Laguna

“ A forest of mangos, mangosteens, bread-fruit, and cocoa-palms, extends between the town and Fort Teloko, the first Portuguese stronghold, and now a rocky outpost of Fort Orange, the headquarters of the Dutch troops. Beyond shadowy nutmeg groves lies the Laguna, a volcanic lake between mountain and sea. In the poetic Moluccas one draws closer to the warm heart of Nature than in any other part of the vast Archipelago, for the great Mother seems calling her children to rest, as she raises the veil from her inmost shrine and discloses her altar of peace. ”

“ Down the center is a somewhat level plain, with another range of dunes flanking the western side of the island, which overlooks the placid Laguna Madre. Shining shell banks jewel the endless miles of white, hard sand beaches. In this virgin wilderness small rainbow clusters of wildflowers bend to the tropical Gulf breezes. Sweeping across the azure skies fly the wild birds, occasionally diving into the limpid waters to catch the silver betrayal of a luckless fish. ”

“ The great mountain chain, which forms a semi-circle around the inland side of the Laguna de Cayutlan, is clothed in magnificent vegetation, from the waters edge to its summit; all the wealth of the tropics is lavished on the picture. The long lines of palm trees on the heights, cutting sharply against the blue sky, seem to have been set there by some cunning hand, to make it perfect in all its artistic details. ”

“ Laguna is about halfway between here and the continental divide, or about one-third of the distance to Gallup. Acoma is perhaps eighteen miles south of Laguna where you can get a guide and also more definite information. [171] Or you can just go south across the plain by yourselves, fairly near the petrified forest later—no, that not until you are on the way to Holbrook. You also skirt the edge of the lava river—I don’t think you’d know it was anything to look at unless you were told. ”

“ Because, even here in Laguna, the bottom of the cup where the dregs gather, there is a wholesome stirring. Men like you and your late partner, cattlemen and ranchers, are leavening the stagnant life with honorable activity. The inevitable tide sets in, rising, rising. ”

“ On the east side of this plain, very near the back of the town, there is a natural lake or pond of fresh water. It is about half a mile in circumference; but being stagnant, it is only used for cattle to drink of. In the wintertime several sorts of wildfowl resort hither, affording plenty of game to the inhabitants of Laguna. This city is called Laguna from hence; for that word in Spanish signifies a lake or pond. The plain is bounded on the west, the north-west and the south-west with high steep hills ”

“ Having seen everything and taken photographs of the Enchanted Mesa from every point of view, as well as of the pueblo of Acoma, the scouts voted to return to Laguna. It would be dark long before they could expect to reach camp, but the road was excellent throughout the trip and there was no danger in following it even at night. Perhaps that return trip under the dazzling brightness of the stars, and the shooting of meteors across the heavens, was as enjoyable to the scouts as the eager watching for mirages on the way up in the morning. ”

“ Immediately following the Ranger’s departure the scout-party rode away from Albuquerque and struck the trail leading to Laguna. But the wind blew such a gale of dust that day that riding was anything rather than pleasure. It would have been a simple matter for the tourists to take the train to Laguna, but that was too usual. Perhaps they silently regretted this decision long before they saw the old pueblo town of Laguna. The railroad passes through the lower street—“strata”—but the scouts rode up to the city after having viewed it from afar. ”

“ Of Honduras, the chief lakes are the Laguna de Caratasca, or Cartago, close on the Atlantic coast, thirty-six miles long by [10] twelve wide; the Lago de Yojoa, between the Departments of Comayagua and Santa Bárbara, twenty-five miles long and from five to eight wide; the Lago de Cartina, eighteen miles by eight, and the Laguna de la Criba, fifteen by seven miles. Of all the lakes of Central America, none is so interesting commercially as the Lake of Nicaragua. It is large (ninety miles by forty) , and the largest south of Lake Michigan. ”

“ Applications for guides should be made to the Director of the Bureau of Commerce and Industry.
LAGUNA PROVINCE.—The Province of Laguna is situated on a narrow plain which lies to the east, south, and southeast of Laguna Lake, commonly known as Laguna de Bay. It is a very fertile province and has a very pleasant [70] climate, the usual temperature being several degrees cooler than Manila. It produces coconuts, rice, sugar-cane, abaca, corn and a great variety of fruits and vegetables.
The beautiful town of Pagsanjan, Laguna
In industrial enterprises the province is very progressive. ”

