Hardly was the anchor down before a boat from the custom-house came along-side, and the officials mounted to the deck. A little time was required to take the declarations of the strangers relative to the objects of their visit, and the time they intended to remain; the Spanish in the Philippines have pretty nearly the same regulations concerning strangers as the Dutch in Java, and for a similar object—to keep the country for themselves; and if a visitor does not like the restrictions thrown around him, he is at full liberty to leave.
When the formalities were over, our friends entered a boat and were rowed ashore. Manilla stands on both banks of the river Pasig, but the larger portion is on the southern side. There is a breakwater at the mouth of the river, to prevent injury from the waves that sometimes sweep in during the change of the monsoons. On more than one occasion the water has flooded all the lower parts of the city; but at the time of which we are speaking the weather was at its best, and the breakwater was more ornamental than useful.
COAST SCENE IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.
The boys were amused at the appearance of the houses along the banks; they had expected to see broad windows that would give as much ventilation as possible, and also allow strangers to have a peep at the internal arrangements without taking the trouble to enter. But they found, on the contrary, that the windows were generally narrow, and few in number, and the inhabitants consoled themselves for the lack of ventilation by spending a goodly portion of their time on the balcony. The roofs were covered with red tiles after the Spanish manner, and the Doctor remarked that the Spaniards in the Philippines, like the Dutch in Java and the English in India, had brought many of their home customs with them when settling in the eastern half of the world.
BARGE AND HOUSE ON THE PASIG.
They passed a barge laden with merchandise from one of the ships at anchor in the roadstead; it was propelled by men with long poles, which they fixed in the bottom of the river after the manner of the "setting poles" formerly in use on some of the streams of America. A broad plank was attached to each side of the barge just above the water-line, and on this plank two men walked as they pushed against the firmly fixed poles. The barge was a clumsy affair, with a roof of pandanus leaves, woven together and arranged in sections, so that it could be lifted off to receive cargo. There was a broad rudder at the stern of the barge, and the steersman stood under the mat roof, so that he was quite sheltered from the rays of the tropical sun.