short of the lively
descriptions of some travellers. The circular bay, one hundred twenty
nautical miles in circumference, the waters of which wash the shores of
five different provinces, is fringed in the neighborhood of Manila by a
level coast, behind which rises an equally flat table land. The scanty
vegetation in the foreground, consisting chiefly of bamboos and areca
palms, was dried up by the sun; while in the far distance the dull
uniformity of the landscape was broken by the blue hills of San Mateo.
In the rainy season the numerous unwalled canals overflow their banks
and form a series of connected lakes, which soon, however, change into
luxuriant and verdant rice-fields.
[City's appearance mediaeval European.] Manila is situated on both
sides of the river Pasig. The town itself, surrounded with walls and
ramparts, with its low tiled roofs and a few towers, had, in 1859, the
appearance of some ancient European fortress. Four years later the
greater part of it was destroyed by an earthquake.
[The 1863 earthquake.] On June 3, 1863, at thirty-one minutes past
seven in the evening, after a day of tremendous heat while all Manila
was busy in its preparations for the festival of Corpus Christi, the
ground suddenly rocked to and fro with great violence. The firmest
buildings reeled visibly, walls crumbled, and beams snapped in two.
The dreadful shock lasted half a minute; but this little interval was
enough to change the whole town into a mass of ruins, and to bury
alive hundreds of its inhabitants. [11] A letter of the governor-general,
which I have seen, states that the cathedral, the goverment-house, the
barracks, and all the public buildings of Manila were entirely destroyed,
and that the few private houses which remained standing threatened to
fall in. Later accounts speak of four hundred killed and two thousand
injured, and estimate the loss at eight millions of dollars. Forty-six
public and five hundred and seventy private buildings were thrown
down; twenty-eight public and five hundred twenty-eight private
buildings were nearly destroyed, and all the houses left standing were
more or less injured.
[Damage in Cavite.] At the same time, an earthquake of forty seconds'
duration occurred at Cavite, the naval port of the Philippines, and
destroyed many buildings.
[Destruction in walled city.] Three years afterwards, the Duc d'Alencon
(Lucon et Mindanao; Paris, 1870, S. 38) found the traces of the
catastrophe everywhere. Three sides of the principal square of the city,
in which formerly stood the government, or governor's, palace, the
cathedral, and the townhouse, were lying like dust heaps overgrown
with weeds. All the large public edifices were "temporarily"
constructed of wood; but nobody then seemed to plan anything
permanent.
[Former heavy shocks.] Manila is very often subject to earthquakes; the
most fatal occurred in 1601; in 1610 (Nov. 30); in 1645 (Nov. 30); in
1658 (Aug. 20); in 1675; in 1699; in 1796; in 1824; in 1852; and in
1863. In 1645, six hundred [12], or, according to some accounts, three
thousand [13] persons perished, buried under the ruins of their houses.
Their monastery, the church of the Augustinians, and that of the Jesuits,
were the only public buildings which remained standing.
[Frequent minor disturbances.] Smaller shocks, which suddenly set the
hanging lamps swinging, occur very often and generally remain
unnoticed. The houses are on this account generally of but one story,
and the loose volcanic soil on which they are built may lessen the
violence of the shock. Their heavy tiled roofs, however, appear very
inappropriate under such circumstances. Earthquakes are also of
frequent occurrence in the provinces, but they, as a rule, cause so little
damage, owing to the houses being constructed of timber or bamboo,
that they are never mentioned.
[Scanty data available.] M. Alexis Perrey (Mém. de l'Académie de
Dijon, 1860) has published a list, collected with much diligence from
every accessible source, of the earthquakes which have visited the
Philippines, and particularly Manila. But the accounts, even of the most
important, are very scanty, and the dates of their occurrence very
unreliable. Of the minor shocks, only a few are mentioned, those which
were noticed by scientific observers accidentally present at the time.
[The 1610 catastrophe.] Aduarte (I. 141) mentions a tremendous
earthquake which occurred in 1610. I briefly quote his version of the
details of the catastrophe, as I find them mentioned nowhere else.
"Towards the close of November, 1610, on St. Andrew's Day, a more
violent earthquake than had ever before been witnessed, visited these
Islands; its effects extended from Manila to the extreme end of the
province of Nueva Segovia (the whole northern part of Luzon), a
distance of 200 leagues. It caused great destruction over the entire area;
in the province of Ilocos it buried palm trees, so that only the tops
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