MANILLA. 321 



The market is a never-failing place of amusement to a foreigner, 

 for there a crowd of the common people is always to be seen, and 

 their mode of conducting business may be observed. The canals 

 here afford great facilities for bringing vegetables and produce to 

 market in a fresh state. The vegetables are chiefly brought from 

 the shores of the Laguna de Bay, through the river Pasig. The 

 meat appeared inferior, and as in all Spanish places the art of 

 butchering is not understood. The poultry, however, surpasses 

 that of any other place I have seen, particularly in ducks, the 

 breeding of which is pursued to a great extent. Establishments for 

 breeding these birds are here carried on in a systematic manner, and 

 are a great curiosity. They consist of many small enclosures, each 

 about twenty feet by forty or fifty, made of bamboo, which are placed 

 on the bank of the river, and partly covered with water. In one 

 corner of the enclosure is a small house, where the eggs are hatched 

 by artificial heat, produced by rice-chaff in a state of fermentation. 

 It is not uncommon to see six or eight hundred ducklings all of the 

 same age. There are several hundreds of these enclosures, and the 

 number of ducks of all ages may be computed at millions. The 

 manner in which they are schooled to take exercise, and to go in and 

 out of the water, and to return to their house, almost exceeds belief. 

 The keepers or tenders are of the Tagala tribe, who live near the 

 enclosures, and have them at all times under their eye. The old birds 

 are not suffered to approach the young, and all of one age are kept 

 together. They are fed upon rice and a small species of shell-fish that 

 is found in the river and is peculiar to it. From the extent of these 

 establishments we inferred that ducks were the favourite article of 

 food at Manilla, and the consumption of them must be immense. 

 The markets are well supplied with chickens, pigeons, young part- 

 ridges, which are brought in alive, and turkeys. Among strange 

 articles that we saw for sale, were cakes of coagulated blood. The 

 markets are well stocked with a variety of fish, taken both in the 

 Laguna and bay of Manilla, affording a supply of both the fresh and 

 salt-water species, and many smaller kinds that are dried and smoked. 

 Vegetables are in great plenty, and consist of pumpkins, lettuce, 

 onions, radishes, very long squashes, &c. ; of fruits, they have melons, 

 chicos, durians, marbolas, and oranges. 



Fish are caught in weirs, by the hook, or in seines. The former 

 are constructed of bamboo stakes, in the shallow water of the lake, 

 at the point where it flows through the river Pasig. In the bay, and 



VOL. v. 81 



