Nearly the whole of the produce of the Philippines is exported from Manilla by the foreign merchants resident there, none of the Spaniards being engaged in commerce to anything like the same extent as the foreigners are; the few British and the two American houses doing an immensely greater amount of business than the whole transactions of all the Spanish merchants, numerous though they be. The trade of my countrymen consists principally in selling cotton manufactured goods, and in purchasing the produce of the islands for export; while the business of the Americans, who sell few goods, consists almost entirely in purchasing produce for the markets of the United States, and elsewhere. The Chinese are also large importers of their country's manufactures, curiosities, and nick-knacks, and also very considerable exporters. The statistical data embodied in the following tables will inform the reader pretty exactly of the amount of exports from the Philippines, with the exception of the single article of rice, immense quantities of which are carried over to China by Spanish ships, which load it at the districts where it is grown; for as the Government charge no export duty on its exportation in ships bearing the national flag, they are allowed to depart from the general rule of all vessels being obliged to load at Manilla while shipping cargo for foreign ports, if they are merely taking rice on board, and nothing else. It is right, however, to inform the reader, that although the subjoined table may approach very nearly to the truth in most respects, as it has been gradually and very carefully collected by the largest British mercantile establishment at Manilla, the nature of whose business requires that they should be as well acquainted with all facts such as the table embraces, as from the nature of existing circumstances there it is possible to be, yet at that place there is at all times a greater or less degree of difficulty in obtaining correct statistical information of the trade; and this is considerably increased by the Government not choosing to communicate the particulars they collect at the Custom-house, erroneous though they be.