Manila has a cathedral of the seventeenth century, an Archbishop’s palace, a university school of art, an observatory, a large government cigar factory, and many educational and charitable institutions. There are some 4,000 horses in the city, used for carriages and street cars. Buffaloes are employed for dray and other heavy work. On February 6, 1898, Manila suffered from a severe fire, and it is interesting to note that the city would have been lost had it not been for the excellent service of a fire engine which had been imported from the United States. Iloilo, the chief town of the populous province of the same name, in the Island of Panay, is situated in latitude 10 degrees 48 minutes W., near the southeastern extremity of the island, and 250 miles from Manila. The harbor is well protected and the anchorage good. At spring tides, the whole town is covered with water, but notwithstanding this it is a very healthy place, there being always a breeze. It is much cooler in Iloilo than in Manila. The means of communication with the interior are very inadequate, and retard the development of the port. The principal manufacture is pineapple cloth. The country around Iloilo is very fertile and is extensively cultivated, sugar, tobacco, and rice being grown, and there are many towns in the vicinity that are larger than the port. Cebu, the capital of the island of this name, was at one time the seat of the administration of revenue for the whole of the Visayas. It is well-built and possesses fine roads. The trade is principally in hemp and sugar. Other towns are Laog, with a population (1887) of 30,642; Banang, 35,598; Batangas, 35,587, and Lipa, 43,408. The principal mineral productions are gold, galena, copper, iron, mercury and coal. Extensive auriferous ore deposits have been opened up, and they are known to exist in many of the islands, chiefly in Luzon, Bengues, Vicols and Mindanao. Very little exploration or systematic mining has been attempted, but it is said that there is no brook that empties into the Pacific Ocean, whose sand and gravel does not at least pan the color of gold. Heavy nuggets are sometimes brought down from the sierras. Galena (50 per cent of pure metal) is found in veins in Luzon and Cebu. Copper has been discovered in many parts of the Philippines. Iron—from 75 to 80 per cent. pure metal—is known to exist in Luzon. The coal found up to the present time is not true coal, but lignite; but it is probable true coal will be found, as the mountains of Japan abound in that mineral, and the geological formation in both groups seems to be the same. Hemp (abaca), the most important product of the archipelago, is the fiber of a species of banana, and is produced by scraping the leaves with a peculiar knife, which requires expert handling. Improved machinery will vastly increase the profit of this product. Thread is spun from the fiber, and cloth is woven that excels in fineness the best Tussore silk.