heir mutual
protection, and it is a well-ascertained fact that they had to
pay the Spanish authorities very dearly for the liberty of living
at peace with their fellow-men. If the wind blew against them from
official quarters the affair brought on the _tapis_ was hushed up by
a gift. These peace-offerings, at times of considerable value, were
procured by a tax privately levied on each Chinaman by the headmen of
their guilds. In 1880-83 the Gov.-General and other high functionaries
used to accept Chinese hospitality, etc.

In December, 1887, the Medal of Civil Merit was awarded to a Chinaman
named Sio-Sion-Tay, resident in Binondo, whilst the Government for
several years had made contracts with the Chinese for the public
service. Another Chinaman, christened in the name of Carlos Palanca,
was later on awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, with
the title of Excellency.

Many Chinese have adopted Christianity, either to improve their
social standing, or to be enabled thereby to contract marriage with
natives. Their intercessor and patron is _Saint Nicholas_, since the
time, it is said, that a Chinaman, having fallen into the Pasig River,
was in danger of being eaten by an alligator, and saved himself by
praying to that saint, who caused the monster to turn into stone. The
legendary stone is still to be seen near the left bank of the river.

There appears to be no perfectly reliable data respecting the number of
Chinese residents in the Archipelago. In 1886 the statistics differed
largely. One statistician published that there was a total of 66,740
men and 194 women, of whom 51,348 men and 191 women lived in Manila
and suburbs, 1,154 men and 3 women in Yloilo, and 983 men in Cebu,
the rest being dispersed over the coast villages and the interior. The
most competent local authorities in two provinces proved to me that
the figures relating to their districts were inexact, and all other
information on the subject which I have been able to procure tends to
show that the number of resident Chinese was underrated. I estimate
that just before the Rebellion of 1896 there were 100,000 Chinese
in the whole Colony, including upwards of 40,000 in and around the
capital.

Crowds of Chinese passed to these Islands _via_ Sulu (Jolo), which,
as a free port, they could enter without need of papers. Pretending
to be resident colonists there, they managed to obtain passports to
travel on business for a limited period in the P