The Former Philippines Thru Foreign Eyes

[Population.] The enumeration of the natives for the assessment of tributes, in the manner ordained by the standing regulations of the Intendants of New Spain, is not observed i...

[Port rules.] At daylight, on January 13, we were again under way, with a light air, and at nine o'clock reached the roadstead, where we anchored in six fathoms water, with good...

70 sq. in.; extracts from the official sheet, 20 1/2 sq. in.; a few ancient anecdotes, 59 sq. in. Religious portion (this is divided into two parts--official and unofficial). Th...

[A scientific priest-poet.] From Naga I visited the parish priest of Libmanan (Ligmanan), who, possessing poetical talent, and having the reputation of a natural philosopher, co...

[Samar.] The island of Samar, which is of nearly rhomboidal outline, and with few indentations on its coasts, stretches from the north-west to the south-east from 12° 37' to 10°...

[Pearl divers from the Carolines.] In Guiuan I was visited by some Micronesians, who for the last fourteen days had been engaged at Sulangan on the small neck of land south-east...

[Quinali river.] On my second journey in Camarines, which I undertook in February, I went by water from Polangui, past Batu, as far as Naga. The Quinali, which runs into the sou...

[Tobacco revenue.] Of all the productions of the country tobacco is the most important, so far (at least) as concerns the Government, which have the cultivation of this plant, i...

or river bank, or seashore. Caves in the mountains were also utilized for this purpose. Jagor describes such caves on the island of Samar, west of Luzon, whose contents have rec...

[Mt. Isaróg.] The Isaróg (pronounced Issaró) rises up in the middle of Camarines, between San Miguel and Lagonoy bays. While its eastern slope almost reaches the sea, it is sepa...

[Abacá.] The latter is a wild species of banana growing in the Philippine Islands, known also as Arbol de Cañamo (hemp-tree), Musa textilis, Lin. It does not differ in appearanc...

[Batu.] In an hour and a half after leaving Polangui we reached Batu, a village on the north-western shore of the lake of the same name. The inhabitants, particularly the women,...

[The Bisayans.] The Bisayans--at least the inhabitants of the Islands of Samar and Leyte (I have not become closely acquainted with any others)--belong to one race. [197] They a...

[Native distrust of Europeans.] A Scotch merchant to whom I brought a letter of introduction invited me with such cordiality to come and stay with him, that I found myself unabl...

[The Lagoon of Bay.] My second trip took me up the Pasig to the great Lagoon of Bay. I left Manila at night in a banca, a boat hollowed out of a tree-trunk, with a vaulted roof...

[Spain's discovery and occupation.] The Philippines were discovered by Magellan on the 16th of March, 1521--St. Lazarus' day. [256] But it was not until 1564, [257] after many p...

[Importance of Chinese.] An important portion of the population remains to be discussed, viz. the Chinese, who are destined to play a remarkable part, inasmuch as the developmen...

[Customhouse red tape.] The customs inspection, and the many formalities which the native minor officials exercised without any consideration appear all the more wearisome to th...

[An accident and a month's rest.] I sprained my foot so badly in ascending Mayon that I was obliged to keep the house for a month. Under the circumstances, I was not sorry to fi...

[Camarines.] No favorable change in the weather was expected in Albay before the month of January. It stormed and rained all day. I therefore determined to change my quarters to...

[Leyte.] The island of Leyte, between 9° 49' and 11° 34' N., and 124° 7' and 125° 9' E. Gr., is above twenty-five miles in length, and almost twelve miles broad, and contains on...

[Coral.] " * * * The fine bay of Manila, thirty leagues in circumference, is situated near the middle of the west side of the island, and has good and clear anchorage in all par...

[On foot to San Miguel bay.] Sending my baggage from Daet to Cabusao in a schooner, I proceeded on foot, by the road to that place, to the coast on the west side of the Bay of S...

[The ascent.] The chief of the Montesinos had received daily rations for twenty-two men, with whom he professed to make a road to the summit; but when, on the evening of the thi...

[To Bulacan by steamer.] My first excursion was to the province of Bulacan, on the northern shore of the Bay of Manila. A couple of hours brought the steamer to the bar of Binua...

Since the days when the first European navigators entered the South Sea, the dispute over the source and ethnic affiliations of the inhabitants of that extended and scattered is...

[The familiar field for travellers.] The environs of Manila, the Pasig, and the Lagoon of Bay, which are visited by every fresh arrival in the colony, have been so often describ...

[To Albay by schooner.] Towards the end of August I started from Manila for Albay in a schooner which had brought a cargo of hemp and was returning in ballast. It was fine when...

[Change of season.] During the whole time I was confined to the house at Daraga, the weather was remarkably fine; but unfortunately the bright days had come to an end by the tim...

[The walled city of Manila.] The city proper of Manila, inhabited by Spaniards, Creoles, the Filipinos directly connected with them, and Chinese, lies, surrounded by walls and w...

[Difference from European time.] When the clock strikes twelve in Madrid, [1] it is 8 hours, 18 minutes, and 41 seconds past eight in the evening at Manila; that is to say, the...

[Ports of entry.] In 1830 seven new ports were opened as an experiment, but, owing to great frauds in the charges, were soon afterwards closed again. In 1831 a custom-house was...

"Few outside the comparatively narrow circle who are directly interested in the commerce and resources of the Philippine Islands know anything about them. The Philippine merchan...

[Daraga.] My Spanish friends enabled me to rent a house in Daraga, [72] a well-to-do town of twenty thousand inhabitants at the foot of the Mayon, a league and a half from Legas...

Blackwood's magazine for August, 1818, has an account of conditions in Manila and the Philippines from data given by an English merchant who left the Islands in 1798 after twent...