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The same individuals who in Spain would have followed the plough, in the colonies carry out great undertakings. I had much intercourse in Camarines and Albay with the priests, and conceived a great liking for them all. As a rule, they are the most unpretending of men; and a visit gives them so much pleasure that they do all in their power to make their guest's stay as agreeable as possible.
Everybody in Albay, however, assured me that the two Scotchmen were the first to reach the top of the mountain. It is true that in the above notice the ascent of the volcano is not directly mentioned; but the fact of the medal naturally leads us to suppose that nothing less can be referred to. Arenas, in his memoir, says: "Mayon was surveyed by Captain Siguenza.
Referring to the statement made by Blount that Vice-Governor Wright made a visit to Albay in 1903 in the interest "of the peace-at-any-price policy that the Manila Government was bent on," and the implication that he went there to conduct peace negotiations, General Bandholtz, who suppressed outlawry in Albay, has said that Vice-Governor Wright and Commissioner Pardo de Tavera came there at his request to look into conditions with reference to certain allegations which had been made.
The province exports about twice as much rice as it consumes; a large quantity to Albay, which, less adapted for the cultivation of rice, produces only abaca; and a fair share to North Camarines, which is very mountainous, and little fertile.
One of the greatest reforms effected by Americans in the Philippines is the sanitation of the jails and penitentiaries, and we cannot be fairly blamed for not knowing in 1903 what nobody then knew. The troubles in Albay ended with the surrender of Ola on September 25, 1903. Blount gives the impression that he had a knowledge of them which was gained by personal observation.
Blount has claimed that the death rate in the Albay jail at this time was very excessive, and cites it as an instance of the result of American maladministration. Assuming that his tabulation of the dead who died in the Albay jail between May 30 and September, 1903, amounting to 120, is correct, the following statements should be made:
Roldan soon lost standing with his new organization because it was found that he was using for his personal benefit the money which he collected. About this time one Simeon Ola joined his organization. Ola was a native of Albay, where he had been an Insurgent major under the command of the Tagálog general, Belarmino.
During their descent, they restored their strength with some refreshments Sr. Muñoz had sent to meet them; and they reached Albay towards evening, where during their short stay they were treated as heroes, and presented with an official certificate of their achievement, for which they had the pleasure of paying several dollars.
That native iron might have supplied the needs of many Philippine tribes, including the Tinguian, is certain, for important deposits of magnetite and hematite are found in Abra, in Ilocos Norte, Angat, Bulacan, Albay, and other parts of the Islands. On several occasions, when on the trail, the natives have called our attention to boulders, apparently of hematite, which they recognized as iron.
Volcanoes have played an important part in the formation of the Philippine Islands and have left traces of their former activity in all directions. Most of them, however, have long been dead and silent, only a few of the once numerous group being now active. Of these there are three of importance in the southern region of Luzon Taal, Bulusan and Mayon or Albay.
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