Babuyanes Islands 272 Batanes Islands 104 Mindoro 4,153 Catanduanes 721 Marinduque 332 Polillo 300 Buriás 116 Ticao. 144 Masbate 1,642 ----- 7,784 ------ Total Luzon and adjacent islands 50,242 Visayas, etc. Panay 4,898 Negros 3,592 Cebú 2,285 Bohol 1,226 Leyte 3,706 Samar 5,182 ----- 20,889 Mindanao 34,456 Palawan and Balabac 5,963 Calamianes Islands 640 ------- Area of principal islands 112,190 The Spanish official estimate of the area of the whole Archipelago is 114,214 square miles [1] equivalent to 73,000,000 acres, so that the remaining islands ought to measure between them something over 2000 square miles. Beauty and Fertility. Lest I should be taxed with exaggeration when I record my impressions of the beauty and potential wealth of the Archipelago, so far as I have seen it; I shall commence by citing the opinions of some who, at different times, have visited the islands. I think I cannot do better than give precedence to the impressions of two French gentlemen who seem to me to have done justice to the subject, then cite the calm judgment of a learned and sagacious Teuton, and lastly quote from the laboured paragraphs of a much-travelled cosmopolite, at one time Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Manila. Monsieur Dumont D'Urville says: "The Philippines, and above all Luzon, have nothing in this world to equal them in climate, beauty of landscape, and fertility of soil. Luzon is the finest diamond that the Spanish adventurers have ever found. "It has remained uncut in their hands; but deliver over Luzon to British activity and tolerance, or else to the laborious tenacity of the Dutch Creoles, and you will see what will come out of this marvellous gem." Monsieur de Guignes says: "Of the numerous colonies belonging to the Spaniards, as one of the most important must indisputably be reckoned the Philippines. Their position, their great fertility, and the nature of their productions, render them admirably adapted for active commerce, and if the Spaniards have not derived much benefit from them, to themselves and to their manner of training is the fault to be ascribed."