About 1,100 soldiers were sent against them, and these soldiers waged a warfare as savage, as cruel, as the wild tribes themselves could have carried on. The Igorrotes were surprised in their villages and given no quarter. Their towns were burned down, and women and children were killed without mercy. Growing crops were destroyed, and the land was laid waste wherever an Igorrote home was found.
But in spite of this cruelty the Spanish could not conquer the people. Instead, the King’s Regiment was driven back again and again, and whenever the Igorrotes took a Spaniard prisoner, they avenged upon him the wrongs of their tribe. The attempt was at last given up. The Igorrotes could not be subdued, nor could they be coaxed into swearing loyalty to Spain.