VIII. D. 8 Salt: Carriedo y Peredo 189 



and Jose Varela."^ On the other hand, the committee was 

 pledged to the filtration of the Pasig water, which Bosch opposed 

 for several reasons, maintaining that no point could be found 

 of a sufficient height from which to carry the filtered water into 

 the city; that the vegetable matter and lime which impregnated 

 the river water could not be removed ; that an aqueduct over the 

 Bridge of Spain, as suggested, was, in the condition of the bridge, 

 not feasible; that 79,000 pesos, the amount then standing to 

 the credit of the Carriedo fund, would not suflSce for the con- 

 struction of fountains or an aqueduct as had been contemplated 

 from the outset; and, finally, that whenever Manila was ex- 

 posed to war, the works could be easily destroyed. The com- 

 mittee, on December 12, 1845, however, gained the day, and a 

 resolution was carried in favor of artesian wells at the cost 

 of 30,000 pesos, provided they could be made to supply 40 libras 

 (1 libra equals 0.1218 United States gallon) a minute to each 

 inhabitant in Manila,^^ based on an estimate of population made 

 by Cortes, who arrived at the following results:''^ 



Walled City: 







Europeans (exclusive of garrison) 



3,788 





Natives 



2,500 





Garrison 



7,000 



13,288 







Tondo 





37,588 



Binondo 





58,048 



Santa Cruz 





19,768 



Sampaloc 





4,452 



San Miguel 





11,212 



Hermita 





17,680 



Mai ate 





19,292 



Chinese 





6,000 



Transients 





10,000 



218,724 



Cortes had agreed to give the city 5,030,632 pints, cuartillos, 

 of water a day, providing each inhabitant with 23 pints. He 

 had also arranged to comply with the conditions laid down by 

 the city, which were that, once work had commenced, it was to 

 continue until its completion, although not beyond the period 

 of a year, and that especial care should be taken to provide 

 against earthquakes. ^"^ There is no record as to any artesian 

 wells ever having been drilled, and the project was again shelved 

 until 1853, when, consequent on the selection by the bureau of 

 health of a committee of four druggists, headed by Jacobo Zobel, 



"Ibid. (1845), 86, 96. "Ibid. (1845), 96. 



"Ibid. (1845), 86-89. ""Ibid. (1845), 39, 90-96. 



