in a hollow, might, by excavation systematically carried on, yield many more interesting results.  What was not immediately useful was then and there destroyed, and the remainder dispersed.  In spite of every endeavor, I could obtain, through the kindness of Senor Focinos in Naga, only one small vessel.  Similar remains of more primitive inhabitants have been found at the mouth of the Bigajo, not far from Libmanan, in a shell-bed of the same kind; and an urn, with a human skeleton, was found at the mouth of the Perlos, west of Sitio de Poro, in 1840.  At the time when I wrote down these statements of the priest, neither of us was familiar with the discoveries made within the last few years relating to the lake dwellings (pile villages); or these notes might have been more exact, although probably they would not have been so easy and natural.

[Ancient Chinese jar.] Mr. W. A. Franks, who had the kindness to examine the vessel, inclines to the opinion that it is Chinese, and pronounces it to be of very great antiquity, without however, being able to determine its age more exactly; and a learned Chinese of the Burlingame Embassy expressed himself to the same effect.  He knew only of one article, now in the British Museum, which was brought from Japan by Kaempfer, the color, glazing, and cracks in the glazing, of which (craqueles) corresponded precisely with mine.  According to Kaempfer, the Japanese found similar vessels in the sea; and they value them very highly for the purpose of preserving their tea in them.

Morga writes:—­

[Used as tea canisters.] “On this island, Luzon, particularly in the provinces of Manila, Pampanga, Pangasinan, and Ilocos, very ancient clay vessels of a dark brown color are found by the natives, of a sorry appearance; some of a middling size, and others smaller; marked with characters and stamps.  They are unable to say either when or where they obtained them; but they are no longer to be acquired, nor are they manufactured in the islands.  The Japanese prize them highly, for they have found that the root of a herb which they call Tscha (tea), and which when drunk hot is considered as a great delicacy and of medicinal efficacy by the kings and lords in Japan, cannot be effectively preserved except in these vessels; which are so highly esteemed all over Japan that they form the most costly articles of their show-rooms and cabinets.  Indeed, so highly do they value them that they overlay them externally with fine gold embossed with great skill, and enclose them in cases of brocade; and some of these vessels are valued at and fetch from two thousand tael to eleven reals.  The natives of these islands purchase them from the Japanese at very high rates, and take much pains in the search for them on account of their value, though but few are now found on account of the eagerness with which they have been sought for.”

[Strict search in Japan.] When Carletti, in 1597, went from the Philippines to Japan, all the passengers on board were examined carefully, by order of the governor, and threatened with capital punishment if they endeavored to conceal “certain earthen vessels which were wont to be brought from the Philippines and other islands of that sea,” as the king wished to buy them all.