. After several days' journey a
pueblo is founded. These villages have multiplied for many years past,
forming oases of comparative peace and civilisation amid the barbarism by
which they are surrounded, and are open to all who choose to seek a
shelter in them. The more neophytes the pueblo holds, the less exposed it
is to hostile incursions. Doctor Montano gives a very striking account of
one of these daring missionaries, Father Saturnino Urios, of the Society
of Jesus, who, in a single year, converted and baptised fifty-two hundred
people.

There are thirty-one islands of considerable size in the Philippine group.
Their area exceeds that of Great Britain. Pine and fir-trees are abundant.
Large areas are suitable for wheat. There are eight ports open to
commerce. The principal exports are hemp, sugar, rice, tobacco, cigars,
coffee, and cocoa. Previous to the rebellion the annual value of the sugar
output was $30,000,000. Now it is almost nothing.

The population of the islands is about eight million, of which more than
three million are in Luzon, the insurgent stronghold.

"Under the administration of Spain the Philippines were subject to a
governor-general with supreme powers, assisted by a 'junta of authorities'
instituted in 1850, and consisting of the archbishop, the commander of the
forces, the admiral, the president of the supreme court, etc.; a central
junta of agriculture, industry, and commerce (dating from 1866), and a
council of administration. In the provinces and districts the chief power
is in the hands of alcades mayores and civico-military governors. The
chief magistrate of a commune is known as the gobernadorcillo, or captain;
the native who is responsible for the collection of the tribute of a
certain group of families is the cabeca de barangay. Every Indian between
the ages of sixteen and sixty, subject to Spain, was forced to pay tribute
to the amount of $1.17, descendants of the first Christians of Cebu, new
converts, gobernadorcillos, etc., being exempted. Chinese were subject to
special taxes, and by a law of 1883 Europeans and Spanish half-castes were
required to pay a poll-tax of $2.50."

The largest island in the archipelago is Luzon, with an area of 40,885
square miles, and on which is situated the city of Manila.

The population of Manila, as given in the consular reports for 1880, is in
the walled town 12,000, and in the suburbs from 250,000 to 300,000.

The city was founded in 1571, a