. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. CHAPTER ly. THE PHILIPPINES. FIE term Magellania, given to the Philippine Archipelago in honour of its illustrious discoverer, has shared the fate of other denomina- tions, such as the Western Isles and the Archipelago of Saint Lazarus, all of which have yielded to the name conferred on this group by Lopez de Yillalobos to flatter his master, Philip II. All these islands are also in a general way designated as the Spanish Indies, rivalling as they do the Dutch East Indies in extent, picturesque beauty, and the infinite variety of their natural res
. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. CHAPTER ly. THE PHILIPPINES. FIE term Magellania, given to the Philippine Archipelago in honour of its illustrious discoverer, has shared the fate of other denomina- tions, such as the Western Isles and the Archipelago of Saint Lazarus, all of which have yielded to the name conferred on this group by Lopez de Yillalobos to flatter his master, Philip II. All these islands are also in a general way designated as the Spanish Indies, rivalling as they do the Dutch East Indies in extent, picturesque beauty, and the infinite variety of their natural resources. Luzon, the largest member of the group, has alone an area of 40,000 square miles ; Mindanao, next in size, is very nearly as extensive; five others are each over 10,000 square miles in extent, while round about these larger masses is scattered a vast labyrinth of no less than two thousand satellites of all sizes. Luzon and its neighbours scarcely yield to Java, Sumatra or Celebes, in the splendour of their tropical landscapes. Perhaps they even offer greater variety from season to season, thanks to the more marked alternation of the monsoons, due to their greater distance from the equator. The vegetation of the seaboard, which comprises the same or corresponding species, is fully as dense and leafy as that of Indonesia ; the shores are everywhere deeply indented by bays and inlets ; island-studded lakes reflect the surrounding woodlands ; the horizon is bounded by lofty crests and cones wrapped in vapours. The inhabitants also, whether aborigines, Malays, Chinese, or half-castes of every shade, present many curious ethnological studies, and appear on the whole to offer more originality than their kindred of Dutch Indonesia. The action of their Spanish rulers, however violent at times, has weighed less oppressively on the natives, whose primitive character has consequently been less profoundly modified than in the Sunda Islands. Some members of the vast archipelago, as w
Size: 1546px × 1615px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
