Gambling is carried to a great extent in Manilla: the game played is Monté. We visited one of their gambling houses. Winding our way down a dark and narrow street, we arrived at a porte-cochère. The requisite signal was given, the door opened cautiously, and after some scrutiny we were ushered up a flight of stairs, and entered a room, in the centre of which was a table, round which were a group, composed of every class. An Indian squaw was sitting by the side of a military officer, the one staking her annas, the other his doubloons. I stood by the side of an old Chinaman, who staked his doubloon and lost every time. The strictest silence was observed, and nothing was heard but the chinking of the dollars, and the occasional _à quien_ of the banker, who inquired the owner of the stakes. Every thing was conducted with the greatest order; when one man had lost all his money he would retire, and make room for another. The authorities of Manilla have made every effort to put a check to this demoralising practice, but without much success. It is universal, from the highest to the lowest, from the civilised to the most barbarous, over the whole of the Indian Archipelago. The Indians of the Phillippines are among the best favoured of the Asiatic islanders, but they are not reckoned so brave as the Malays. They are a quiet inoffensive race, clean and well shaped, and are all converted to the Catholic faith. Their principal amusement is cock-fighting, which, indeed, is carried to a great extent in all the islands. Every man in the streets has his fighting cock under his arm, and groups may be seen at all hours of the day, pitting their cocks and betting on the issue. The country about Manilla is very pretty, well cultivated, and studded with thriving villages. The Spanish possessions in this part of Luzon are confined to about twenty miles in every direction; the interior of the island being peopled with a race of savages who occasionally make incursions into the country, carrying away cattle or any thing else that they can lay their hands upon. I could obtain no particulars of these aborigines, except that they go nearly if not altogether naked.