120 
FROM TORRES STRAIT TO HONG-KONG. 
southward, were unfortunately concealed by clouds. Mount Halcon, the highest point, rises 
to nearly 9000 feet. At last, on the morning of the 4th, the magnificent Bay of Manilla opened 
up before us, with the rocky Corregidor Island in front and the blue range of the Sierra de 
Mariveles on the left, and before sunset the deep boom of the Cathedral bell floating across 
the water told us that the low line of houses, churches, and trees which bounded the horizon 
was far-famed Manilla. 
The city of Manilla proper is built on the southern bank and near the mouth of the 
river Pasig. The latter is the natural outlet of a large lake situated to the south-east of 
MANILLA. 
Manilla, and noted for the picturesque beauty of its shores. Surrounded by ramparts and a 
deep ditch, its narrow boundaries filled with churches, convents, colleges, barracks, an 
arsenal, and other public buildings, the old city forms a striking contrast to the new Manilla 
which has grown up on the northern bank of the river. On crossing the bridge, we seem lo 
step from a mediaeval city into the midst of the 19th century, from the narrow silent streets 
in possession of the soldier, the priest, or some devout female pacing slowly to church, into 
the crowded thoroughfares of a busy commercial place, where Europeans, Malays, Chinese, 
Mestizos, and Negritos jostle each other all day long as at a perpetual fair. In sight of the 
bridge, and near one of the gates leading into the old city, stands the monument erected in 
memory of Magallanes, the discoverer of the Philippines. The numerous ruins scattered over 
Manilla and its suburbs attest the violence of the earthquake of 1863. The Cathedral, the 
nave of which, it will be remembered, crushed in its fall a whole congregation while at 
prayer, is being rebuilt. Close by are the remains of 
a magnificent palace. The Alameda, or public promenade, 
outside the walls, is crowded every evening' with the 
carriages of the more wealthy inhabitants. 
A visit was paid to the College of the Jesuit 
Fathers, who possess a meteorological observatory, and 
by whom a regular series of observations is carried on, 
the results being published periodically. Their self- 
recording meteorological apparatus was at one time in possession of the celebrated Pdre 
Secchi. We were here shown an instrument for measuring the shock of earthquakes. But 
it is to be supposed—notwithstanding a few notable historic instances—that when the ground 
