Hence, the differences between the list prepared for Professor Milne as well as the partial catalogue published in our Monthly Bulletin for February of the present year consist in the following: (1) This catalogue contains also several earthquakes whose intensities were between VI and VII, while in the former only such figure as according to their effects were decidedly of force VII. (2) The new catalogue is more complete as to details concerning the towns, etc., which have been destroyed.
It is to be regretted that we are unable to present here a complete historical catalogue of all the destruction wrought in the Archipelago by earthquakes since the time when Legaspi and Urdaneta first set foot on these shores. But the old chroniclers, who dwell upon the political happenings with an attention to detail which is occasionally overdone, were invariably laconic when there was question of earthquakes and similar natural phenomena; as a rule they were satisfied with mentioning the occurrence in a general and therefore vague way, without any attempt at precision as to dates and places. Still the writers in the Philippines did nothing worse than imitate their colleagues throughout the rest of the world. This fact is responsible for the great contrast exhibited by our catalogue as regards the number and details of earthquakes which occurred prior to 1800, records of which have been preserved, and the same data for the period from 1800 to the present time. This same difference is observable in all catalogues of a similar nature, even in those which cover phenomena which occurred in Europe. As to the Philippine writers, an additional excuse is found in the peculiar conditions of life in these Islands. As far as we know, only two earthquakes which took place during the period which alone can come under consideration--that is, since the discovery of the Archipelago--have claimed a considerable number of victims, and these in the capital, because outside of Manila--if we except two or three of the principal cities--the buildings which could become dangerous during an earthquake have always been few.
Moreover, in a country in which fires consume every year thousands of dwellings and where the terrible typhoons frequently destroy whole towns with heavy loss of lives, the damage done by earthquakes has rarely been so great as to impress those occurrences indelibly upon the memory. This is beyond doubt one of the reasons why prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century hardly any data can be found concerning the numerous earthquakes which during the preceding two centuries must have occurred in the Visayas and above all on the large Island of Mindanao.