GEOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL.
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Weights and MEASURES.-The picul of 100 catties, or 140 lbs. English; the quintal of 4 arrobas, or 100 lbs. Spanish, equal to 100 lbs. English; the arroba of 25 lbs. Spanish.
PRODUCE. The country around Iloilo and in the province and island generally is very fertile and extensively cultivated. It is well peopled, and there are towns of 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 pineapple 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 bave formed estates there, and several steam mills for crushing cane have recently been erected. Very productive land in good positions is to be had; 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.
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