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THE PHILIPPINES.
18, 20, 30, and 40 thousand inhabitants in the vicinity and interior and on the coast. Nearly all tropical productions can be grown on the island, but the chief articles of export are Sugar (which is at present the most important), Tobacco, Sapanwood, Rice, Hides, Hemp (imported coastwise), Cattle, and a large quantity of available native textures, made of the fibre of the pine-apple leaf, Silk Hemp, and other fibres. These textures are mostly for native consumption in the Archipelago. The quantity of sugar has increased rapidly since the opening of the port to direct foreign trade.
At the fine island of Negros the planting of cane is being much extended. The bulk of the plantations is owned by natives, but a number of Europeans have formed estates there, and several steam mills for crushing cane bave recently been erected. Very productive land in good positions is to be bad; labour is not scarce; conveyance of produce by sea to the Iloilo market is safe and expeditious, and intending planters could scarcely find a more eligible district.
COFFEE thrives well, but is not yet cultivated on a scale to allow of export.