leaving a space of half an inch between; which, | bell first tolled. Instinctively as it were, each beside its recommendation for cleanliness, keeps the horse stood still, and the riders bowed their unapartments cool by the evaporation of the water covered heads. Among sixty thousand beings, the beneath. A short time previous to our arrival, up- population of that city, our carriage alone prewards of four thousand of these huts had been de- sented erect and covered heads, while the hushed stroyed by fire. multitude breathed the vesper prayer.

The natives are of a very bright olive complexion, slight in figure, lithe and graceful in their movements; their eyes dark, full and expressive; and their hair black, long and luxuriant. They seem friendly and inoffensive.

On our first arrival a similar circumstance was noted with equal surprise and varying comments, although from our relative position, the effect was less startling. We came to an anchor about noon, and the civilities of the port had been tendered The exports of the island are principally cotton, and accepted. Several Spanish ships and a numrice, indigo, tobacco, sugar, tortoise-shell, grass ber of coasters were lying at various distances cloths, &c. About fifteen thousand tons of shipping from us. A slight shower, just sufficient to render clear annually from this port. A ship owned in the sails too damp for furling, had caused us to the place, is a regular trader to Acapulco, whence, defer doing so until the evening. The vessels like the galleons of old, but no longer intercepted around had loosed their sails to dry. Near sunby the freebooters of England, she bears her rich set, we called all hands to "furl sails," and in comfreight across the vast Pacific Ocean. In conse-pliment to the strangers, the word was passed quence of the Spaniards having reached the Phil-among the vessels of the port, and each prepared lippines by pursuing a Western course, and our- to follow our movements. The sails were "clewed selves by steering East, there are twenty-four up;" the yards of our own and of every ship in hours difference in time, and Monday with us is port were covered with men; the bay, between celebrated as Sunday on shore. the shipping and the shore was enlivened by some Shortly after our arrival we visited the ceme- dozen boats, passing to and fro-the Spanish, with tery, which is thus constructed. It is a circular measured stroke to the cadence of a song, and wall eight or nine feet thick, and nearly a quarter our own, quick, nervous and unaccompanied with of a mile in circumference. Around, throughout any sound, save the harsh grating of the oar in the inner surface, are three tiers of excavations, the rowlock. The men on the yards were in the not unlike narrow ovens, extending horizontally, upwards of six feet into the wall. In the centre of the enclosure is an immense vault. When a person dies, the body is placed in one of the ovenlike recesses, which is immediately filled with of the ships nearest to us, drop on their kness and lime, and the mouth hermetically closed. After the expiration of a certain period, the grave is opened, the bones drawn forth and interred in the vault, and the sepulchre is prepared for another

tenant.

act of gathering up the sails, when the chime of 3 bell was heard. Instantly the men aloft in the other ships, doffed their caps and stood statue-like and immoveable, while we saw those on the decks

bow their heads in seeming prayer: The song of the rowers was hushed, and the oars rested from their work, our own boats excepted, which swept on with rapid and unceasing stroke, and our men had furled the sails and were descending from aloft, when the last note of the bell gave the signal for

A short distance from the city is the Prado or
Park, where every afternoon, the inhabitants rising the others to proceed.

officer, who, in the last war with France, crowded sail on his ship in a heavy gale, and dashing stem on against the chain thrown across the harbor of Brest, snapped it asunder, and opened a passage for the blockading fleet.

from their siesta, take the air on foot, on horse- The English squadron which arrived after us, back and in carriages of every description. On was commanded by Sir Francis Collier, the gallant the occasion of our first visit, all was glee and joyfulness. The breeze which rippled the bay and gathered coolness from its sister-element, bore to us the merry laugh of the happy pedestrians. The middling classes, in their unpretending vehicles, in social converse and with cheerful smiles, passed After having thoroughly recruited, we sailed for by at a reasonable pace; the gentry and nobility: Canton in company with the English frigate. She the parvenu so gorgeous, and the aristocrat severely was literally "fir built," and had been presented to simple in his equipage; the gay and dashing cava- their government by the ladies of Liverpool, after lier; and the haughty beauty in her pride, swept which city she was named. It was determined to along; when suddenly, from within the walls, came try our relative speed-but, whether she were more the startling but melodious sound of the vesper bell. favored, or carried more sail during the night, of The transition from confused and rapid motion to in reality outstripped us, she was not visible the a state of perfect stillness; from the hubbub of a second morning, and certainly reached the port of joyous multitude, to a deathlike silence, was in-destination before us. stantaneous and impressive. Each pedestrian On the fourth day, I had relieved my kneeled upon the spot where he stood when that mate a little after twelve o'clock, and was walk

watch

pendence, of love mingled with anxiety, and of awe intertwined with confidence. In the desolation of feeling, I said—as I felt―

