es. All of these gates are shut
before nightfall by the ordinary patrol, and the keys are carried to
the guard-room of the royal buildings; and in the morning, when it
is day, the patrol returns with them and opens the city.

"The royal magazines are in the parade; in them are deposited and kept
all the munitions and supplies, cordage, iron, copper, lead, artillery,
arquebuses, and other things belonging to the royal treasury, with
their special officials and workmen, who are under the command of
the royal officers.

"Close to these magazines is the powder magazine, with its master,
officials, and convicts, in which, on ordinary occasions, thirty
mortars grind powder, and that which is damaged is refined.

"In another part of the city, in a convenient situation, is the
cannon foundry, with its moulds, furnaces, and instrument founders,
and workmen, who carry on the works.

"The royal buildings are very handsome, with a good view, and very
roomy, with many windows opening seaward and to the parade; they are
all of hewn stone, with two courts and high and low corridors with
thick pillars."

The city of to-day verifies the descriptive talent and accuracy of
this writer.

CHAPTER XVIII

The Southern Philippines.

Important Facts About the Lesser Islands of the Philippine
Archipelago--Location, Size and Population--Capitals and
Principal Cities--Rivers and Harbors--Surface and Soil--People and
Products--Leading Industries--Their Commerce and Business Affairs--The
Monsoons and Typhoons--The Terrors of the Tempests and How to Avoid
Them.

The island and province of Mindoro lies in the strait of its name
and south of Luzon. It has in the center an elevated plain, we quote
from the military notes issued by the War Department, from which
many sierras extend in different directions to the coast, making the
latter rugged and dangerous. The island is of an oval form, with
a prolongation of the northern portion toward the west. Though an
easy day's sail from Manila, it is one of the least populous islands
of the archipelago, being extremely mountainous, covered with dense
forests, and in the more level parts near the coast full of marshes,
and very unhealthful. The inhabitants of the coast are Tagals, but in
the interior there is a low tribe of the Malayan race, probably the
indigenes of the island, and called Manguianos, speaking a peculiar
language and living in a very miserable manner on the products of
a rude ag