The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 759 pages of information about The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes.

The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 759 pages of information about The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes.

[5] Towards the close of the sixteenth century the duty upon the exports to China amounted to $40,000 and their imports to at least $1,330,000.  In 1810, after more than two centuries of undisturbed Spanish rule, the latter had sunk to $1,150,000.  Since then they have gradually increased; and in 1861 they reached $2,130,000.

[6] The Panama canal prevents this.—­C.

[7] Navarrete, iv, 54 Obs. 1a.

[8] According to Gehler’s Phys.  Lex.  VI, 450, the log was first mentioned by Purchas in an account of a voyage to the East Indies in 1608.  Pigafetta does not cite it in his treatise on navigation; but in the forty-fifth page of his work it is said:  “Secondo la misura che facevamo del viaggio colla cadena a poppa, noi percorrevamo 60 a 70 leghe al giorno.”  This was as rapid a rate as that of our (1870) fastest steamboats—­ten knots an hour.

[9] The European mail reaches Manila through Singapore and Hongkong.  Singapore is about equidistant from the other two places.  Letters therefore could be received in the Philippines as soon as in China, if they were sent direct from Singapore.  In that case, however, a steamer communication with that port must be established, and the traffic is not yet sufficiently developed to bear the double expense.  According to the report of the English Consul (May, 1870), there is, besides the Government steamer, a private packet running between Hongkong and Manila.  The number of passengers it conveyed to China amounted, in 1868, to 441 Europeans and 3,048 Chinese; total, 3,489.  The numbers carried the other way were 330 Europeans and 4,664 Chinese; in all, 4,994.  The fare is $80 for Europeans and $20 for Chinamen.

[10] Zuniga, Mavers, I, 225.

[11] Dr. Pedro Pelaez, in temporary charge of the diocese and dying in the cathedral, was the foremost Filipino victim.  Funds raised in Spain for relief never reached the sufferers, but not till the end of Spanish rule was it safe to comment on this in the Philippines.—­C.

[12] Zuniga, xviii, M. Velarde, p. 139.

[13] Captain Salmon, Goch., S. 33.

[14] The opening of this port proved so advantageous that I intended to have given a few interesting details of its trade in a separate chapter, chiefly gathered from the verbal and written remarks of the English Vice-Consul, the late Mr. N. Loney, and from other consular reports.

[15] In 1868, 112 foreign vessels, to the aggregate of 74,054 tons, and Spanish ships to the aggregate of 26,762 tons, entered the port of Manila.  Nearly all the first came in ballast, but left with cargoes.  The latter both came and left in freight. (English Consul’s Report, 1869.)

[16] In 1868 the total exports amounted to $14,013,108; of this England alone accounted for $4,857,000, and the whole of the rest of Europe for only $102,477.  The first amount does not include the tobacco duty paid to Spain by the colony, $3,169,144. (English Consul’s Report, 1869.)

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The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.