every successive degree he compassed on his eastern course added
four minutes to the length of his day; and, when he reached the
Philippines, the difference amounted to sixteen hours. This, however,
apparently escaped his notice, for Elcano, the captain of the only
remaining vessel, was quite unaware, on his return to the longitude
of his departure, why according to his ship's log-book, he was a day
behind the time of the port which he had reached again by continuously
sailing westward. [2] [3]

[Change to the Asian day.] The error remained also unheeded in the
Philippines. It was still, over there the last day of the old year,
while the rest of the world was commencing the new one; and this state
of things continued till the close of 1844, when it was resolved,
with the approval of the archbishop, to pass over New Year's eve for
once altogether. [4] Since that time the Philippines are considered
to lie no longer in the distant west, but in the far east, and are
about eight hours in advance of their mother country. The proper field
for their commerce, however, is what is to Europeans the far west;
they were colonized thence, and for centuries, till 1811, they had
almost no other communication with Europe but the indirect one by
the annual voyage of the galleon between Manila and Acapulco. Now,
however, when the eastern shores of the Pacific are at last beginning
to teem with life, and, with unexampled speed, are pressing forward to
grasp their stupendous future, the Philippines will no longer be able
to remain in their past seclusion. No tropical Asiatic colony is so
favorably situated for communication with the west coast of America,
and it is only in a few matters that the Dutch Indies can compete with
them for the favors of the Australian market. But, [Future in American
and Australian trade.] on the other hand, they will have to abandon
their traffic with China, whose principal emporium Manila originally