There is no sport to be had in fishing; in Luzon, so far as I know, there are no game fish. When living on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, I noticed some natives taking fish at night by placing a torch on the bow of a canoe, which was paddled by one man slowly along near the bank, another man standing in the bow with a fish-spear of three prongs, similar to the "grains" used in England. As the fish came up to the light he struck at them with his spear and managed to pick up a good many. This appeared good sport, and I arranged for a native to come for me in a canoe with torch, and I borrowed a spear. We started off, but there was some difficulty in standing up in a small, narrow canoe, and darting the spear. My first stroke was a miss, the fish escaped; my second, however, was all right, and I shook my catch off the spear into the canoe, but the native shouted out, "Másamang áhas pó!" (a poisonous snake, sir) not forgetting to be polite even in that somewhat urgent situation. The snake was wriggling towards me, but I promptly picked him up again on the spear and threw him overboard, much to my own relief and that of the Pampanga. It was one of those black and yellow water-snakes, reputed as poisonous. That was enough fishing for me, and I remembered that I had a particular appointment at home, and left fishing to professionals. Curiously enough, fish cannot be taken by the trawl, for a mestizo got out a trawling steamer with gear, and men to handle it, and after repeated trials in different places, had to give it up as a bad job. CHAPTER XXI. BRIEF GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF LUZON. Irregular shape--Harbours--Bays--Mountain ranges--Blank spaces on maps--North-east coast unexplored--River and valley of Cagayan--Central valley from Bay of Lingayen to Bay of Manila--Rivers Agno, Chico, Grande--The Pinag of Candaba--Project for draining--River Pasig--Laguna de Bay--Lake of Taal--Scene of a cataclysm--Collapse of a volcanic cone 8000 feet high--Black and frowning island of Mindoro--Worcester's pluck and endurance--Placers of Camarines--River Bicol--The wondrous purple cone of Mayon--Luxuriant vegetation. The island of Luzon is of so irregular a shape that it cannot be intelligibly described without the aid of a map. That part of it to the north and west of the isthmus of Tayabas lies with its longitudinal axis due north and south, and has a fairly even coast line, there being only two great indentations, the Bays of Lingayen and Manila, both on the west coast. There are also on that side and to the south the smaller bays of Subic, Balayan, Batangas, and Tayabas. On the east coast of this northern part are the unimportant bays of Palanan, Dilasac, Casiguran and Baler, besides the great bay of Lamon, sheltered by the islands Calbalete and Alabat.