the missing porters. On the west side of the mouth of the Pambujan
a neck of land projects into the sea, which is a favorite resort
of the [A pirate base.] sea-pirates, who from their shelter in the
wood command the shore which extends in a wide curve on both sides,
and forms the only communication between Lauang and Catarman. Many
travellers had already been robbed in this place; and the father, who
was now accompanying me thus far, had, with the greatest difficulty,
escaped the same danger only a few weeks before.

The last part of our day's journey was performed very cautiously. A
messenger who had been sent on had placed boats at all the mouths of
rivers, and, as hardly any other Europeans besides ecclesiastics are
known in this district, I was taken in the darkness for a Capuchin in
travelling attire; the men lighting me with torches during the passage,
and the women pressing forward to kiss my hand. I passed the night
on the road, and on the following day reached Catarman (Caladman on
Coello's map), a clean, spacious locality numbering 6,358 souls, at
the mouth of the river of the same name. Six pontins from Catbalogan
awaited their cargoes of rice for Albay. The inhabitants of the north
coast are too indifferent sailors to export their products themselves,
and leave it to the people of [Catbalogan monopoly of interisland
traffic.] Catbalogan, who, having no rice-fields, are obliged to find
employment for their activity in other places.

[A changed river and a new town.] The river Catarman formerly emptied
further to the east, and was much choked with mud. In the year 1851,
after a continuous heavy rain, it worked for itself, in the loose
soil which consists of quartz sand and fragments of mussels, a new
and shorter passage to the sea--the present harbor, in which ships
of two hundred tons can load close to the land; but in doing so it