ries
committed upon themselves, its owners. Besides all this, living is
very expensive, much more so than in Singapore and Batavia. To many,
the mere cost of existence seems greatly out of proportion to their
official salaries. The (European style) houses, which are generally
spacious, are gloomy and ugly, and not well ventilated for such a
climate. Instead of light jalousies, they are fitted with heavy sash
windows, which admit the light through thin oyster shells, forming
small panes scarcely two square inches in area, and held together by
laths an inch thick. The ground floors of the houses are, on account
of the great damp, sensibly enough, generally uninhabited; and are
used as cellars, stables, and servant's offices.

[Native houses comfortable and unchanged.] The unassuming, but for
their purposes very practical houses, of boards, bamboos, and (nipa)
palm leaves, are supported on account of the damp on isolated beams
or props; and the space beneath, which is generally fenced in with
a railing, is used as a stable or a warehouse; such was the case
as early as the days of Magellan. These dwellings [45] are very
lightly put together. La Perouse estimates the weight of some of them,
furniture and all, at something less than two hundred pounds. Nearly
all these houses, as well as the huts of the natives, are furnished
with an azotea, that is, an uncovered space, on the same level as the
dwelling, which takes the place of yard and balcony. The Spaniards
appear to have copied this useful contrivance from the Moors, but the
natives were acquainted with them before the arrival of the Europeans,
for Morga mentions similar batalanes.

[Neglected river and canals offensive.] In the suburbs nearly every
hut stands in its own garden. The river is often quite covered with
green scum; and dead cats and dogs surrounded with weeds, which look
like cabbage-lettuce, frequently adorn its waters. In the dry season,
the numerous canals of the suburbs are so many stagnant drains,
and at each ebb of the tide the ditches around the town exhibit a
similar spectacle.

[Dreary and unprogressive life.] Manila offers very few opportunities
for amusement. There was no Spanish theatre open during my stay there,
but Tagalog plays (translations) were sometimes represented. The town
possessed no club, and contained no readable books. Never once did
the least excitement enliven its feeble newspapers, for the items
of intelligence, forwarded fort