Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 51).djvu/75

1801-1840] the governorship to his successor, Luis Lardizábal y Montoya. Notwithstanding the obstacles and difficulties which Camba continually encountered, he accomplished some important improvements in the administration, the chief of these being the reorganization of the postal service, which from 1838 was conducted under one bureau and on modern lines; he improved the means of communication between the provinces, and pushed forward the reduction of the heathen tribes. He informed the Spanish government that the attempts to make treaties and alliances with the sultans of Joló were of no use in bringing any permanent or substantial advantage to Spanish navigation and commerce. In 1837 was published the Flora de Filipinas of the Augustinian Fray Manuel Blanco, the first attempt to form a compendium of Philippine botany. A royal decree