our expectation of intercepting the galleon before her arrival at Acapulco; but we learned other circumstances which still revived our hopes, and which, we then conceived, would more than balance the opportunity we had already lost. For though our negro prisoners* informed us that the galleon arrived at Acapulco on our 9th of January, which was about twenty days before we fell in with this coast, yet they at the same time told us that the galleon had delivered her cargo and was taking in water and provisions for her return, and that the Viceroy of Mexico had by proclamation fixed her departure from Acapulco to the 14th of March, New Style. (*Note. Three negroes in a fishing canoe had been captured by the Centurion's barge off Acapulco harbour.) This last news was most joyfully received by us, as we had no doubt but she must certainly fall into our hands, and as it was much more eligible to seize her on her return than it would have been to have taken her before her arrival, as the specie for which she had sold her cargo, and which she would now have on board, would be prodigiously more to be esteemed by us than the cargo itself, great part of which would have perished on our hands, and no part of it could have been disposed of by us at so advantageous a mart as Acapulco. Thus we were a second time engaged in an eager expectation of meeting with this Manila ship, which, by the fame of its wealth, we had been taught to consider as the most desirable prize that was to be met with in any part of the globe. CHAPTER 22. THE Manila* TRADE. (*Note. The capital of Luzon, the chief island of the Philippine group. The Philippines were discovered in 1521 by Magellan, who was killed there by the natives. They were annexed by Spain in 1571 and were ceded to the United States of America in 1898, together with Cuba, after the brave but futile attempt of the Spaniards to preserve what were almost the last relics of their colonial dominions.) The trade carried on from Manila to China, and different parts of India, is principally for such commodities as are intended to supply the kingdoms of Mexico and Peru. These are spices; all sorts of Chinese silks and manufactures, particularly silk stockings, of which I have heard that no less than 50,000 pairs were the usual number shipped on board the annual ship; vast quantities of Indian stuffs--as calicoes and chintzes, which are much worn in America; together with other minuter articles--as goldsmith's work, etc., which is principally done at the city of Manila itself by the Chinese, for it is said there are at least 20,000 Chinese who constantly reside there, either as servants, manufacturers, or brokers. All these different commodities are collected at Manila, thence to be transported annually in one or more ships to the port of Acapulco. THE Manila SHIP.