Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines | Page 8

shall describe it. After entering the gateway, the door of which is always very stout and heavy, and under the constant protection of a porter, for security's sake, you reach a flight of steps leading to the habitable part of the house, and enter a gallery running from the top of the staircase, and a suite of rooms facing the street, to the gala or drawing-room at the other end of the house, and a suite of rooms facing the river. The entire length of the gallery is about a hundred feet, by twenty broad, and it looks into the open court-yard forming the centre of the building, on one side. There are several large and spacious bedrooms on the other side, the windows of which are lighted from a narrow street running to the river. Facing the gallery, and on the other side of the house, across the central court-yard, that entire side of the building is appropriated by the servants for cooking and sleeping-places.
The beams supporting the upper or habitable floor extend four or five feet beyond the outer wall, towards the street, forming a sort of verandah, or corridor, as it is called in Spanish as well as in English, round the entire building, affording a considerable protection against the sun's rays. The outer side of this corridor is composed of coarse and dark-coloured mother-of-pearl shell of little value, set in a wooden framework of small squares, forming windows which move on slides. Although the light admitted through this sort of window is much inferior to what glass would give, it has the advantage of being strong, and is not very liable to be damaged by the severe weather to which it is occasionally exposed during some months of the year.
There are few buildings distinguishable for architectural beauty, and those few are for the most part churches. The governor's house, or the palace, is a large and spacious building within the walls, and forms one side of the Playa, the other three being formed by the cathedral, the Cabildo, and some private houses, whose irregular height detracts considerably from the appearance of the square. In the centre of the square stands a statue of I forget what King of Spain, well executed in bronze.
It is usual for a military band to perform before the palace on Sunday and feast-day evenings, and on these occasions many carriages go there from the drive, about eight o'clock, to enjoy the music, and give people a good opportunity for either gossip or love-making, as their tastes or the moonlight may incline them.
The native Indians appear to have a good ear for music, and execute many of the finest operas with spirit and taste; and the amateur musicians in particular, who train the casino band, have brought the native performers to a very high degree of perfection in most of the pieces performed by them. A good deal more attention, however, appears to be paid to training these military bands, than in perfecting the troops themselves in their evolutions.
Religious processions are as frequently passing through the streets, as they are in all the Roman Catholic countries of Europe, but the features of all are very nearly identical, and so need not be particularly described.
When one of these processions takes place during the day, an awning is spread along the streets it will pass through, to protect the bareheaded promenaders from the sun, the canvass being attached to the house roofs along the streets; making them incredibly hot to pass along, so long as it remains there.
A good deal of display in silver and gold ornaments may be seen in some of the churches, the collections of many successive years, as every incumbent shows his piety and zeal by adding something to them during the time he holds the cure.
The jewels in some of the dresses of the figures, especially those of the Virgin, are valued at, or amount to, a considerable sum of money, and I have heard twenty thousand dollars mentioned as the value of those belonging to one church in Manilla.
The houses of the Indian and Mestizo population are for the most part in the outskirts of the business part of the town, those of the richer sort being built of stone, and those of the poorest class being composed of nipa, or attap. Among houses of this sort, when a fire takes place, great and rapid destruction is inevitable, and the only way of saving any portion of them from its fury is by throwing down all those in the direction of its advance.
Nearly every season, however, some fires happen among them, and hundreds of families are frequently burned out before its progress can be arrested. This, however, is not anything like so calamitous an event for them as