| Europeans (including 500 Friars) | 4,050 |
| Spanish-native half-breeds | 8,584 |
| Spanish-native-Chinese half-breeds. | 180,000 |
| Chinese | 9,901 |
| Pure natives | 3,304,742 |
| Total civilized population | 3,507,277 |
In the last Spanish census, taken in 1876, the total number of inhabitants, including Europeans and Chinese, was shown to be a little under 6,200,000, but a fixed figure cannot be relied upon because it was impossible to estimate exactly the number of unsubdued savages and mountaineers, who paid no taxes. The increase of native population was rated at about two per cent, per annum, except in the Negrito or Aeta tribes, which are known to be decreasing.
In Manila City and wards it is calculated there were in 1896 about 340,000 inhabitants, of which the ratio of classes was approximately the following, namely:—
| Per cent. | |
| Pure natives | 68.00 |
| Chinese half-breeds | 16.65 |
| Chinese | 12.25 |
| Spaniards and Creoles | 1.65 |
| Spanish half-breeds | 1.30 |
| Foreigners (other than Chinese) | 0.15 |
| 100.00 |
The walled city alone contained a population of about 16,000 souls.
Typhoons affect Manila more or less severely about once a year, nearly always between April and middle of December, and sometimes cause immense destruction to property. Roofs of houses are carried away; the wooden upper-storey frontages are blown out; ships are torn from their moorings; small craft laden with merchandise are wrecked, and the inhabitants flee from the streets to make fast their premises, and await in intense anxiety the conclusion of the tempest. A hurricane of this description desolated Manila in October, 1882, and, at the same time, the wind was accompanied by torrents of rain, which did great damage to the interiors of the residences, warehouses, and offices. A small house, entirely made of wood, was blown completely over, and the natives who had taken refuge on the ground-floor were left, without a momentʼs notice, with the sky for a roof. Two Chinamen, who thought to take advantage of the occasion and economically possess themselves of galvanized-iron roofing, had their heads nearly severed by sheets of this material flying through the air, and their dead bodies were picked up in the Rosario the next morning. I was busy with the servants all that day in my house, in the unsuccessful attempt to fasten the windows and doors. Part of the kitchen was carried away; water came in everywhere; and I had to wait patiently, with an umbrella over me, until the storm ceased. The last similarly destructive hurricane, affecting Manila, occurred on September 26, 1905.
Manila is also in constant danger of destruction from earthquakes. The most serious one within the last century occurred in June, 1863. The shock lasted half a minute, and the falling débris of the upheaved buildings caused 400 deaths, whilst 2,000 persons were wounded. The total loss of property on that occasion was estimated at ₱ 8,000,000. Official returns show that 46 public edifices were thrown down; 28 were nearly destroyed; 570 private buildings were wrecked, and 528 were almost demolished. Simultaneously, an earthquake occurred in Cavite—the port and arsenal south-west of Manila—destroying several public buildings. In 1898 many of the ruins caused by this earthquake were still left undisturbed within the City of Manila. In 1863 the best buildings had heavy tiled roofs, and many continued so, in spite of the severe lesson, until after the shock of 1880, when galvanized corrugated iron came into general use for roofing, and, in fact, no one in Manila or Binondo now builds a house without it.
In 1880 no lives were lost, but the damage to house property was considerable. The only person who suffered physically from this calamity was an Englishman, Mr. Parker, whose arm was so severely injured that it was found necessary to amputate it.
Prior to 1863 the most serious earthquakes recorded happened in November, 1610; November, 1645; August, 1658; in 1675; in 1699; in 1796, and in 1852. Consequent on the shock of 1645, all the public buildings were destroyed excepting one monastery and two churches, some 600 persons were killed, and the Gov.-General was extricated from the ruins of his palace. [11]According to the Jesuit Father Faura, Director of the Manila Observatory, the following slight quakes occurred in 1881, viz.:—3 in July, 7 in August, 10 in September, and 3 in October. Earth-tremors almost imperceptible are so frequent in these Islands that one hardly heeds them after a few monthsʼ residence.
In a cosmopolitan city like Manila—the temporary home of so many different races—it was interesting to observe the varied wearing-apparel in vogue. The majority of the Spaniards wore the European costume; the British generally dressed in white drill, with the coat buttoned up to the neck, and finished off with a narrow collar of the same material. The Chinese always preserved their own peculiar national dress—the most rational of all—with the pig-tail coiled into a chignon. The pure natives and many half-breeds wore the shirt outside the trousers. It was usually white, with a long stiff front, and cut European fashion; but often it was made of an extremely fine yellow-tinted expensive material, called piña (vide p. [283]). Some few of the native jeunesse dorée of Manila donned the European dress, much to their apparent discomfort. The official attire of the headman of a Manila ward and his subordinates was a shirt with the tail outside the trousers, like other natives or half-breeds, but over which was worn the official distinction of a short Eton jacket, reaching to the hips. All this is now changing, with a tendency to imitate the Americans.