nese, 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
moment's 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 destruc