Читать книгу The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Third - Thomas Wallace Knox - Страница 11

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The Osprey steamed on the next day and the next, and on the third morning after leaving Sarawak the boys found themselves entering a broad bay, which the captain told them was the Bay of Manilla, in the Philippine Islands.

MAP OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

"It's large enough to hold all the ships in the world," Frank remarked, as he looked around him, and gradually took in the extent of the sheet of water.

"Yes," said Fred, "provided they did not object to a little crowding here and there. It seems to me larger than the Bay of Yeddo, in Japan."

"You are quite right," chimes in the Doctor. "It is larger than the Bay of Yeddo, and Frank is not much out of the way when he thinks all the ships of the world could assemble here at once. The Bay of Manilla is 120 marine miles in circumference, and its waters wash the shores of five provinces. There is good anchorage in the greater part of it, but owing to its enormous size, it is less secure than a smaller bay would be."

The captain of the Osprey was standing near them during this conversation, and nodded assent to the Doctor's statement. "Manilla has no harbor, properly speaking," he remarked, "and the only place for ships, till they enter the river, is in the open roadstead. During the north-east monsoon we are all right, and can drop our anchors a mile or so in front of the city the same as we do at Batavia; but when the south-west monsoon is blowing, and in all the time of the change of monsoons, the roadstead is dangerous. Then we go to Cavite, a naval port seven miles down the coast, and all our cargo must be landed there or brought to Manilla in lighters. No ship of more than 400 tons can enter the river at Manilla safely, as there is not sufficient water on the bar. We shall anchor in front of the town, and you will go on shore in a small boat."

SCENE ON MANILLA BAY.

The entire shores of the bay were not distinctly visible at the same moment, owing to the great distance across, but what there was to be seen was quite picturesque. In the background was a range of mountains, in front of them was a table-land, and in the immediate foreground lay a stretch of low coast covered with tropical vegetation, among which the bamboo and the palm were prominent. As they approached near the land our friends could see that it was intersected by numerous canals, and the captain told them that in the rainy season these canals overflowed their banks, and converted all the low-land into a vast lake. When the water recedes, the moist land is planted with rice, and in a few days what was before a wide stretch of water becomes a most luxuriant field. The rice product of the Philippines is very large, and the soil seems admirably adapted to the culture of the article that forms the daily food of more than half the human race.

There were but few ships at anchor in the roadstead when the Osprey came to a halt at the spot her captain had designated, and the signs of great business activity were altogether wanting. The Doctor informed his young companions that the trade of Manilla was less than that of Batavia or Singapore, and hence the smaller number of ships in port. The Philippine Islands belong to Spain, but there is not a great deal of commerce between the two countries, since neither produces much that the other wants. Down to a very recent date there was a heavy protective duty that was intended to favor Spanish ships to the detriment of others, but somehow, while it kept off the vessels of other nationalities, it did not bring as many Spanish ones as was expected.

The customs duties were formerly seven per cent. for merchandise imported in Spanish ships, and double that figure if the ships were foreign. Then they had a system of levying tonnage dues on foreign ships, in addition to the duties on the cargo; a ship in ballast paid a certain rate, while a cargo ship was taxed about double. If a ship in ballast landed the smallest parcel of any kind whatever, she was immediately taxed at the higher rate; and it was said that the officials used sometimes to bribe a sailor on board a ship to carry a small bundle on shore, so that they could have the pretext of levying the high charge. The consequence was that foreign ships avoided Manilla as much as possible, and only went there when specially chartered. In 1869 a decree was issued making a uniform duty on all goods, no matter under what flag they were imported, abolishing all export duties, and doing away with the objectionable features of the port charges.

Hardly was the anchor down before a boat from the custom-house came along-side, and the officials mounted to the deck. A little time was required to take the declarations of the strangers relative to the objects of their visit, and the time they intended to remain; the Spanish in the Philippines have pretty nearly the same regulations concerning strangers as the Dutch in Java, and for a similar object—to keep the country for themselves; and if a visitor does not like the restrictions thrown around him, he is at full liberty to leave.

When the formalities were over, our friends entered a boat and were rowed ashore. Manilla stands on both banks of the river Pasig, but the larger portion is on the southern side. There is a breakwater at the mouth of the river, to prevent injury from the waves that sometimes sweep in during the change of the monsoons. On more than one occasion the water has flooded all the lower parts of the city; but at the time of which we are speaking the weather was at its best, and the breakwater was more ornamental than useful.