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Jth December, 1886. 



W. H. Patterson, Esq., M.R.I.A., in the Chair. 



Thomas Workman, Esq., J. P., read a Paper on 

 EASTERN REMINISCENCES, CHINA AND MANILLA. 



Mr. Workman remarked that when last before them his 

 reminiscences were of India and Burmah. He would now 

 proceed still further to the East. He would try to enable them 

 to realise what the world is like almost as far round as the anti- 

 podes, and possibly beyond, where Shakspere thought of when 

 he said, "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin," 

 though he was somewhat inclined to add, in the words of a more 

 recent poet, " Where every prospect pleases and only man is 

 vile." In January, 1884, he entered the beautiful Bay of Manilla, 

 and he could well sympathise with the expressions of joy and 

 pride with which his Spanish fellow-travellers greeted " Les 

 Philipines," as they called the Philipine Islands. It is a most 

 lovely sight, and the entrance is exceedingly narrow, though 

 the bay opens into an enormous sheet of water more than 

 fifty miles across. At the entrance of the inner harbour a 

 simple monument has been erected to the memory of the great 

 Spanish navigator Magellan, who was killed in one of these 

 islands in 1521. He (Mr. Workman) was much amused at the 

 masher costume of the young Manillan, who is to be seen gaily 

 going about the streets in the airy costume of a pair of trousers 

 and a very white shirt, the latter garment being worn quite 

 loose, and forming a light overcoat. 



The lecturer next proceeded to give a minute description of 



