“On the land side, where the wall extends, there is a bastion called Sant Andres, with six pieces of artillery, which can fire in all directions, and a few swivel guns; and further on another outwork called San Gabriel, opposite the parian of the Sangleys, with the same number of cannon, and both these works have some soldiers and an ordinary guard.

“The wall is sufficiently high, with battlements and turrets for its defense in the modern fashions; they have a circuit of a league, which may be traversed on the top of the walls, with many stairs on the inside at intervals, of the same stonework, and three principal city gates, and many other posterns to the river and beach for the service of the city in convenient places.  All of these gates are shut before nightfall by the ordinary patrol, and the keys are carried to the guard-room of the royal buildings; and in the morning, when it is day, the patrol returns with them and opens the city.

“The royal magazines are in the parade; in them are deposited and kept all the munitions and supplies, cordage, iron, copper, lead, artillery, arquebuses, and other things belonging to the royal treasury, with their special officials and workmen, who are under the command of the royal officers.

“Close to these magazines is the powder magazine, with its master, officials, and convicts, in which, on ordinary occasions, thirty mortars grind powder, and that which is damaged is refined.

“In another part of the city, in a convenient situation, is the cannon foundry, with its moulds, furnaces, and instrument founders, and workmen, who carry on the works.

“The royal buildings are very handsome, with a good view, and very roomy, with many windows opening seaward and to the parade; they are all of hewn stone, with two courts and high and low corridors with thick pillars.”

The city of to-day verifies the descriptive talent and accuracy of this writer.

CHAPTER XVIII

The Southern Philippines.

Important Facts About the Lesser Islands of the Philippine
Archipelago—­Location, Size and Population—­Capitals and
Principal Cities—­Rivers and Harbors—­Surface and Soil—­People and
Products—­Leading Industries—­Their Commerce and Business Affairs—­The
Monsoons and Typhoons—­The Terrors of the Tempests and How to Avoid
Them.

The island and province of Mindoro lies in the strait of its name and south of Luzon.  It has in the center an elevated plain, we quote from the military notes issued by the War Department, from which many sierras extend in different directions to the coast, making the latter rugged and dangerous.  The island is of an oval form, with a prolongation of the northern portion toward the west.  Though an easy day’s sail from Manila, it is one of the least populous islands of the archipelago, being extremely mountainous, covered