BRIDGE OVER THE PASIG RIVER.
This bridge connects the old walled city on one side of the river with the new unwalled city on the other. Sea-going vessels ascend the river up to the bridge.
EARTHQUAKES AND TYPHOONS.
THE SHIPYARDS AND ARSENAL AT CAVITE.
Cavite is a city of about 5000 inhabitants, ten miles from Manila. The Spanish arsenal and the only shipyards in the colony are located here. It is the chief naval station of the islands, and has always been considered the key to Manila from the sea. It was seized by the insurgents in 1872, and again in 1896, and it was its forts that so harassed Dewey with their bombardment, and it was one of the first places occupied by the Americans after the fall of Manila.
It does not take one long to exhaust the sights of Manila, if the people, who are always interesting, are excepted. Aside from the cathedral and a few of the churches, the buildings of the city are anything but imposing. In fact, there is little encouragement to construct fine edifices because of the danger from earthquakes and typhoons. It is said that not a year passes without a number of slight earthquake shocks, and very serious ones have occurred. In 1645 nearly all of the public buildings were wrecked and 600 persons killed. A very destructive earthquake was that of 1863, when 400 people were killed, 2,000 wounded, and 46 public buildings and 1,100 private houses were badly injured or completely destroyed. In 1874 earthquakes were again very numerous throughout the islands, shocks being felt at intervals in certain sections for several weeks. But the most violent convulsion of modern times occurred in 1880 when even greater destruction than in 1863 visited Manila and other towns of Luzon. Consequently there are very few buildings to be found more than two stories high; and the heavy tile roofs formerly in use have, for the most part, been replaced by lighter coverings of galvanized iron.
