essly that they used their guns for ballast;
.... the pirate's venture was such a fortunate one that he returned
to London with sails of Chinese damask and silken rigging." The cargo
was sold in Acapulco at a profit of 100 per cent., and was paid for
in silver, cochineal, quicksilver, etc. [Value of return freight]
The total value of the return freight amounted perhaps to between
two and three million dollars, [38] of which a quarter of a million,
at least, fell to the king.

[Gambling rather than commerce] The return of a galleon to Manila,
laden with silver dollars and new arrivals, was a great holiday
for the colony. A considerable portion of the riches they had won
as easily as at the gaming table, was soon spent by the crew; when
matters again returned to their usual lethargic state. It was no
unfrequent event, however, for vessels to be lost. They were too
often laden with a total disregard to seaworthiness, and wretchedly
handled. It was favor, not capacity, that determined the patronage
of these lucrative appointments. [39] Many galleons fell into the
hands of English and Dutch cruisers. [40] ["Philippine Company"
and smugglers cause change.] But these tremendous profits gradually
decreased as the Compania obtained the right to import Indian
cottons, one of the principal articles of trade, into New Spain by
way of Vera Cruz, subject to a customs duty of 6 per cent; and when
English and American adventurers began to smuggle these and other
goods into the country. [41] [Spanish coins in circulation on China
coast.] Finally, it may be mentioned that Spanish dollars found their
way in the galleons to China and the further Indies, where they are
in circulation to this day.

CHAPTER III

[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 wide ditches, on the left or
southern bank of the Pasig, looking towards the sea. [42] It is a hot,
dried-up place, full of monasteries, convents, barracks, and government
buildings. Safety, not appearance, was the object of its builders. It
reminds the beholder of a Spanish provincial town, and is, next to Goa,
the oldest city in the Indies. Foreigners reside on the northern bank
of the river; in Binondo, the headquarters of wholesale and retail
commerce, or in the pleasant suburban villages, which blend into
a considerable whole. [Population.] The to