Directory_and_Chronicle_1881 — Page 427

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THE PHILIPPINES.

413.

the imports was $18,031,547, and that of the exports $18,813,452, against imports $17,292,847 and exports $17,470,305 in 1878. The total amount of customs dues. collected in 1879 was $1,224,357. There entered the different ports with cargoes. 354 vessels of 223,566 tons (Spanish), and 104 vessels of 93,503 t ns in ballast; and left with cargoes 414 vessels of 280,781 tons, and 64 vessels of 44,911 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 nature of the arrange- ments made by the Government with certain subsidised steamship lin s. The vessels which carry the xports 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 1879:-

Spain

Spanish Possessions

England

English Possessions

Jolo

China

Japan

Germany

United States

Dutch Possessions

France

French Possessions

Australia

Siam

Imports. $ 789,722 1, 49 3,197,547 11,589,081 2,808 1,118,692

57,7-4

xports. $1,034,655

5,212,105

7,075,543

37,725

102,204

36,910

3 3,563

220,518

4,904,137

39,813

55,451

140,108

643,882

3,405

33,318

211,140

3,070

The subjoined statistics show the distribution of the carrying trade:-

Imports. $11,149,677

Spanish flag

English flag

American flag

German flag...

French flag

Dutch flag

Norwegian flag

Danish flag

Italian flag

Swedish flag

Siamese flag

Exports.

$5,524,239

5,615,267

7,958,360

212,231

3,366,987

813,963

1,176,972

78.948

19,777

8,027

214,851 3,750 188,188

70,788

49.471

10,205

3,193

87

259.185

117,405

2,436

The climate of the Philippines varies little from that of other places in the same latitude. The rang 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 all fled into the fields, and six vessels in the port were wrecked. The number of victims was never ascertained. In 1828, during another earthquake, the vibration of

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