THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 65 



11. The Capital — Life and Manners. 



The traveller visiting Manila for the lirst time will 

 be struck by the scene of busy life which the port 

 affords. The anchorage is full of shipping, and the 

 quays thronged with people. Although the larger vessels 

 anchor off the town, the quays afford sufficient depth of 

 water to permit the greater number to warp alongside 

 and discharge or load direct. The Pasig river, wdiich 

 bisects the city, admits vessels of three or four hundred 

 tons, but a new harbour is in course of construction in 

 front of the citadel, which will materially advantage 

 shipping. The Spanish men-of-war lie in the harbour of 

 Cavite, about 10 miles to the south, where is the arsenal 

 and slip. 



The Pasig is a small stream, some 150 yards in 

 breadth, which drains the great lake known as the 

 Laguna de Bay. It is less than 10 miles in length, but 

 is lined with villages throughout its course, and but for a 

 bar at its origin would admit vessels of considerable size 

 into the lake. In its course through the city it is 

 spanned by three bridges, which connect the old and 

 fortified " Manila intramuros " with its populous suburbs. 

 The city itself, situated at the head of a magnificent bay, 

 on a navigable river leading to a lake whose w^aters teem 

 with fish and whose shores are specially favourable for 

 agriculture, possesses advantages of site which were at 

 once recognised by Legaspi on his arrival in 1571, and 

 he commenced its founding without delay. It is there- 

 fore the oldest European town in the East after Goa. 

 Before this. Zebu had served as capital for the first 

 Spanish settlers. When the English seized Manila in 

 1762 the Spanish temporarily removed the seat of 



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