"After passing the Calabazos rocks and Papitas shoal, and sighting the block-house of Banate" (erected, like many others along the Philippine coasts, for defence against the pirates of the Sulu Sea), "the course is due south, until sighting a group of seven remarkable rocks, called the Seven Sins, which lie between the north end of Guimaras and the Panay shore; a direct course for them should then be made, taking care to keep the lead going to avoid the Iguana Bank. Vessels of proper draught may enter the creek, or, if too large, should bring up on the east side of the fort, where they are protected from the wind and strength of the tide.
"A lighthouse, for exhibiting a fixed light, is to be erected on the Seven Sins, and another on Dumangas Point. Buoys are also to be laid down along the channel near the Iguana and Oton shoals." [37]
The latest report on the navigation of the port of Iloilo is given in the note below. [38]
Iloilo has great facilities for the introduction of wharves, piers and landing-places, but none have been constructed. The entrance to the river, and, indeed, the whole of its course, might be easily dredged, hut little or nothing is done for the removal of the accumulating mud.
The province of Pangasinan consists principally of an extensive plain, or, rather, of a very gradual descent from the mountains where the Igorrote Indians dwell, and extending to those of Zambales. The roads are generally good and have trees planted by their sides, and the lands are rich and fruitful. Many rivers descend from the hills and are used for the conveyance of timber, rattans, and other forest productions. The Igorrotes collect gold in the mountain streams, especially in the neighbourhood of Asingan. Large herds of wild buffaloes, oxen, deer and pigs, are found on the hills, but little attended to by the natives. The fertility of the lands will give a crop of sugar and of rice in the same year. The coast and lakes abound with fish, of which, as of salt, cocoa-nut oil and sugar, there is a considerable exportation. Hides are tanned for the Manila market. Ship-building is an important branch of industry, especially on the Agno River. Multitudes of the women are employed in making straw hats, cigar-cases and other articles, of the fibres of various vegetables, some of great fineness and selling for high prices--a cigar-case is sometimes valued at an ounce of gold. Mats, plain and ornamented, are also manufactured for use and for sale. It is said that the Indian, with no other instrument than his knife for all his domestic needs, and his plough for his field labours, supplies himself with every object of desire. Women are proud of having woven and embroidered the garments worn by their husbands and their children, and they present a gay appearance on days of festivity. In the year 1755 there was a serious insurrection against Spanish rule, and again in the year 1762, when the English took Manila; but both were subdued, though the population was diminished to the extent of 20,000 by these outbreaks. Two distinct idioms are spoken in the province, the aboriginal Pangasinan people being distinct from the races which penetrated from Ilocos. The Dominican friars exercise the principal ecclesiastical authority in the province.