"The hollow oak, it is my home,

ing to and fro in the weather gangway, when I our water with a display of force, we patiently thought that I discovered something on the water, await the arrival of the store ship. At length several miles to windward. I reported it to the she is here, and brings tidings from our dear counLieutenant of the watch, who examined it atten- try. Save myself, all have received some token tively with a spy-glass, and directed me to report of remembrance from a relative or a friend. The to the Captain that we had made Pedro Branca, a wayworn traveller plods cheerily when he thinks large isolated rock on the coast of China, which de- of the grasp of friendship and the embrace of love. signates the entrance to the river Tigris. Under The moans of the invalid are hushed at the voice the supposition that we had either overrun our reck- of sympathy, and with renewed hope, he quaffs oning or been drifted by a strong and favorable cur- the medicine which is tendered by the hand of afrent, our course was altered and we stood directly for fection. Homeless and desolate, like the bird it. As we neared it however, we became aware wandering over the waste of waters, my feet can that it was something buoyant, for, it rose and fell find no resting place. Like the egg of the ostrich, with the mysterious swell of the ocean. We soon the orphan has no maternal nest; he is like the perceived human beings, whose wild and frantic solitary tree upon an open heath, gnarled and gestures told of sufferings past, and of anxious twisted by every blast of wintry wind-stinted in hopes and fears. It proved to be a large water growth by an ungenerous soil, and rendered hardy tank, built of wood and closely cemented in the by exposure. Who can supply the place of the seams, but open at the top, which floated but a few beloved object to the young affections? I speak feet above the surface of the water. It contained not of that earthborn passion, (in the male breast seven miserable creatures, of whom, one, an old at least,) which, with the nuptial rites for its goal, man, was found lying in the bottom, his head prop- is too often sensual and but seldom pure-but, of ped against the side and his body nearly covered that celestial link, which binds the parent and the with water, which was coated with a fetid slime. child-that delicate texture of protection and deThe old man died-but the rest by slow degrees recovered. They stated that they had been a part of the crew of a large Chinese junk, which had stranded on a rock about two weeks previous: that the whole crew and passengers escaped in three large tanks belonging to the vessel, of which the largest held about one hundred, another about sixty and their own about twenty-three persons: that they drifted about in close proximity until the evening of the second day, when a heavy squall came up, and after it passed away, they saw nothing more of their companions. No doubt the other We are subjected to unceasing vexation by the two, laden beyond their buoyant capacity, filled and authorities. The provisions sent to us from the sunk with the first rising of the sea. These men United States are denied, and we have sailed up to state, that with the exception of a gull caught with the Boca Tigris (the mouth of the river,) and a line, they have passed the whole period without taken a position abreast of Fort Anawan, with a a morsel of food. But, their appearance and their determination to force the passage, proceed to very reluctance to converse upon the subject, satis- Whampoa, and take our provisions, vi et armis, if fied us that they have fed upon each other-whether they be not delivered within a specified time. All upon the bodies of those who died from exhaus- is bustle and preparation at the fort and among the tion, or upon the flesh of their slaughtered com- men-of-war junks, which, have followed us, and, rades we cannot tell. The rains of Heaven, they reinforced with others from above, assume a mesaid, had furnished them drink. Such abject love nacing attitude. We quietly make our preparations, of life I never witnessed. They not only kissed and have little fears of the result. The junks we the deck when brought over the side, but if per- could sink in ten minutes, and although the fort mitted would have embraced the feet of every man mounts upwards of one hundred heavy guns, yet on board. Their excess of joy was natural, for if they did not disable us at the first discharge, the night before, the English frigate had passed the passage would be effected, for the guns are imwithin pistol shot without perceiving them. Our bedded in stone, and by consequence, incapable of generous crew raised a handsome subscription for elevation, depression or range. An English frigate them, and when we landed them in their native once silenced the fort, and passed without material country, they were better off than when they left it. injury. It was a night action, and is represented Anchored in our old birth abreast of the island to have been a beautiful sight. Nearly every Chiof Lintin, with the same monotonous life, come nese soldier carried a lantern made of oil paper; the same petty vexations. Compelled to smuggle and when they were dispersed by the tremendous Our fresh provisions as heretofore, and to obtain fire of the ship, it seemed as if ten thousand igni

My heritage, the sea." And if, with the long lines of massive artillery; the deadly musket; the bristling bayonet; the sheen of the cutlass, and all the paraphranalia of war, ever before me, I should, under such circumstances, lose sympathy for my kind, will it not in charity be deemed the result of my forlorn situation?

fatui were flitting over the hill. Subsequently | slight impediment to a people wrought to a pitch another English frigate made the attempt and was of phrensy; but, unprovided with artillery, the high defeated with loss. We do not think that the au- walls presented an insuperable barrier. Venting thorities will drive us to extremities. Their object is evidently to extract money from us, which our commander is very properly determined not to suffer.

their impotent malice in execrations, the multitude turned unmolested away,—for the humane Governor would not permit a gun to be fired. Like infuriated demons, goaded to madness by disappointment, they roamed the streets, and assailing the habitations of the foreigners, indiscriminately murdered the inmates.

