Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/278

 On the 8th of January we made the islands of Sabtang and Batan. The wind being ahead we beat through the Balintang Straits. We had now left the North Pacific and entered the Sooloo Sea.

At daylight on the 13th we dropped anchor in the Bay of Manilla, island of Luzon, one of the Philippine  Islands. These islands are of a volcanic nature, and no portion of the globe is so much the seat of internal fires;  though none were in action while we were there, some  of them were smoking. They were discovered by Magellan in 1521, and are subject to the Spanish government. The city is fortified with walls and ditches, as in all Spanish ports. The streets were narrow and dirty. The houses were two stories high, built of stone, and were either yellow or whitewashed. Outside of the city they were built of bamboo, and elevated on posts to  prevent the entrance of the numerous reptiles, centipedes, and lizards.

While taking a cruise up one of the main streets we saw the cooks in movable kitchens, frying cakes, making  bird’s-nest puddings, stewing, etc. It amused us to see  them at work in the streets. Chinese tinkers, blacksmiths, bakers, cabinet-makers, shoe and slipper makers, tailors, hawkers of opium and cakes of coagulated  blood and betel nut, were numerous. The betel nut was chewed with the pepper-leaf by the natives of the East  Indies. It stained their teeth to a cherry red.

The majority of the population was Chinese. There were also many Malays, and a few Spaniards, Europeans,  and negroes. All wore loose dresses and slippers. Those who could afford it carried Chinese umbrellas, very