to the south, in which quarter they first acquire their greatest force.

[Winds and storms.] From the end of March to the middle of June
inconstant easterly winds (N.E.E. and S.E.) prevail, with a very
heavy sea on the east coast. May is usually calm; but in May and
June there are frequent thunderstorms, introducing the south-west
monsoon, which though it extends through the months of July, August,
and September, is not so constant as the north-east. The last-named
three months constitute the dry season, which, however, is often
interrupted by thunderstorms. Not a week, indeed, passes without rain;
and in many years a storm arises every afternoon. At this season of
the year ships can reach the east coast; but during the north-east
monsoon navigation there is impossible. These general circumstances
are subject to many local deviations, particularly on the south and
west coasts, where the uniformity of the air currents is disturbed
by the mountainous islands lying in front of them. According to
the Estado geografico of 1855, an extraordinarily high tide, called
dolo, occurs every year at the change of the monsoon in September or
October. It rises sometimes sixty or seventy feet, and dashes itself
with fearful violence against the south and east coasts, doing great
damage, but not lasting for any length of time. The climate of Samar
and Leyte appears to be very healthy on the coasts; in fact, to be
the best of all the islands of the archipelago. Dysentery, diarrhoea,
and fever occur less frequently than in Luzon, and Europeans also
are less subject to their attacks than in that place.

[Only the coast settled.] The civilized natives live almost solely
on its coasts, and there are also Bisayans who differ in speech and
manners from the Bicols in about the same degree that the latter do
from the Tagalogs. Roads and villages are almost entirely wanting