MANILLA. 
295 
stating the course I intended to pursue, frankly told me that all the 
existing charts were erroneous. He only knew enough of the ground 
to be certain that they were so, and consequently useless. He advised 
my taking one of the native pilots, who were generally well ac¬ 
quainted with the seas that lay more immediately in my route. The 
captain of the port w’as afterwards kind enough to offer to procure me 
one. 
The intercourse I had with these gentlemen was a source of 
much gratification, and it gives me great pleasure to make this public 
expression of it. To both, my sincere acknowledgments are due for 
information in relation to the various reefs and shoals that have been 
recently discovered, and which will be found placed in their true posi¬ 
tion on our charts. 
During our stay at Manilla, our time was occupied in seeing sights, 
shopping, riding, and amusing ourselves with gazing on the throng 
incessantly passing through the Escolta of the Binondo suburb, or more 
properly, the commercial town of Manilla. 
Among the lions of the place, the great royal cigar manufactories 
claim especial notice from their extent and the many persons em¬ 
ployed. There are two of these establishments, one situated in the 
Binondo quarter, and the other on the great square or Prado; in 
the former, which was visited by us, there are two buildings of two 
stories high, besides several storehouses, enclosed by a wall, with two 
large gateways, at which sentinels are always posted. The principal 
workshop is in the second story, which is divided into six apartments, 
in which eight thousand females are employed. Throughout the 
whole extent, tables are arranged, about sixteen inches high, ten feet 
long, and three feet wide, at each of which fifteen women are seated, 
having small piles of tobacco before them. The tables are set cross¬ 
wise from the wall, leaving a space in the middle of the room free* 
The labour of a female produces about two hundred cigars a day; 
and the working hours are from 6 a. m. till 6 p. m., with a recess of 
two hours, from eleven till one o’clock. The whole establishment is 
kept very neat and clean, and every thing appears to be carried on in 
the most systematic and workmanlike manner. Among such numbers, 
it has been found necessary to institute a search on their leaving the 
establishment to prevent embezzlement, and this is regularly made 
twice a day, without distinction of sex. It is a strange sight to 
witness the ingress and egress of these hordes of females; and pro¬ 
bably the world cannot elsewhere exhibit so large a number of ugly 
w T omen. Their ages vary from fifteen to forty-five. The sum paid 
them for wages is very trifling. The whole number of persons em- 
