Note 20 — Chapter IX · (continued 2)

“Although Spain had jurisdiction over these islands for more than three centuries, little topographic information had been acquired regarding them, except such as was of a very general character. The coasts were badly mapped, and in many places are now known to have been miles out of position. The coast charts, made from Spanish surveys, are so inaccurate as to be, on the whole, worse than useless to mariners, while of the interior of the larger islands, little was known except what could be seen from the sea.” Census of the Philippines, i, p. 51.