[Language.] [277]"* * * Their colloquial language, like that of the natives of Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and many other islands in these seas, is a dialect of the peninsular Malay from whence it is thought they originated; and so striking is its similarity among all these islands, that the natives of each can, in a greater or less degree, understand that of all the others.  The characters of their written language differ widely, and great varieties of arrangement exist among them.  The Tagalogs write from top to bottom on palm leaves and strips of bamboo; and many of the Moros or Mahomedans use the Arabic characters.”

[Difference of days.] [278]From the circumstance of the Spaniards arriving in these seas by Cape Horn, and the general route being by the Cape of Good Hope, a consequent difference in time of one day is produced in the different reckoning; the Spaniards losing, and those who steer eastward gaining, each in the proportion of half a day in completing the semi-circumference of the globe.  Consequently, the time at Manila, being regulated by their own reckonings, is one day later than that of those who arrive there by steering eastward from America or Europe; as for instance, when by the accounts of the latter it is Sunday, by theirs it is only Saturday.

[English in Manila.] In the year 1762, the city of Manila was taken by the English, where, and at Cavite, immense quantities of naval and military stores, brass and iron ordnance, and several fine ships, fell into their hands.  It was, however, soon delivered up to the Spaniards, on a promise of the payment to the English of four millions of dollars as a ransom, which, however, never has been paid.  This breach of faith and promise has been loudly complained of by the latter, and as pertinaciously excused by the Spaniards, who complain that the British plundered the city, and committed many other excesses, contrary to the express conditions of their engagements, by which they were virtually rendered nugatory.

[Galleon trade.] The inhabitants of Manila have long enjoyed the privilege of sending two annual ships to Acapulco called Galleons, Navios, or Register-Ships, with the produce of the Philippines, of China, and other parts of Asia; in return for which, they receive various articles of the production of South America; the principal of which are cochineal, merchandise of different descriptions of European origin, and silver in Spanish dollars and ingots, which compose the principal part of the value of their return cargoes, amounting annually to about three million five hundred thousand Spanish dollars.  A large proportion of this property belongs to the convents in Manila, whose great revenues not only enable them to engage in extensive mercantile operations, but to lend considerable sums to the merchants on bottomry.  For the indulgence in this trade, the proprietors pay a large sum of money to the crown.