Iloilo Province is a great sugar and rice growing district. It is, besides, noted for the fine fabrics which its people make. This is the center for the manufacture of the cloth known as jusi. The women manufacture also most exquisite piña cloth. Some of this is of so fine a quality that it has to be woven in closed rooms, for the slightest breeze would serve to break the delicate threads of which it is made. Very beautiful silk and cotton goods are also made in this province. Since the American occupation there has come to be a large demand in America for these goods, so that the people engaged in the industry are kept very busy.
The island of Negros, which lies to the southeast of Panay, is an important agricultural island. A great deal of sugar is grown here, and there is much wealth in the island. Many of the large sugar estates are owned by Filipinos. Considerable modern machinery has been introduced into the island. Steel plows are in use, and in many places sugar is manufactured by improved modern methods. All of these things have helped to make Negros very prosperous. If the planters here would combine and introduce machinery for refining their own sugar they would come in time to an even greater measure of prosperity and independence than they now enjoy. Rice, hemp, and some tobacco are raised in Negros, and fine cocoanuts and bananas grow wild.
The island of Cebu is little more than the top of a mountain rising from the sea. A good deal of historic interest centers here, however. The city of Cebu was the first seat of Spanish government, and remained the capital of the archipelago until Legaspi went to Luzon and set up his government in Manila. Cebu was made an open seaport by the Spanish, and although its exports are not large now, when the resources of this island are developed the city will become an important shipping center. There is a large Malay population in the island. There are no rivers or valleys; the land is broken up into small farms, and hemp is the principal crop. The island produces also a good deal of copra and raw sugar, and the people raise most of their own foodstuffs.
Bohol, Leyte, and Samar are all volcanic islands. They are mountainous, and subject to frequent earthquakes and similar disturbances. There is not much agricultural land in Bohol, and the soil is poor and thin; but a good deal of hemp is raised, and some cocoa. The people are fishermen and sailors, and earn their living from the sea. Although Bohol is much smaller than Cebu, it has a larger population.
Leyte ships more hemp than does any other of the Visayan islands. There are several good harbors on this island, but Tacloban is the chief shipping point. Very little is known of the interior of Leyte, for the country has not been developed.
Samar is the largest of the Visayan islands, but has the smallest population. It is a very mountainous country, wind-swept and beaten upon by the sea. It lies directly in the track of the northeast monsoons, which visit it with great fury. Its chief port, Catbalogan, is well sheltered and a safe harbor.
Between the north of Samar and the southern end of Luzon lies the famous Strait of San Bernardino. This is one of the principal entrances into the archipelago from the Pacific Ocean. It has been the scene of many a famous sea battle, for here the Dutch and the English ships used to lie in wait for the galleons of Spain which brought treasure from Mexico to the Philippines and carried out rich freights for Acapulco.
Next in size to Luzon is the island of Mindanao. It was on the north coast of this island that Magellan made his first landing in the Philippines. There are four great mountain ranges in Mindanao, with many high peaks. The island is rich in vast forests, and some day the world will draw its main supply of fine building lumber from them.
THE FALLS OF BOTOCAN IN LUZON.