The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 51]

I801-1840] REMARKS ON ISLANDS, 1819-22

I71

this useful preservative, though that of the citadel
contains many thousand pounds of powder.
The suburbs of the city are extensive, and contain
many stone houses, in which some of the principal
inhabitants reside, and generally all the foreigners,
the vicinity of the river, and its many branches,
rendering it more convenient for business.
The custom-house is a plain octagonal building of
considerable extent, and contains a fine courtyard
surrounded with an arcade, and extensive magazines
for warehousing goods. These, from neglect and the
ravages of the white ants, are fast falling to decay,
and in a few years the building will be a ruin; it
is now very dirty and ill-arranged, the entrance not
being convenient to the river, and wanting quays and
a crane. The officers of this establishment are in
general attentive, civil, and indulgent to foreigners,
though the length of their siestas does not contribute
to the dispatch of business. There is no interpreter
attached to this establishment, nor is the king responsible for goods or money deposited in it, this being
solely at the merchant's risk.
The "Calzada," or public drive, is a broad neat
carriage road, leading round the outer face of the
outer ditch, from the bridge, round the land and sea
faces of the fortifications to the river. It is planted
with trees, and forms a good drive, having roads
leading from it into the country, whose rich and cultivated appearance gives the stranger a high opinion
of its fertility. The roads are however much in want
of waterings in dry weather, the dust of the principal
one being at these times insufferable.
On the road leading to the village of Santa Anna