Cebu in Cebu and Iloilo in Panay are ports of entry second and third in rank, although small in comparison with Manila; there are others of minor importance.
Cebu possesses 9 striking species of birds not known to exist elsewhere, and lacks many of the characteristic forms of the central and eastern islands.
Here he found a good harbour in the bay on which the city of Cebu now stands.
In 1565 he founded, on the island of Cebu, San Miguel, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the islands, destined to become the Villa de Santisimo Nombre de Jesus, later the city of Cebu.
Iron ore has been found in other provinces of Luzon and in the islands of Cebu, Panay and Marinduque.
It is connected with Cebu by a railway, and a branch of this railway extending across the island to Barili and Dumanjug was projected in 1908.
La Laguna, Luzon, was the only province in which more than 50% of the land was included in " farms," and Cebu the only island in which more than 25% of the land was included in farms; in the large island of Mindanao only 1.4%, in Masbate only 1.6%, and in Mindoro only 3.9%.
Laoag in north Luzon with a population of 19,699, Iloilo in Panay with a population of 19,054, Cebu with a population of 18,330, and Nueva Caceres in south Luzon (r0,201), were the only towns with a population exceeding ro,000; and Manila (219,928) was the only city.
Missionary work in the Pacific began with Magellan (1521), when in a fortnight he converted all the inhabitants of Cebu and the adjacent Philippine Islands!
Opon is a shipping and commercial suburb of Cebu city, the harbour of which is sheltered by Mactan Island.
The Cebu dialect of the Visayan language is spoken.
The coral beds of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago are of unsurpassed beauty, and Guimaras, Cebu and Siquijor are completely covered with a thick cap of coral limestone.
Then sailing south he touched at Mindanao, from which he sailed north-west, past Bohol to Cebu.
There are outcrops of lead in Marinduque and Cebu, and in Marinduque considerable silver is associated with the lead.