“ The freight train climbs and climbs into the gypsum country of terrible drought, where nothing grows except under the ditch, and the cattle lie dead of thirst, and the wind blows a hurricane of dust that almost knocks you off your feet.
The railroad passes almost through the lower streets of Laguna; so that when you look up, you see tier upon tier of streets and three-story houses up and [Pg 85] up to the Spanish Church that crowns the hill. You get off at Laguna, but do not waste much time there; for the glories of Laguna are past. ”

“ One of the principal sights of La Laguna is the wonderful old Dragon tree in the garden of the Seminary attached to the Church of Santo Domingo, of which the age is unknown. The girth of its trunk speaks for itself of its immense age, and I was not surprised to hear that even in the fifteenth century it was a sufficiently fine specimen to cause the land on which it stood to be known as “the farm of the Dragon tree.”
Foreigners regard the town chiefly as being a good centre for expeditions, which, judging by the list in our guide-book, are almost innumerable. ”

“ Small lakes are common enough in the northern part of Central America. The Laguna del Peten is about five hundred feet above the sea, nine leagues long and five broad. The Lago de Atitlan, in the Department of Sololà, is sixteen and a half miles long from San Lucas Toliman to San Juan, and eight miles wide from San Buenaventura to Canajpú, and soundings show a depth of a thousand feet. ”

“ When on the third or fourth day out we crossed the bar and anchored off the little town of Laguna, on the Isla del Carmen at the eastern edge of the Tabasco delta, the sky was so threatening, that I deemed discretion the better part of valour, and took all my traps ashore, determining to start up the river from Laguna instead of Frontera; and the captain endorsed my view of the weather by not venturing out of port for three days. ”

“ Leaving the ship in one of her boats, we were pulled up the Pasig, a river which runs through the town, and connects Laguna de Bay with the Bay of Manilla, and is here between two and three hundred yards wide, protected by an extensive Mole, which projects some distance into the Bay, upon the extremity of which is a light-house. ”

“ The quantity is so large, that it lasts for two seasons; but after that, is apt to dry up, if the overflow does not come. But as this usually happens every year, this Laguna (Spanish for lagoon or lake) becomes a perfect god-send to the traveller here. On its southern margin, a Mr. Ganow from Illinois had established a ranch, and already was acquiring a comfortable home. His horses and cattle found ample subsistence in the brakes, on the borders of the lagoon, and the passing travel to and from California and Arizona made him considerable patronage in the course of the year. ”

“ There are many lakes in the island of Luçon; the most considerable is that called by the Spaniards Laguna de Bay. The river, which washes the walls of Manila, flows out of this lake, and thus a communication, by means of boats, is open to its surrounding shores. This lake is about 30 leagues in circumference, and about 120 fathoms in depth. In the middle of it is an island, which holds out a refuge to some Indian families. They live by fishing, and preserve their liberty by prohibiting the approach of strangers to their asylum. ”

“ All strangers coming to Manilla should endeavour to make an excursion to the great inland lake, or Laguna de Bay, as it is likely well to repay the inconvenience one has to stand in such an excursion from exposure to the sun, &c. ”

“ The 'noble and ancient city' San Cristobal de la Laguna was founded on June 26, 1495, St. Christopher's Day, by De Lugo, who lies buried in the San Miguel side-chapel of La Concepcion de la Victorias. The site is an ancient lava-current, the successor of a far older crater, originally submarine. The latest sub-aerial fire-stream, a broad band flowing from north to south—we have ascended it by the coach-road—and garnished with small parasitic craters, affords a bed and basis to the capital-port, Santa Cruz. ”

“ Beyond the lofty plain of Laguna the Anaga range is prolonged to the Llano de la Maja by the massive Cumbre. In the centre of the island, from the enormous crater-ring of Las Cañadas, and high 33above the trade-wind clouds, towers the mighty Peak of Teneriffe, or Pico de Teide (12,175 ft.) , visible for 100 M. around. ”

