MANILLA. 291 



The crops frequently suffer from the ravages of the locusts, which 

 sweep all before them. Fortunately for the poorer classes, their 

 attacks take place after the rice has been harvested ; but the cane is 

 sometimes entirely cut off. The authorities of Manilla, in the vain 

 hope of stopping their devastations, employ persons to gather them 

 and throw them into the sea. I understood on one occasion they had 

 spent eighty thousand dollars in this way, but all to little purpose. 

 It is said that the crops rarely suffer from droughts, but on the con- 

 trary the rains are thought to fall too often, and to flood the rice 

 fields ; these, however, yield a novel crop, and are very advantageous 

 to the poor, viz.: a great quantity of fish, which are called dalag, 

 and are a species of Blunnius ; they are so plentiful, that they are 

 caught with baskets : these fish weigh from a half to two pounds, 

 and some are said to be eighteen inches long : but this is not all ; 

 they are said, after a deep inundation, to be found even in the vaults 

 of churches. 



The Philippines are divided into thirty-one provinces, sixteen of 

 which are on the island of Luzon, and the remainder comprise the 

 other islands of the group and the Ladrones. 



The population of the whole group is above three millions, including 

 all tribes of natives, mestizoes, and whites. The latter-named class 

 are but few in number, not exceeding three thousand. The mestizoes 

 were supposed to be about fifteen or twenty thousand ; they are dis- 

 tinguished as Spanish and Indian mestizoes. The Chinese have of 

 late years increased to a large number, and it is said that there are 

 forty thousand of them in and around Manilla alone. One-half of the 

 whole population belongs to Luzon. The island next to it in the num- 

 ber of inhabitants is Panay, which contains about three hundred and 

 thirty thousand. Then come Zebu, Mindanoa, Leyte, Samar, and 

 Negros, varying from the above numbers down to fifty thousand. 

 The population is increasing, and it is thought that it doubles itself in 

 seventy years. This rate of increase appears probable, from a com- 

 parison of the present population with the estimate made at the begin- 

 ning of the present century, which shows a growth in the forty years 

 of about one million four hundred thousand. 



The native population is composed of a number of distinct tribes, 

 the principal of which in Luzon are Pangarihan, Ylocos, Cagayan, 

 Tagala, and Pampangan. 



The Irogotes, who dwell in the mountains, are the only natives 

 who have not been subjected by the Spaniards. The other tribes 

 have become identified with their rulers in religion, and it is thought 

 that by this circumstance alone has Spain been able to maintain the 