At the last moment, finding that we were not to be intimidated into terms, the authorities permitted our provisions to pass down, and we returned to our former anchorage. Soon after, we heard of a The head, now stiffened in its gore, and mutidreadful massacre of the foreigners at Manilla, and lated by many a missile, was borne from house to hastened there with all possible expedition. Unlike house before the multitude; the demoniac yell and similar accounts, the reality exceeded the report phrensied scream, proclaimed their purpose in adin the extent of the calamity and the horror of its vance. A large and massive building, solid in its details. It was thus accounted for. For several masonry, lofty and seemingly impregnable, for weeks, heavy and unusual rains had fallen, and the many hours withstood them. It had been used as river, turbid and swollen, overflowed its banks and a warehouse by a German firm; and to it, as to inundated the suburbs to the very walls of the city. an only shelter, some of the foreigners had rushed As the waters receded, the miasma from decom- on the first alarm. The capacious gateway openposing animal and vegetable matter, impregnated ing into the court was secured by a ponderous door the atmosphere;-added to which, the natives, as sheathed with iron, and fretted with innumerable was their wont, drank the impure water of the spikes. The windows-narrow apertures in the river, without filtering or permitting it to settle. thick walls-were protected by large and upright The consequence was, that the cholera, that direful bars of iron: The roof was tiled, and towered so scourge, as yet unknown to Europe and America, far above the adjoining houses, as to preclude all broke out in a most malignant form, and nurtured access to it. The multitude, as it recoiled from by the hot, moist atmosphere reeking with effluvia, the impetuous rush against the iron-spiked gate, it raged with violence, and daily swept its hundreds to the tomb. It is stated on good authority, that in one day fifteen hundred perished within the city and the suburbs. The ignorant and superstitious natives fancied that the foreigners poisoned the air and the water by means of impalpable powders.

yelled with vindictive fury. In a short time, nearly the whole of the native population, many pallid with disease, the marked victims of the pestilence-were gathered before and around that house. A portentous silence succeeded the previous uproar; for a consultation was held how to dislodge A young Frenchman, a physician by profession, the inmates. Among the strangers in the city skilful and benevolent, had devoted himself to the was Mr. Wilson, a Midshipman in our Navy, and care of the sick, and went about from house to a native of Richmond in Virginia. For the im house, giving advice and administering medicine provement of his health, he had come to Manilla, gratuitously. At one house, he left medicine to be and had accepted an invitation from our mess to given at stated times to three members of the return home with us. Himself and the captain of family in various stages of the cholera. The mo- a merchant ship were concealed a short distance ment he left the house, according to a preconcerted from the German warehouse; and when, from the plan, a dog was made to swallow the whole of the concentration of the people at one point, the streets medicine. As might have been expected, the dog seemed deserted, they rushed out with the purpose died. The word passed from mouth to mouth, and of seizing a boat and pulling for the captain's ship, the populace, convinced that the object of the which laid a short distance from the landing. L'aforeigners, who had all been active in their charity, fortunately, at an angle of a street they were inwas to destroy and not to save, raised a vindictive tercepted and borne in triumph to the square in shout, pursued, overtook and murdered the unfor- front of the beleaguered building. Their arrival tunate Frenchman. Placing the ghastly head of was hailed with shouts of savage joy, and a plan their victim upon a pole, they paraded the streets, was immediately concerted. It was proposed to gaining increase of numbers and of confidence at the inmates, that the officer, should be admitted in every step, and threatened not only the destruction company with two of the natives, to treat for the of the strangers, but of the Spanish soldiery and surrender of the house, and the safety of its inevery officer of the government. The signal gun habitants. was immediately fired, the towers of the Cathedral pealed the loud alarm, the drawbridge was hoisted, the portcullis let fall, and the garrison hastened to the ramparts. The broad moat, although immediately filled with water, would have been but a

Although but a short time in Manilla, Mr. Wilson had acquired enough of the language to comprehend the outlines of their plan, which, in the full belief of his ignorance, was discussed around him.

