the equator. In suitable localities, the fruit grows with little skill or care : it does
not sport into varieties like many other cultivated plants, and when grown at all the
fruit is always nearly equally good.
MANGROVE, the Rliizophora of botanists. The generic) name of this tree in Malay
is manggi-manggi, from which is probably taken our popular one, as well as the trivial
one of mangil used by botanists. One species of it goes under the name of kayu-api-api,
literally fire-wood, from its being used as fuel. This is the Rhizofera gymnorhiza. The
bark of the common or black mangrove, Rhizofera mangil, is used in tanning, and the
wood of one species for giving a red dye. The tree forms a striking feature in the
physical geography of the Archipelago, as it does, indeed, of all tropical countries,
for a belt of it, as deep as the reach of the tide, is always found wherever there is a
shallow and muddy shore. The tree which rises to the height of forty or fifty feet is
invariably found in such situations, constituting a dense, and almost impenetrable,
forest. Each tree stands on a cradle of its own roots from five or six feet high, bare
at low water, but at high water covered so as to give the appearance of trees growing
in the sea. The mangrove jungle is the favourite resort of mosquitos and alligators,
and affords a convenient and almost inaccessible retreat to the pirate.
MANILLA. The capital of the Philippines is the most ancient European town in
India, after Goa, and the largest, after Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. It is situated
on the eastern side of the spacious bay of the same name in the island of Luzon in
latitude 14° 36' north, and longitude 120° 52' east. I t lies at the mouth of the small
but rapid river, the Pasig, which after a course of thirty miles, discharges into the
sea the waters of the great lake of Bay. The city of Manilla consists of two parts,
a fortified town lying on the south or left bank of the river, and of suburbs on the
north or right bank, connected by a narrow but neat stone bridge of ten arches, about
200 Spanish fathoms in length. The circumference of the fortified town which has
the form of an irregular triangle, of which the sea forms one side, the land a second,
and the river the third, is 1234 Spanish fathoms, or 2288 English yards. The walls are
of solid masonry, and on the land and sea faces, have bastions with embrasures, and a
deep, broad ditch, double on the land side. On the river side, there is but a curtain with
a few weak bastions in barbette, while the river, not above two hundred fathoms broad,
has its opposite bank lined with houses of solid masonry, giving abundant shelter to an
assailant. I t has six gates, two to each face, all furnished with draw-bridges, except
one. The principal fortification is strengthened by several out-works, the chief of
which is the fort of San Ignacio at the mouth of the river, and forming the northwestern
angle of the works. The river, which forms the fosse on the northern side
of the fortifications, has a bar at its mouth, on which, at spring tides, there is a depth
of 10 or 11 feet. Besides the weakness of the fortifications on the river face, it is to
be observed that the largest ships of the line have sufficient depth of water to come
within two miles of them, and frigates within a mile. Manilla, therefore, although
impregnable against a native power, is defenceless against an European one having
the command of the sea.
The walled town or city consists of eight straight narrow streets, running in one
direction, with an equal number at right angles to them, and one small square.
Within its precincts are contained all the public buildings, such as the palaces of the
governor-general and archbishop, the town-house, the court of justice, the cathedral,
the arsenal, and the military barracks. The total population within the walls is
estimated at from 10,000 to 12,000.
The mass of the population is in the suburbs, and these are reckoned to have
130,000 inhabitants. The warehouses, shops, and manufactures, are all in these, and
all strangers reside in them. Outside the walls on the land side, there is a handsome
promenade consisting of an avenue of trees. In the same direction there is a spacious
and handsome burying-ground for the Catholic population, the most meritorious
public work of Manilla. Churches and convents abound, and it is thought that one-
third part of the area within the walls is occupied by the latter.
