current in the market,
and in order to ascertain what these are, they are seen going round
inquiring in the shops of the Sangleys (Chinese), till at length,
finding it useless to go in search of correct and concurrent data,
in a place where there are neither brokers nor public auctions, they
are forced to determine in an arbitrary manner, and as the adage goes,
always take good care to see their employers on the right side of the
hedge. The grand work being ended, with all this form and prolixity,
the sentence of the surveyors is irrevocable. The bondsman of the
captain, who, in the meanwhile, has usually sold his cargo and departed
with a fresh one for another destination, pays in the amount of the
duties, thus regulated by law.

[Variations in valuations.] The practical defects and injurious
consequences of such a system as this, it would be unnecessary
to particularize. It would, however, be less intolerable, if,
once put in force, it could serve the merchant as a guide in the
valuations of his property for a determined number of successive
years. What, however, renders this assessment more prejudicial,
is its instability and uncertainty, and the repetition of the same
operation I have just described every year, and with every cargo that
arrives; but under distinct valuations, according to the reports
or humor of the day. Besides these great defects and irregularity,
the Philippine custom house observes the singular practice of not
allowing the temporary landing of goods entered in transitu and for
re-exportation, as is done on the bonding system in all countries
where exertions are made by those in authority for the extension and
improvement of commerce in every possible way. Of course, much less
will they consent to the drawback or return of any part of the duties
on goods entered outwards, even though they are still on board the
very vessels in which they originally came shipped. Beyond all doubt,
the wrongly understood severity of such a system, has, and will,
continue to prevent many vessels from frequenting the port of Manila,
and trying the market, unable to rely on the same liberal treatment
they can meet with in other places.

[The areca-nut.] The bonga, or areca-nut, is the fruit of a very
high palm-tree, not unlike the one that bears the date, and the
nuts, similar to the latter, hang in great clusters from below the
protuberance of the leaves or branches. Its figure and size resemble
a common nut, but