Near this end of the lake few Europeans ever go, as it is quite out of the beaten track, which leads them in an opposite direction, to look down the crater of a volcano, generally simmering, but seldom boiling over to such an extent as to spout lava to any distance. Calamba and Calawan are also places they usually go to see; at the latter of which, there is a cotton-spinning mill, the property of a Mestizo, who dresses like a Spaniard, and no doubt wishes to be considered such. The machinery employed is of Belgian or French make, and of a very simple construction, and far from being equal to the sort now used at home for the purpose; but is considered by its owner to be the only sort that would answer well there, as it can be kept in order, and even, I believe, put into repair on occasion by a native blacksmith, who acts as engineer, which could not, of course, be the case were machinery of a finer and more complex and elaborate construction employed, as that would render a staff of good European workmen essential to keep it in order and good repair, and their pay in this climate, would run away with all the profits of the adventure. The yarn produced is of the coarser descriptions, and is only saleable to the native weavers of cotton cloth, by the excessive duty put on grey cotton twist of British manufacture, which is 40 per cent. on a high _ad valorem_ valuation if imported by a Spanish ship, and 50 per cent. if by any foreign vessel, amounting virtually to a prohibition on its importation. At the village of Los Banos, on the shores of the laguna, there are some hot springs, flowing into baths cut out of the natural rock. The temperature of the water as it issues from the rock is sufficient to boil an egg; but not having a thermometer, we were unable to ascertain it more exactly. As it mixes with the cool water of the laguna, however, the heat decreases, and at sunrise on a cool morning forms just there a very pleasant bath. The baths, from which the place is named, having for long been little frequented by invalids, are now in a semi-ruinous state. In cases of debility they are said to be most beneficial, and the old Manilla doctor, Don Lorenzo Negrao, whose long experience of the country and of the diseases incidental to it is most valuable, in such cases sometimes recommends his patients to try these baths for some peculiar diseases, and once recommended them to me.