Near the volcano of Mayon are the sulphur springs of Albay, noted for their wonderful medicinal properties. Here, no doubt, some enterprising American will soon build a resort, or a sanitarium. And a most splendid location indeed it would be! Though in the heart of the tropics, the Philippines are by no means unhealthy. The year is divided into the wet and the dry monsoons; the west coast being dry, the eastern coast wet, and vice-versa. The annual rainfall is about 90 inches. Mosquitoes and white ants are the most troublesome pests. Terrific tornados are common, and earthquakes are as plentiful as blackberries in an Alabama cemetery. In 1875 a typhoon destroyed 4000 houses and killed about 300 people. In 1863 an earthquake destroyed the greater part of Manila--3000 people were killed and injured. The earthquake of 1880 was also very destructive. That of '63 occurred at night, and I remember it well. I was then a little boy, but the horrors of that night I can never forget. The earth trembled and seemed to rise and fall; huge fissures opened in the ground, and dull rumblings were heard everywhere, while the shrieks of tens of thousands arose on every hand. Many were buried in the ruins of their houses. For weeks afterward, the people slept in the streets; for the greater part of the city was destroyed. The earthquake of 1880 occurred while the people were at tiffin, or lunch. Hence the number of casualties was not so great; for most of the people were able to leave their houses before they were shaken down. NATURAL BEAUTY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. A Botanist's Paradise. The preceding chapters give but a faint idea of the great wealth of plant-life in the Philippine Islands, of the richness and abundance of the fruits, the variety and usefulness of the trees, the multitude of growths that add to the comfort and convenience of human life. Yet, after all is said, every description of the plant-life there gives but an inadequate idea of the real luxuriance and beauty of the group, and its value from a botanical point of view. These rich and multitudinous islands, seated in the midst of a tropical sea, form, in reality, a botanist's paradise, a region in which an ardent naturalist might browse for years, and still have new treasures to find.