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THE PHILIPPINES.
woollen, $180,103; silk, $281,996; and other fabrics (coarse) $365,621. In 1878 the value of the imports was $17,292,847, and that of the exports $17,470,305, against imports $19,535,864 and exports $16,362,444 in 1877. The total amount of customs and port dues collected in 1878 was $1,529,669. There entered the different ports with cargoes 331 vessels of 192,302 tons (Spanish), and 106 vessels of 106,689 tons in ballast; and left with cargoes 403 vessels of 267,946 tons, and 37 vessels of 30,920 tons in ballast. The returns of the carrying trade show the curious fact of the carrying of imports being nearly monopolised by the flag of one nation, while that of the exports is tolerably equally distributed. This is accounted for by the differential duties in favour of goods imported in Spanish bottoms, most of the imports being therefore carried under the panish flag. The vessels which carry the exports arrive for the most part in ballast from Hongkong or other ports in the East where they have discharged a cargo. The following is a summary of the value of the trade, taken from the Customs Returns for 1878:-
Spain
Spanish Possessions
England
English Possessions
Jolo
China
...
Imports. $ 756,397 1,.96
F xports. $1,000,601
4,180,55
5,029,413
9,440,600
5,102,>69
7,055
52,688
1,390,719
154,720
Japan...
Germany
United States
Dutch Possessions
French
do.
Australia
Italy
Siam
328,007
219.908
133,72:
5,647,181
183,448
82,36:
271,972
136,750
8,315
263,720
65
441,088
The subjoined statistics show the distribution of the carrying trade :--
Spanish flag
English flag
American flag...
...
German flag...
French flag
Dutch flag
Norwegian flag
Danish flag
Italian flag
Austrian flag
Portuguese flag
Imports. $13,673,433
Exports.
$4,089,687
2,428,338
8,155,294
173,437
3,460,118
713.226
771,640
217.191
302,007
16,1-6
62, 0
106,160
7.401
702
512,656
67,149
133
5,594
The climate of the Philippines varies little from that of other places in the same latitude. The range of the thermometer during the year is from a little over sixty degrees to about ninety. The rainy season usually lasts six months and during this time inundations of rivers are frequent and travelling in the interior almost impossible. Long continued droughts, however, sometimes occur, when the ground becomes parched and the crops are utterly destroyed. Husbandry also suffers from the ravages of locusts, which will sometimes almost entirely denude a whole province of herbage. The principal part of the group comes within the range of the typhoons, and terrific storms are of frequent occurrence. The islands are also the centre of great volcanic action. "The destructive ravages and changes produced by earth- quakes," says Sir John Bowring, writing in 1859, "are nowhere more remark- able than in the Philippines. They have overturned mountains, they have filled up valleys, they have desolated extensive plains; they have opened passages for the sea into the interior, and from the lake into the sea. There are many tradi- tional stories of these territorial revolutions, but of late disasters the records are trustworthy. That of 1796 was sadly calamitous. In 1824 many churches in Manila were destroyed, together with the principal bridge, the barracks, great numbers of private houses; and a chasm opened of nearly four miles in length. The inhabitants
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