5. Passing without comment other innumerable islands, comes the famous one of Paragua, [77] about eighty leguas long and from ten to twenty in its greatest width. It is a rich and fertile island. Besides the common articles of commerce, such as wax (of which the harvest is more abundant than in any other district), nests, fine shell, and balate, it has various fisheries for fine pearls of beautiful luster, some of them found at a depth of three or four brazas. Shells, or _madres abiertas_, of excellent mother-of-pearl, of various beautiful colors, are found on its coasts. The matrix-shell of these pearls has been seen of one and one-half ordinary palmos in length and almost one palmo in its narrowest part--whose pearl could not be obtained, because the valve opened on drawing it from the sea, and the sensitive fleshy part that contained the pearl fell into the water. According to its appearance, it must have contained pearls of many grains and carats in size. The island has various exquisite and useful woods which distil special gums. There is one which is an effective remedy for cancers; it is so powerful a caustic that it burns out the cancer even when it is deep, although the wounds caused by its burning are dangerous. However, those wounds have their suitable remedy. There is a quantity of nutmeg of two varieties--the long and the round. The latter is valued more because it is more fragrant. It is easily destroyed by grubs, because the precautions useful for its preservation are unknown. There are bejucos or Indian canes for walking-sticks, with their branches as much as five and one-half palmos long; they are of better luster and of greater toughness than are those gathered by the Dutch in the islands of the Sonda. I am sure that camphor would be found, if one looked for it, just as good as that of Borney; for the resemblance of Paragua's productions to those of that great island is very marked, and the latter is not very far from its southern point.