Some survivors of the 1814 eruption of Mayon Volcano first sought refuge in the safety of height on the southern mountain of the beautiful lake that is now world reknowned as Lake Buhi.

The word ‘buhi’ is derivative of the Albay Bikol-word “nakaboie” which means literally “got away”. And in many Visayan languages and dialects ‘boie‘ also literally means ‘life’ or ‘alive’.

Overlooking their initial-mountain settlement northward below was a beautiful lake and prominently the mouth of one of its main tributaries – the now Rinaga’ River.

River deltas like the Rinaga Delta are the perfect seats of civilization-growth. The Tigres-Euphrates Delta; Nile Delta; Pasig Delta; Manhattan Delta; Thames Delta and others. This natural-beacon for civilization-growth attracted the mountain-nakabuhi inhabitants.

There they found their new and lasting settlement.  The land was good as well as the river and lake waters. It was their -Maray-a boie sa maray-a-raga’ – Good life in the good land.

Noticeably was the big difference of the soil just across their river-side settlement. The earth there was coarse and dark – this was deposited by the last eruption of Mount Asog to their northwestern side. It was not good land. Be’ke’ maray-a raga’ - Not good land/soil.

The land they settled was – maray-a raga’ - (maray) meaning good; (raga’) meaning soil, land or ground. It was of the brown-grayish-silt-loam type that was ideal for planting and so was everything across the field spanning all the way toward the north-eastern slopes and mountains of Sapa’, Buyok’buyokan, Igbak and the rest along the same mountain fringes.

When life’s good species propagate.  From Marayag to the lakeshore of Lig’ban the new Boie’ne’n grew.  The good life was sweet but so perhaps sweeter – the honey of the leg’wan or honeybees of Lig’ban?  The Kabato’an shores bordering the lawe’d (lake) below the slopes of Asog were not good to settle in then.  Compare it to the Kabato’an of today.

So there you go.  How many Boie’nen are there now?

So the name Maray-a Raga’ as time passed ended up on current records as MARAYAG and NAKABOIE simply as BOIE’  to all Boie’nen or BUHI to the lazy-tongue of the Spanish chroniclers and as it is now known to the world or manga’ be’ke’ taga Boie.

AY BASTA AKO TAGA BOIE’, LA SUYA’ BAGA A IBA. BE’KE’?