“ The humidity of the atmosphere, combined with the warm climate and rich volcanic soil, renders the district exceptionally fertile; wheat, wine and tobacco, oranges and other fruits, are produced in abundance. Laguna is the favourite summer residence of the wealthier inhabitants of Santa Cruz. Besides the cathedral, the city contains several picturesque convents, now secularized, a fine modern town hall, hospitals, a large public library and some ancient palaces of the Spanish nobility. ”

“ Thence for a while the route was through an arid section, where alkali and musquite abounded; an unchangeable waste of black sterility; a country so level that the laying of a railroad track was attended by no difficulties, but keeping it clear of sand is a work of great perverseness. We were now on the line of the Atlantic and Pacific, which crosses a branch of the Rio Grande at Rio Puerco, and soon after follows the valley of that stream for about sixty miles. Laguna is on the way, and north and south are mesas, dry lakes and lava beds, but there is no picturesqueness of landscape. ”

“ Laguna de Bay, near Manila, Lake Naujan in Mindoro, Taal, and Bombon lakes in Batangas, and Lake Bito in Leyte are also noted for size and beauty. [41]
Falls The Falls of Pagsanjan and the Botocan at Majayjay, in Laguna Province; the Maria Cristina, the Pigduktan, and Kalilokan, in Mindanao, are the largest and most beautiful.
Mineral Springs Some 170 or more medico-mineral springs, hot and cold, are known in the Islands, many rivaling the most famous of Europe and America. Near Manila are those of Los Baños, Sibul, Lemery, Tivi, and Marilao. ”

“ Mineral waters are bottled in Los Baños, Pagsanjan, and Magdalena. A steam saw mill is located in Santa Maria. In Los Baños is a stone quarry that supplies crushed stone for the Provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, and Tayabas.
The province, besides having a rich soil, has an abundance of water supply. The Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, permits of easy and cheap transportation. Fifteen of the 28 municipalities are reached by water and a line of steam launches provides a daily service between the lake and the city of Manila. The lake abounds in fish. ”

“ She's ma lady love, she is ma dove, ma baby love, She's no gal for sittin' down to dream, She's de only queen Laguna knows; I know she likes me, I know she likes me Bekase she says so; She is de Lily of Laguna, she is ma Lily and ma Rose. ”

“ Spain is not a land of lakes; the so-called lagoons are often mere accumulations of flood-water, the result of the winter's rains which occupy shallow basins, or swamp the low-lying lands. Many of these hybernal lagoons dry up entirely as the hot weather sets in; others remain in greatly reduced proportions, hidden, as a rule, amidst reeds and dense aquatic herbage.
Few Spanish lakes cover any considerable area, though the Lagunas de Janda, near Trafalgar, those of Fuentepiedra near Malaga, and the Albufera of Valencia, are exceptions. ”

“ This was the Lagoon, or Etang, of Thau, a salt-water lake about a dozen of miles long, and opening up by a narrow channel—on both banks of which rises the flourishing town of Cette—into the Mediterranean. For the greater part of its length, only a strip of sand and shingle interposes between the lake and the sea, and as the steamer to which we were transferred, at the end of the canal, paddled its way to Cette, we could see every moment the surf of the open ocean rising beyond the barrier. ”

“ I said to the teacher, “walk with me round the island. I would once more look upon the lagoon and sit with you a little while as we have sat many times before, under the great toa tree that grows upon the point on the weather side.”
And so we two passed out of the mission house, and hand in hand, like children, went into the quiet village and along the sandy path that wound through the vista of serried, grey-boled palms, till we came to the white, inner beach of the calm lagoon, which shone and glistened like burnished silver. On the beach were some canoes. ”

“ The lake which is of fresh water, as its name Dulce denotes, is a fine expanse of about thirty miles by twenty, so that it forms a beautiful object as you descend down to the coast: as the creek, which leads into the small gulf, or Golfeto, communicating with the Atlantic is very narrow, its mouth is not discernible, and the borders of the gulf are therefore, as far as they can be made out, composed of thickly wooded slopes rising gradually into a spacious verdant amphitheatre. ”