ithstanding its partial destruction and the many remaining
ruins caused by the bombardment by the Spanish warship _Don Juan de
Austria_ in April 1838, (_vide_ p. 403). Of special interest are the
Cathedral, the Church of _Santo Nino_, or the "Holy Child of Cebu"
(_vide_ p. 183), the Chapels of the Paul Fathers and of the Jesuits,
and the _Cotta de San Pedro_ (fortress). Also, just outside the city
proper is the Church of _San Nicolas_. Up to about the year 1876 the
Jesuits had a fine church of their own, but the friars, jealous of
its having become the most popular place of worship, caused it to be
destroyed. Until a few years ago the quarter known as the, _Parian_
was the flourishing centre of the half-caste traders. There was also a
busy street of Chinese general shops and native ready-made clothiers in
the _Lutao_ district, a thoroughfare which ran along the seashore from
the south of the city proper towards San Nicolas; it was completely
destroyed by the bombardment of 1898, and many of the shopkeepers have
erected new premises in the principal shopping street, called _Calle de
la Infanta_. Again, in 1905, a disastrous fire in the business quarter
of the city caused damage to the estimated extent of $500,000 gold.

There is a little colony of foreign merchants in Cebu, which formerly
ranked as the third port of the Archipelago, but now stands second in
importance to Manila (_vide_ Trade Statistics, Chap. xxxi.). Several
vice-consulates are established here, and in Spanish times it was
the residence of the military governor of Visayas as well as of the
governor of the Island and his staff of officials. In 1886 a Supreme
Court was inaugurated in Cebu. This city, which was the capital of
the Colony from 1565 to 1571, had a municipality up to the time of
Gov.-General Pedro de Arandia (1754-59). It was then abolished because
there was only one Spaniard capable of being a city councillor. One
alderman who had served--Juan Sebastian de Espina--could neither
read nor write, and the mayor himself had been deprived of office
for having tried to extort money from a Chinaman by putting his head
in the stocks. By Royal Order dated June 7, 1889, and put into force
by the Gov.-General's Decree of January 31, 1890, the municipality
was re-established. The president was the governor of the Island,
supported by an _Alcalde_ and 13 officials. For the government of
the Island under the Spanish _regime, vide_ Chap. xiii.

The municipal