MANILA UNDER THE AMERICANS. 
315 
place. These were the only Spanish guns I saw that had been ade¬ 
quately mounted. There was also a large number of bronze and cast 
iron mountain guns of obsolete types, mostly smooth bores. Not the 
least interesting thing I saw was a pile of improvised artillery, manu¬ 
factured by the Insurgents and captured by the Spanish in the early 
days of the Rebellion, guns made out of iron pipes with wood jackets 
in strips, held together by wrought iron hoops, others made of iron 
pipes bound round with telegraph wire; some of these were still 
loaded and had wooden or metal blocks closing the breech end, others 
which were not loaded appeared to have had their breech end blown 
out on being fired, thereby possibly doing as much damage to friend 
as to foe. The mounting for these guns was nearly in every case an 
iron fork with a spike handle which was presumably dug into the 
ground. There were also some small brass cast guns about 2" calibre 
and weighingfrom 80 to 100 lbs. 
Fort st. jago. After looking round the Arsenal, the officer of the 
23rd Texas took me into the fort of St. Jago, where 
the regiment was quartered. The fort is separated from the city by 
a moat ; it is reached by a draw-bridge, on the far side of which is a 
sally port. If report be true, this fort can boast many gruesome tales, 
rivalling even the stories of the Inquisition period. One of quite 
recent date is almost on a par with that of the Black Hole of Calcutta. 
Shortly after the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1896, some 120 
so-called rebels were placed in one of the dungeons for a night; during 
the night the tide rose, partially flooded the floor and blocked out all 
ventilation, and in the morning some sixty were found dead from suffo¬ 
cation. This was not the work of a debauched young Nabob, but of an 
educated European supposed to be civilized. At the time I visited 
this place its sole occupant was a Spanish murderer, who had been 
placed there at his own request. I suppose the poor devil hoped to be 
suffocated thinking it preferable to having to wait to be hanged. I 
was glad to leave this cheerless spot. 
On my way out of the fort I was shown the Krag- 
Krag-jorgen- .Jorgensen rifle with which the American regular 
sei* Rifle. troops are armed; this rifle is very similar to our 
Lee-Metford, calibre *305, bolt action, magazine with side feed con¬ 
taining five rounds, short bayonet, cartridge solid drawn with nickel 
coated bullet; the cartridges (100) are carried double-banked in 
bandolier round waist-belt. 
Outside the Arsenal, on the west front, is a ravelin on the flag-staff 
of which the American flag was first hoisted in Manila on 13th 
August, 1898, and where it now flies. Round the crest of this ravelin 
are arranged twenty-two S.B. brass guns bearing the date 1855; 
these are now used as a saluting battery. Inside the Walled City are 
some fine buildings, among them some eight or ten churches, most of 
which are at present used as barracks for the 3,000 Spanish soldiers 
awaiting passage back to Spain. The sea front of the Walled City is 
now occupied by docks in process of construction, but since the war 
broke out nearly all work has been suspended. 
