the oldest city in the Indies. Foreigners reside on the northern bank
of the river; in Binondo, the headquarters of wholesale and retail
commerce, or in the pleasant suburban villages, which blend into
a considerable whole. [Population.] The total population of city
and suburbs has been estimated, perhaps with some exaggeration,
at 200,000. [Bridges.] A handsome old stone bridge of ten arches
serves as the communication between the two banks of the Pasig,
which, more recently, has also been spanned by an iron suspension
bridge. [43] Very little intercourse exists between the inhabitants
of Manila and Binondo. [Friction between classes.] Life in the city
proper cannot be very pleasant; pride, envy, place-hunting, and caste
hatred, are the order of the day; the Spaniards consider themselves
superior to the creoles, who, in their turn, reproach the former with
the taunt that they have only come to the colony to save themselves
from starvation. A similar hatred and envy exists between the whites
and the mestizos. This state of things is to be found in all Spanish
colonies, and is chiefly caused by the colonial policy of Madrid,
which always does its best to sow discord between the different races
and classes of its foreign possessions, under the idea that their
union would imperil the sway of the mother country. [44]

[Few large landowners.] In Manila, moreover, this state of things was
rendered worse by the fact that the planter class, whose large landed
possessions always give it a strong interest in the country of its
inhabitance, was entirely wanting. At the present day, however, the
increasing demand for the produce of the colony seems to be bringing
about a pleasant change in this respect. [Spaniards transient.] The
manner in which the Spanish population of the Islands was affected
by the gambling ventures of the galleons, at one time the only
source of commercial wealth, is thus described by Murillo Velarde