among the ladies, but the gentlemen, en costume, only mustered one or two Greeks, a Highlander, and two or three in the handsome Majo dress of Andalucia. I appeared in the Gaucho costume-ponchos, canzoncilla, straw-hat encircled with a red ribbon, and the motto of Rosas in my button-hole. This dress created no little sensation: the Spaniards, though they saw that the dress smacked strongly of Spanish, not being able to make me out. Murmurs of Quien es? quien es? Que trage bonita!" passed from one to another, and it was some time before their curiosity was satisfied. The room was a good one, and had the carpet down, which I found was the custom here. A platform at the end was furnished like a Chinese house; and a Chinese band, with its barbarous instruments, amused us with its performances between the dances. Smoking was allowed in every apartment, except the ball-room. The governor of Manilla was present; and for this night the gates of the city, generally shut at eleven o'clock, were kept open for the convenience of visitors from the suburbs.

I have already mentioned the land-shells of Manilla; but they are far surpassed in size by those of the adjacent sea. An old resident, Mr. Butler, showed me some enormous seashells, one of which, a bivalve, the Clamys gigas, weighed 22 arrobas, or 550 pounds, without the fish. One had been brought to England, weighing 560 pounds, and measured 3 feet 2 inches in length, 2 feet 2 inches in breadth, and 2 feet 1 inch in height, and was probably the same shell I had seen. An officer, who had been surveying the Sooloo Archipelago, said the shells were so large, that his whole boat's crew were required to lift one into the boat. Another officer told me that a man belonging to the Fly' had had

Y

322

THE CHINESE POPULATION.

his foot bitten off by one of these gigan tic shell-fish.

It is said that they will bite a hempen cable in two, if it falls across their shells; and considering the great power that a cockle or oyster has in closing its shell, their strength must be enormous.

Manilla boasts a Spanish theatre, and another where plays are acted in the Tagala tongue-the language of the lower orders. One evening, after a feast day, we went to some parties given by the Malay tradesmen. The houses were illuminated, and paper lanterns were hung out in the streets. The rooms were cleared for dancing, but that went on but slowly, and the supper tables seemed to have more attractions for the company. One of the delicacies was beche-la-mar soup, which I tasted for the first time. The flavour was not disagreeable, though the soup is made from a disgustinglooking animal, a sort of sea-slug.

We returned home about eleven o'clock, at which hour the Chinese population were still hard at work, the shoemakers hammering away in their open shops, just as they had been all day. The Chinese indeed are most industrious people, and, by working early and late, make a great deal of money here. There are great numbers both in Manilla and Java; but when they have amassed a little wealth, they always return to China with their gains. They keep a good many feast-days in the month of February, but at other times they work all the week round. On feast-days they hire large canoes and go up the river, where, lolling under the mat-awnings, and hanging their legs over the side of the canoe, they amuse themselves by cutting jokes on the passers-by.

The Malays, as I have before mentioned, are very fond of

music, and pretty good performers. They even have music at their funerals, and a large band accompanies the procession through the streets. During my stay at Manilla, there was a great mortality among the children, and some were buried every day. One day I met four little boys running along, laughing and swinging a basket between them, and to my surprise discovered that the basket contained a dead child, strewn over with flowers. I saw another dead child interred with more ceremony. The procession was headed by a brass band, preceding a sort of platform ornamented with ribbons and flowers, carried on on the shoulders of several men, and surmounted by a canopy, beneath which the dead child was seated on a wooden horse, its back supported by a piece of wood, while its head swung about on each side. The spectacle, which struck me with horror, seemed very attractive to the crowded population in the streets.

In the evening we generally took a drive along the paseo, or prado, which was well attended, the equipages being both numerous and handsome. Postilions are generally used; and it is the custom never to tell the postilion where you are going, but at each turn to call out to him "silla," for saddle-horse, or "mano" for hand-horse, according to the direction which he is to follow. We were always obliged to be rather careful in driving in the evening, as thieves would sometimes get up behind the carriage, and cut away the leather from the head, which they use to make shoes of.

One day I was much amused at an auction, where, as I walked past the open windows of the house, I heard the auctioneer pronouncing Spanish in the most extraordinary way, as "a dos riales," "a dos riales," " a dos riales," "grasias," &c.; and looking

324

AN ENGLISH AUCTIONEER.

in, I found that the knight of the hammer was an Englishman from Sydney, who had set up here as an auctioneer, with the apparent disadvantage of knowing very little of the language. But he told me, on my speaking to him, that this had quite a contrary effect, observing: "They understands me well enough, and it makes 'em laugh, and then they bids."

At length I began to inquire if any ship was about to sail for China, and heard that a fine Spanish brig, the 'Dos Hermanos,' was soon to start for Hong Kong. I saw the captain (Flores), and arranged for my passage; and on the 14th of February I bade farewell to my kind friends the Americans, and took my luggage off in a banca, and went on board. There was a nice breeze, and the captain immediately got under weigh. We passed near the 'Sarah Scott,' her great black hull now deep in the water, though she was still taking in sugar from two or three cascos lying alongside, and we soon left her far behind.

THE 'Dos Hermanos,' was a fine brig of about 230 tons. The captain and mate were Spaniards, and the rest of the crew, about eighteen hands, Manilla men, pretty good sailors, but not equal to much work, and very spiritless, particularly in cold weather. The cook, as is generally the case with vessels in these seas, was a Chinese.

I found that I was not the only passenger by the 'Dos Hermanos.' A Frenchman, named Kennebel, with his wife -a young Irishwoman-and two children, and his assistant, Groinet, were my companions for the voyage. They were the relics of a large troop of equestrian performers, who had left France about five years before, and had been travelling about and exhibiting in various places, having traversed India, and performed for three months in Manilla, and were