“ The land on both sides of the entrance and along the western shore is high and forested; that on the east and north is low, and the northern shore especially consists of the marshy delta of the Rio Grande de la Pampanga, which enters the bay through numerous mouths, between which tall reeds grow far out into the shallow water. The greater part of the bay, however, has deep water, with good and ample roadsteads at Manila and Cavité, and for harbor purposes it is the finest in the Far East. ”