The island of Catanduanes belongs to Albay province, and its characteristics and productions are the same. The configuration of the province of Albay is most favourable to the production of this fibre. The plant seems to require a light volcanic soil, a certain height above the sea, and exposure to the Pacific breezes in order to flourish. To summarise the description of Luzon we may say that its agricultural wealth, present and future, lies in the valley of the Rio Grande of Cagayan, in the great valley lying between the Gulf of Lingayen and the shores of the Bay of Manila, in the rich lands of Cavite, Batangas, and Laguna, in the valley of the River Bicol, and on the slopes of the volcanoes of Albay. The production of the great northern valley is principally tobacco; of the middle valley, sugar and rice; of the southern valley, rice, and of the volcanic slopes, Manila hemp. The Sierras of Ilocos are highly mineralised, as are also the mountains of Tayabas, whilst as already stated washing for gold is the principal industry of Camarines Norte. Parts of this great island, as in Bulacan and Pampanga, support a dense population of 500 to the square mile; whilst, in other parts, hundreds or even thousands of square miles are absolutely unknown, and are only populated by a few scattered and wandering savages, many of whom have never seen a white man. THE INHABITANTS OF THE PHILIPPINES. Description of their appearance, dress, arms, religion, manners and customs, and the localities they inhabit, their agriculture, industries and pursuits, with suggestions as to how they can be utilized, commercially and politically. With many unpublished photographs of natives, their arms, ornaments, sepulchres, and idols. CHAPTER XXII. Aetas or Negritos, Including Balúgas, Dumágas, Mamanúas, and Manguiánes. These people are generally considered to be the aborigines of the Philippines, and perhaps at one time inhabited the entire group. The invasion of the Malays dispossessed them of the littoral, and of the principal river valleys, and the Spanish Conquest drove them gradually back into the mountains. It seems strange that these irreclaimable savages should be able from their eyries on Mount Mariveles to distinguish a great city with its Royal and Pontifical University and yet remain unconverted, uncivilised, and independent of all authority, just as they were before Legaspi arrived.