When the party within had acceded to, and were

about to comply with the proposition, Mr. Wilson | soon after drew his attention to the window, when called out and begged them not-telling them that he perceived the hook raised by some one beneath, those who were to accompany him would set fire and inserted between the bars. Instantly springto a quantity of bamboo known to be stowed in ing forward, he seized the hook, drew it in, and the lower story, and make their escape in the con- calling upon his unwounded comrade to assist him, fusion. Fortunately those immediately around he bore the point down against the massive sill of Mr. Wilson did not understand what he was saying the window;-and while the multitude without in time to interrupt him, but, when they gathered strained the rope with their exertions, he drew his its purport, their rage was unbounded. Himself knife, and still stooping, reached his hand and and companions were stabbed, hacked and trampled severed it. As the hook fell inwards, he sprung upon; their heads were severed from the bodies with a cleaver, and gory and defaced with dirt, were kicked about as foot-balls amid the yells, and shrieks, and mocking taunts, of the vindictive throng.

up exultingly, but it was a fatal movement,-for a ball, penetrating his right cheek, passed through the opposite temple, and he fell dead upon the floor.

A second attempt of the besiegers, made with a hook and chain proved more successful, and one of the bars was torn from its fastenings.

Not to prolong a dreadful tale, despite the despe

The besieged, unable to restrain themselves at the harrowing sight, fired a volley from seven or eight muskets, into the midst of the crowd. Al-rate exertions of the besieged, of whom at length, though each ball, in all probability proved fatal, the loss, instead of intimidating, roused the multitude to a higher pitch of relentless fury.

only three, beside the boy remained unwounded, a sufficient opening was made, and the building carried by assault. The man whose arm had been shatA number of the besiegers who had belonged to tered and hastily bound, had crawled down into the the native militia, were posted at the windows of court and laid beside the fountain. It seems that the houses on the street which ran in the rear of when the remaining defenders despaired of all the warehouse, whence vollies were discharged escape, that, against his will, (for he was bold and whenever one of the besieged was visible through spirited,) they had pushed the boy out, and bade the grated windows. Every description of lumber him save himself if he could. For some time he and rubbish was piled in the square in front, and a hesitated what to do, and lingered near the door, platform thereon erected, from the summit of which but when he heard the besiegers forcing an ena number of marksmen kept a constant fire on the trance through the window, he instinctively rushed besieged. Fiery arrows were discharged through down the stairway. As he gained the court, his the windows, and a ladder was procured and held eye, quickened with the love of life, caught sight perpendicularly against the wall. Up this ladder of the opening to the sewer which bore the filth was borne the end of a rope with a strong hook and surplus water to the river. Immediately raising attached. Ceasing to throw their arrows into this the grated top, he was about to let himself down, window, while it was watched more closely by the when he saw the poor gentleman bleeding beside musqueteers, the besiegers continued an uninter- the fountain. He ran to him, and entreating him rupted discharge into the others. The besieged to save himself, assisted him to reach and descend numbered nine men and a delicate boy thirteen the sewer. The gentleman almost stunned by the years of age, whose father was then at Canton. fall, was in turn urging the boy to hasten, when he They had entrusted the defence to a Mr. Moèller, exclaimed "O God! they are upon us," and inand he divided his force into two bodies: One, stantly replaced the cover. The next moment, he consisting of four men, he assigned to defend the was cut down, calling upon his father as he fell; rear, and himself with the remaining four and the but, considerate to the last, he dragged himself boy to the front. Well provided with arms, they across the sewer to conceal it, and as he stiffened, had not been idle, but, after the first rash discharge, the blood which oozed from his hopeless of negotiation, they had kept up an inces-upon the last survivor beneath. sant fire, and killed many of the besiegers. Since tleman remained all night in his dreary place of the erection of the platform, and the posting of the concealment, and when rescued the next day, he musqueteers in front and rear, they had been obliged was delirious with fever. When we saw him, he to keep within close shelter, and only from time to was perfectly well, but his arm had been amputated time, turn suddenly to the windows, discharge their just below the shoulder-joint. pieces and immediately retreat to cover.

wounds, dripped That poor gen

One other escaped almost miraculously. He was Mr. Moeller had returned from the rear of the an American gentleman, holding the situation of building, whither he had been drawn by the inces- Vice-Consul of the Russian Government. He had sant firing in that direction, when, on looking into been seized on the first outbreak of the insurrection. the first room on the front, where he had stationed As his captors were about dragging him from a two of his comrades, he found one of them dress- hut into which he had fled, one of them perceived ing the arm of another, which had been shattered an old man lying on a mat, in a state of collapse, above the elbow. The renewed noise without, and evidently about to die. He called the atten

tion of his comrades to him, and proposed that "el sympathy. When did man ever make such an Consulado" should be permitted to save his life, if appeal in vain ? he could preserve that of the old man. The proposition was repeated to those without, and the mob, partly from caprice, and in part perhaps, because the Consul had long been a resident among them, readily and loudly assented.

