232 
CRUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
the entrance of the magnificent harbour of Manilla, 
and some hours’ steaming brought us to the anchor- 
age, at about a couple of miles from the shore. 
Soon after we were visited by the various officials, 
and opportunities were given for landing. The 
business portion of the city is prettily laid out 
with numbers of long and handsome streets, exten- 
sive stores and warehouses, affording employment to 
hundreds of coolies and others, who are seen rushing 
about with bales and packages, loading or unloading 
vessels in the river. Among the interesting sights 
of Manilla are the cigar factories. There was no 
difficulty in obtaining a permit from the chief of the 
administration to see them. We were informed that 
in the one visited four thousand women and half 
that number of men were employed, while in the 
neighbourhood as many as nine thousand women 
and seven thousand men find employment in pro- 
ducing cigars. As we entered the building, our ears 
were almost deafened by the chattering produced 
and noise made by some hundreds of women seated 
on the floors, each provided with a small wood 
mallet, with which she hammered the tobacco leaves 
on blocks to polish them for the outside of the cigars. 
In other rooms they were employed in rolling them 
up into their proper shape, finishing off, and other- 
wise preparing them for the market. 
Tobacco being a strict monopoly of the govern- 
ment, it is entirely in charge of a military adminis- 
