ABRA PROVINCE is south of Ilocos Norte. It is a beautiful mountainous region. It is considered to be the seismic center of Northern Luzon. It is drained by the voluminous Abra River which is the highway to the Province of Ilocos Sur. The valley drained by this river and its tributaries is covered with luxuriant vegetation. Corn, tobacco, and rice are the most important products. The mountains are covered with forests containing timber eminently suitable for construction. There is gold dust along the Binoñgan River in the town of Lacub. Of mineral springs that of the Iomin River is the most important. This has a temperature ranging from 70 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit with a flow of 3 to 4 cubic centimeters per second. [Cagayan River] THE CAGAYAN VALLEY.--Adjoining the Mountain Province in the very northeastern corner of Luzon is the Province of Cagayan. Together with the neighboring Provinces of Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya to the south it forms what is known as the Cagayan Valley. Something of these great tobacco provinces can be seen by taking the steamer from Manila to Aparri and then sailing up the Cagayan River. This is a Mississippi, a Nile of a river, navigable by interisland steamers for twenty-five miles. Its chief importance lies in its periodical inundations, which, leaving their deposits of alluvial loam along the strips of lowland by the banks of the stream, make it the finest tobacco country of this part of the world. This crop has for a very long time been the staple source of wealth, though other plants can be cultivated with success. How great is the productivity of the soil, despite the exhausting effect of tobacco upon it, may be gathered from the following remark made in an official report. "The 'good land' was understood to be those parts fertilized annually by the overflow of the river.... The other land was not considered first class because it could only produce tobacco for ten or twelve years without enrichment, the subject of fertilizing never having received any attention from the planters of that region." By small boats it is possible to reach Cauayan, Isabela. From there the road is so nearly completed that autos can be taken to Santa Fé, Nueva Vizcaya, where it divides, one branch, an automobile road, leading to San Jose, Nueva Ecija, and thence to Manila; the other a horseback trail to San Nicolas, Pangasinan, a short and easy stage to the railroad. Among the sights is a salt-incrusted mountain, a dazzling landmark for miles around in Nueva Vizcaya. The people thereabouts often place small objects, such as baskets, under the drip of the salt springs. These become coated with salt in such a manner that they appear to be of pure marble. [Isabela and Palanan]