e one.

The intercourse I had with these gentlemen was a source of much
gratification, and it gives me great pleasure to make this public
expression of it. To both, my sincere acknowledgments are due for
information in relation to the various reefs and shoals that have
been recently discovered, and which will be found placed in their
true position on our charts.

During our stay at Manila, our time was occupied in seeing sights,
shopping, riding, and amusing ourselves with gazing on the throng
incessantly passing through the Escolta of the Binondo suburb, or
more properly, the commercial town of Manila.

[Cigar factories.] Among the lions of the place, the great royal cigar
manufactories claim especial notice from their extent and the many
persons employed. There are two of these establishments, one situated
in the Binondo quarter, and the other on the great square or Prado;
in the former, which was visited by us, there are two buildings of
two stories high, besides several storehouses, enclosed by a wall,
with two large gateways, at which sentinels are always posted. The
principal workshop is in the second story, which is divided into six
apartments, in which eight thousand females are employed. Throughout
the whole extent, tables are arranged, about sixteen inches high,
ten feet long, and three feet wide, at each of which fifteen women
are seated, having small piles of tobacco before them. The tables are
set crosswise from the wall, leaving a space in the middle of the room
free. The labor of a female produces about two hundred cigars a day;
and the working hours are from 6 a.m., till 6 p.m., with a recess of
two hours, from eleven till one o'clock. The whole establishment is
kept very neat and clean, and every thing appears to be carried on
in the most systematic and workmanlike manner. Among such numbers,
it has been found necessary to institute a search on their leaving
the establishment to prevent embezzlement, and this is regularly
made twice a day, without distinction of sex. It is a strange sight
to witness the ingress and egress of these hordes of females; and
probably the world cannot elsewhere exhibit so large a number of ugly
women. Their ages vary from fifteen to forty-five. The sum paid them
for wages is very trifling. The whole number of persons employed in the
manufactories is about fifteen thousand; this includes the officers,
clerks, overseers, etc.

As nearly as I could ascertain, the revenue de