lightly put together. La Pérouse estimates the weight of some of them,
furniture and all, at something less than two hundred pounds. Nearly
all these houses, as well as the huts of the natives, are furnished
with an azotea, that is, an uncovered space, on the same level as the
dwelling, which takes the place of yard and balcony. The Spaniards
appear to have copied this useful contrivance from the Moors, but the
natives were acquainted with them before the arrival of the Europeans,
for Morga mentions similar batalanes.

[Neglected river and canals offensive.] In the suburbs nearly every
hut stands in its own garden. The river is often quite covered with
green scum; and dead cats and dogs surrounded with weeds, which look
like cabbage-lettuce, frequently adorn its waters. In the dry season,
the numerous canals of the suburbs are so many stagnant drains,
and at each ebb of the tide the ditches around the town exhibit a
similar spectacle.

[Dreary and unprogressive life.] Manila offers very few opportunities
for amusement. There was no Spanish theatre open during my stay there,
but Tagalog plays (translations) were sometimes represented. The town
possessed no club, and contained no readable books. Never once did
the least excitement enliven its feeble newspapers, for the items
of intelligence, forwarded fortnightly from Hongkong, were sifted by
priestly censors, who left little but the chronicles of the Spanish
and French courts to feed the barren columns of the local sheets. [46]
The pompously celebrated religious festivals were the only events
that sometimes chequered the wearisome monotony.

[Cock-fighting.] The chief amusement of the Filipinos is cock-fighting,
which is carried on with a passionate eagerness that must strike every