27 years the number of vehicles in use had increased
by about five to one.

The Pasig River is navigable by steam-launches and
specially-constructed steamers of light draught, which go up the whole
distance into the Laguna de Bay. The river is crossed at Manila and
suburbs by three bridges, the chief of which is the _Puente de Espana._
[167]

In the suburbs there were four Theatres, in none of which a dramatic
company of any note would consent to perform. In one (the _Teatro
Filipino_) the performance could be partly seen from the street;
another (the _Teatro de Tondo_) was situated in a dirty thoroughfare
in a low quarter; the third (the _Teatro del Principe_) usually gave
an entertainment in dialect for the amusement of the natives; and the
fourth (the _Teatro Zorrilla_), located in Tondo, was built to serve
as theatre or circus without any regard to its acoustic properties;
hence only one-third of the audience could hear the dialogue. There
was a permanent Spanish Comedy Company (on tour at times in Yloilo
and Cebu), and occasionally a troupe of foreign strolling players,
a circus, a concert, or an Italian Opera Company came to Manila to
entertain the public for a few weeks.

In 1880 there used to be a kind of tent-theatre, called the _Carrillo_
where performances were given without any pretence to histrionic
art or stage regulations. The scenes were highly ridiculous, and
the gravest spectator could not suppress laughter at the exaggerated
attitudes and comic display of the native performers. The public had
full licence to call to the actors and criticize them in loud voices
_seance tenante_--often to join in the choruses and make themselves
quite at home during the whole spectacle. About a year afterwards
the _Carrillo_ was suppressed. The first Spaniards who systematically
taught the Filipinos European histrionics were Ramon Cubero and his
wife, Elisea Raguer (both very popular in their day), whose daughter
married the Philippine actor and dramatic author Jose Carvajal. The
old-fashioned native play was the "_Moro Moro_," which continued in
full vogue, in the provinces, up to the end of Spanish dominion. [168]

In the suburb of Paco there was a bull-ring, which did not generally
attract the _elite_, as a bull-fight there was simply a burlesque
upon this national sport as seen in Spain. I have witnessed a Manila
_espada_ hang on to the tail of his victim, and a _banderillero_ meet
the rush of the bull with a v