Manilla has more the character of an European town than any in India, but is by
no means distinguished for the beauty of its architecture. The most remarkable
building is the cathedral, equally distinguished for the ugliness of its exterior, and
the gorgeous richness of its inside. The original building was erected by Legaspi,
the conqueror of Luzon, and no time assuredly was lost by him, for this happened
in 1571, the very year of the conquest. His original rude structure was of bamboo,
thatched with palmetto leaf. Within seven years of its erection, the church was
raised to the dignity of a cathedral by Pope Gregory the 13th, on the petition of
Philip the Second. In due time it had been built of substantial materials, but in
this shape having been repeatedly destroyed by fire or earthquakes, the existing
structure was built in 1654, in the pontificate of Innocent the 10th. Some of the
private buiidings are large, hut not well-arranged : they consist of two storied houses
of solid materials, the upper one of which only is inhabited, the ground-floor being
frequently let as shops or warehouses. To the street fronts they are furnished with
a balcony, glazed with thin plates of mother-of-pearl shells in moveable panels, and
the walls are daubed with grotesque paintings in flaring colours, such as red, yellow,
and blue.
Manilla is a corporate town, having received a municipal form of administration
from its founder, Legaspi, in 1571, the very year of its foundation, and Philip the
Second having confirmed it three years after. The total population of the city
and suburbs is reckoned at 140,000, which makes it about half as large again as
Batavia, and about one-fourth of the size of Bombay. Its inhabitants are composed of
an extraordinary variety of races and nations, consisting of the five principal nations
of the Philippines, of Chinese, of Creole and mestizo Chinese, with Spaniards Creole
and mestizo; and representatives of all the commercial nations of Europe and
America. The most numerous class are the Tagalas, or Tagalogs, the nation in
whose territory the Spanish colony was planted. The Chinese with their descendants,
pure or mixed, are next in number. The Spaniards with their Creole descendants
are said not to exceed 5000, or one twenty-eighth of the whole inhabitants. These
are exempt from the capitation-tax, but the Chinese and their descendants, in common
with all natives of the country, are subject to it in one form or another. A few of the
genuine Chinese, and most of the mestizos of this nation, have embraced Christianity.
The different classes of inhabitants speak their own native tongues, and consequently,
there is no part of the world in which so great a diversity of languages prevails; not
even the Dutch and British settlements in the Archipelago. The Spanish language,
however, spoken with more or less purity, is the prevailing one in the city and its
immediate neighbourhood, while at a distance the predominant one is the Tagala.
The name of Manilla is that of the native town or village on the site of which the
Spaniards built the city, and which Legaspi, contrary to the usage of the Spaniards
in such cases, adopted. It is said, with some probability, to be composed of two
Tagala words, abbreviated by syncope. These are mairon, “ to be, or to exist,” and
nila, the name of a shrub growing among the mangroves, and which abounds on the
shore of the bay. The happy locality of Manilla, with its spacious bay, its good
anchorage, and its navigable river, communicating by a'brief course with the great
lake, did not fail to fix the early attention of the conquerors, and Legaspi performed
the ceremony of laying the foundation of the future city on the 15th of May, 1571,
almoss immediately after his arrival.
MANTAWI. This is a name given by the Malays to the people who inhabit the
islands on the western coast of Sumatra from the equator to the third degree of
south latitude, namely, Sibatu, Sibiru, Sipora and the two Pagais. Mr. Logan in his
account of Sumatra, estimates the area of all these islands at 6640 square miles, and
their population at 5000, which is less than one inhabitant to a square mile, and this
is probably its utmost amount. The people are rude, but simple and inoffensive,
and have not adopted the Mahommedanism of the opposite coast of Sumatra.
MARAPI. The name of a mountain of Sumatra, with an active volcano, as its
name, a derivative from api “ fire,” implies. I t is situated towards the south-western
side of the island, and ahout 27 miles south of the equator. Its height has heen
^reckoned at 9800 feet above the level of the sea.
MARAPI. The name of a mountain of Java, lying between the provinces of
bamarang and Kadoe to the north-west, and Pajang to the south. I t is an active
volcano, and rises to the height of 9250 feet above the level of the sea. There is no
record ot any great eruption of this mountain, although both its eastern and western
acclivities furnish abundant evidence of ancient ones. At present, many parts of it
are cultivated up to two-thirds of its height.
MARATUWA. The name of a considerable island on the eastern coast of Borneo,
m X g S i i S ^ i t y s 8 i S l i m d S “ a r e a ° f 3 3 6 g e ° S r a p M O a l S q u a r e
Tll.e name of a mountain of Java contiguous to th a t of Marapi,
.Wit^ 1* the western boundary of the great plain of Pajang, as the
mountain-chain of which Lawu is the principal, forms the eastern. It rises to the