between the Bay of Manila and the Lagoon of Bay, a fresh water lake,
thirty-five leagues in circumference, that washes the shores of three
fertile provinces, Manila, Laguna and Cavite. Formerly large vessels
full of cargo used to be able to sail right up to the borders of the
lake; now they are prevented by sandbanks. Even flat-bottomed boats
frequently run aground on the Napindan and Taguig banks. [63] Were
the banks removed, and the stone bridge joining Manila to Binondo
replaced by a swing bridge, or a canal made round it, the coasting
vessels would be able to ship the produce of the lagoon provinces
at the very foot of the fields in which they grow. The traffic would
be very profitable, the waters would shrink, and the shallows along
the shore might be turned into rice and sugar fields. A scheme of
this kind was approved more than thirty years ago in Madrid, but it
was never carried into execution. The sanding up of the river has,
on the contrary, been increased by a quantity of fish reels, the
erection of which has been favored by the Colonial Waterways Board
because it reaped a small tax from them.

[A famous plantation.] Jalajala, an estate which occupies the eastern
of the two peninsulas which run southward into the lake, is one of
the first places visited by strangers. It owes this preference to
its beautiful position and nearness to Manila, and to the fantastic
description of it by a former owner, De la Gironnière. The soil
of the peninsula is volcanic; its range of hills is very rugged,
and the watercourses bring down annually a quantity of soil from the
mountains, which increases the deposits at their base. The shore-line,
overgrown with grass and prickly sensitive-plants quite eight feet
high, makes capital pasture for carabaos. Behind it broad fields of
rice and sugar extend themselves up to the base of the hills. Towards
the north the estate is bounded by the thickly-wooded Sembrano,