qual to those general at home.

A young Spaniard who fills an important office connected with the
commerce of Manilla, a situation he is said to owe more to the frailty
of his mother, a fair lady at the court of the late King of Spain,
whom he exactly resembles in appearance, temper, and manners, than
to any qualifications especially pointing him out for the post, used
frequently to assert his royal blood by turning out a neat barouche
and pair, accompanied by two outriders, and certainly he looked much
smarter and better appointed than either of the authorities driving
four horses.

The expense of keeping horses is very small, so that nearly all,
except the very poorest people, keep carriages, which in that climate
are considered more as necessaries of life than as luxuries, and to a
certain extent really are so; for the sun most effectually prevents
Europeans walking to any distance during the heat of the day, and
should any one attempt doing so, a month of it is about time enough
seriously to injure or perhaps to kill him. About sunset everybody is
most glad to escape from the impure air of the town and the crowded
narrow streets, to inhale the fresh breeze from the bay on the Calyada,
which is the most frequented drive.

Formerly all the ladies turned out to drive without bonnets or
coverings of any sort on the head, but bowled along, seated in open
carriages, in about the same style of evening dress they would appear
in at a tertulia or the theatre, or, in fact, at a ball-room. They
were in the habit of spreading a sort of gum, which washed easily
off, over the hair after it had been dressed, in order to keep out
the dust, &c.; but within the last two years several bonnets have
made their appearance in the carriages at the drive, and I fear
their general use will supersede the former fashion, which from its
simplicity allowed their most striking beauties of eyes, hair, &c.,
to be seen in a most charming manner.

Many of the Creole girls have very handsome countenances, and there
are not a few who would be remarked upon as fine women by the side of
any European beauty: but they are generally seen to most advantage in
the evening, as their chief attraction does not consist in freshness
of complexion so much as in fine features, which are often full of
character and lighted up by eyes as brilliant as they are soft. Their
figures are good, and their feet and ankles quite unexceptionable,
being generally very much