Besides the pursuit along the shore, there were by this time, many canoes upon the river, searching along the banks and among the piles of the houses. Concealing as well as she could, the broken appearance of the floor, the woman bade him lie down Unprovided with medicine and unskilled in its in a hammock stretched across the apartment, and use, if he possessed it, Mr. B. was left in the throwing a mat over him, she placed her child upon hut with the dying old man. The windows were it and commenced singing to it. secured, and an efficient guard placed outside, with strict injunctions from their comrades as they departed in quest of other victims, to put him to death, if the old man were not better in an hour.

The search continued for upwards of an hour; frequently the canoes would be immediately beneath, and occasionally, some of the pursuers looked into the apartment to inquire for the fugitive. At such times, the kind hearted woman would seemingly lean upon the hammock, to account for the apparent weight it bore.

In this manner, Mr. B. remained concealed until nightfall, his charitable preserver dreading every moment the return of her husband, who, maddened, she said, by the loss of a sister, breathed vengeance against the white man.

Left alone with the dying man, Mr. B. remained for some time in a state of stupor, scarce realizing his position. The house was one of those partly resting on piles, and extending a short distance into the river. While he sat brooding over his fate, he was roused by a splash of the water beneath, caused by the sportive gambol of a fish, which had risen to the surface. Starting up, he instantly conceived a plan of escape. Throwing At length, bidding him keep perfectly quiet, she aside his coat and hat, he hastily assumed the tunic slipped out, and shortly after returned in a canoe. of the old man, now in the last agony, and retiring Directed by her, he procured various articles about to the farthest end of the hut, he quickly but cau- the house, and descending by the aperture made tiously, tore up some of the bamboo flooring, and at his entrance, he stretched himself at length in silently let himself into the water. Holding on the canoe, in the manner of a corpse, while she by one of the piles, he perceived another house spread over him a shroud made of the light grassabout thirty yards distant, and beyond it many others, extending in a similar manner into the river. The streets appeared to be deserted, but he knew that if he were to land, even to the children his complexion would betray him, and an immediate hue and cry be raised. Sinking below the surface, he dived in the direction of the next house, and rising but a short distance from it, was enabled to reach it undetected.

cloth of the country. Pushing out from beneath the house, from a small brassero of ignited charcoal she lighted a torch, and placing it at his head, drew a black veil over her face, and slowly paddled down the river, chanting the hymn for the dead. They passed unmolested, although frequently obstructed as they neared the mouth of the river, which at this early hour of the night, was crowded with small coasting vessels, fishing boats and s great number of canoes.

In this manner, to the great alarm of the poor woman, by the time they arrived nearly abreast of the burial ground appropriated to the lower classes, there were no less than six canoes in their train.

He had in this manner, reached the fifth house, and clinging to a pile, was taking breath for another With the respect for the dead which is chadive, when a loud outcry up the river, told him racteristic of Catholic countries, all made way for that his escape was discovered. The mouth of the death-canoe, and many were the expressions the river was still three-fourths of a mile distant, of sympathy for the seeming widow. Now and and the alarm was spreading rapidly along the then, a canoe would turn and follow in their shore, the tumult gathering as it advanced. In- wake, its rowers taking up the monotonous chant. stinctively, and with an agility for which the fear of death could alone have accounted, he clambered up the pile, and desperately dashing his head through the thin bamboo flooring above, with a scarred and bleeding face, he gained a foothold in the apart- The woman having decided on her course, slackment. As he entered, a faint shriek rung in his ened her speed, and motioned the others to land ear, and a female form rushed past, but imme- before her. She then ran her canoe above the diately fell fainting on the floor. First securing rest, and whispering "Señor, save yourself,” she the door, he hastened to her assistance, and per- sprung to the shore. Pretending to slip as she ceived that she held a child in her arms. It was leaped, the canoe was pushed far into the stream, a young mother, who, in her alarm, had caught the while she disappeared behind the bank of the river. sick child, beside which she was watching, and The supposed corpse started up, and knocking the endeavored to make her escape. The cries of the torch overboard, struck out vigorously with the child, more than any efforts of his own, soon re-paddle, while the beholders precipitately fled, crying vived her, and he told his tale and besought her" el diablo! el diablo!"