Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines | Page 7

who are the British merchants, is very considerable, some of them frequently making monthly purchases to the extent of ten or fifteen thousand dollars from one person, nearly all of the goods being sold to them on credits of three, four, or six months after the date of purchase and delivery of the merchandise. Occasionally, however, some of them break down, and those importers who have been trusting them for large amounts, of course burn their fingers; Chinamen, as a general rule, being honest and trustworthy only so long as it appears to be their own interest to remain so. Most of them at Manilla are people who have made everything for themselves, from nothing except their hands to begin with, as no rich Chinamen, such as are met with in their native country, and occasionally in Java and Singapore, are found at Manilla; for nearly all those who come there have originally arrived as coolies, earning their bread by manual labour, but very few of them indeed having inherited anything from their fathers, except the arts of reading and writing, which nearly the whole of them, however poor, understand and are able to perform. Whenever they make money, they invariably return to China, the Government holding out no inducements for them to remain in the Philippines, as they do elsewhere in the Archipelago, where greater freedom and protection are allowed them.
CHAPTER IV.
The streets of Manilla have at all times a dead and dull appearance, with the exception of the two already mentioned as being in the business part of the town. The basement-floor of the houses being generally uninhabited, there are no windows opened in their walls, which present a mass of whitewashed stone and lime, without an object to divert the eye, except here and there, where small shops have been opened in them, these being generally for selling rice, fruit, oil, &c., and entirely deficient in the glare or glittering colours of gay merchandise, nearly all of which is confined to the shops of the Escolta, Rosario, and Santo Christo.
The houses here, as elsewhere in hot climates, are arranged with great regard to ventilation and coolness, and are mostly large edifices; but are seldom well laid out, and are deficient in many respects. The entire white population, which amounts to upwards of 5,000, resides either in the city, by which is meant that portion of it within the walls, or in the principal part of the town outside the walls, and on the other side of the river from the city within the walls; and in this district is comprehended the great bulk of the population, which amounts to upwards of 200,000 souls.
Those resident within the walls are principally government servants, &c., induced, by the proximity of the public offices, regimental cantonments, &c., as well as a lower house-rent, to brave the greater heat usually felt there, from the confined space within the walls, and the narrow streets, not permitting so free a circulation of air as is enjoyed in the houses extra muros.
The largest description of houses, being the residences of Europeans, are spacious, and in many cases built on one plan, most of them being quadrangles inclosing a court-yard within their squares. Here the stables, &c., are usually situated; and, as may be supposed, the smell and view of them, should they happen to be in the least negligently kept, as they frequently are, afford but very little gratification to persons whose windows happen to be near.
The upper part of the house, or second story, as we would say in Scotland, is in general the only portion of the house inhabited by its residents. The rooms below, being considered unhealthy, are in general converted into warehouses or shops, if they can be let as such from happening to be conveniently situated, or serve as coach-houses, lumber-rooms, &c. &c. The masonry of the lower walls is usually very substantial and strong, being calculated to resist the shocks of earthquakes, which occasionally happen. Those of the upper stories, which rise from them, and form the habitable part of the house above, are much slighter than the lower ones, and the joists and wooden-work about the roof are adapted for security against such accidents, by their being fastened with bolts on either side of the masonry, thus enabling it to give a little play to the motion of the shock, without being displaced by it, and coming down, as thick and heavy walls would most certainly do.
However, on the occurrence of an earthquake, it is usual to run down stairs, and have the protection of the thick lower walls against any accident, such as that of the roof giving way. As the house I lived in while there may be taken as a specimen of many others, I