Though the outbreak of 1868 was eventually suppressed, it left a legacy of bitter memories and still bitterer exactions. For, true to its policy of four centuries, Spain determined that it at least would not be a loser, and saddled the entire cost of the military operations, and nobody knows what else besides, on the unfortunate island, in the form of a debt amounting to about four hundred million dollars. Even this might have been tolerated had any attempt been made to establish an equitable system of government, because an era of prosperity set in which culminated in 1891, when the total exports were valued at no less than $100,000,000, and there was ample margin for interest on an inflated debt. But the rapacity of Catalan manufacturers, no less than of government officials, upset everything; and from the captain-general down to the humblest trader in Barcelona, all expected to pocket something out of the spoils of Cuba. Nor was the plunder limited to Spaniards. Despite the restrictions against trading by foreigners, adventurers of all nationalities managed to get a foothold in Havana, and corruption preyed on corruption. No one, in fact, was expected to be honest, and a stranger remarking upon the rascality prevailing in high places, would as likely as not be met with a shrug of the shoulders and the reply, Robamos todos, “We are all thieves.” CHAPTER XI THE PHILIPPINES THE FIRST JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD--FERDINAND MAGELLAN--THE MOLUCCAS--THE ISLANDS OF THE PAINTED FACES--MANILA AND THE CHINESE--THE BRITISH INVASION--SPANISH RULE While Spain was actively engaged in exploration and annexation in the west, Portugal was equally busy in the east. Though the Cape of Good Hope had been doubled by Diaz in 1486, it was not until 1497, five years after the discovery of America, that Vasco da Gama proved the possibility of reaching India by that route. Rapid progress, for those days at any rate, was made from that time. The actual neighborhood of the Cape apparently offered no attractions; the advantages of its situation were left to be realized by the Dutch a century later; and it was not until Natal was reached on Christmas day, whence its name, that there were any thoughts of annexation or settlement. It was the East Coast of Africa which seemed to offer the greatest facilities for communication and trading with the opposite shores of India, and claimed attention accordingly; and as numerous pilots were to be found there, skilled in navigating vessels across the Indian Ocean, it was there colonies were first established, one of which at least, and the only important one remaining to Portugal, Lorenzo Marques, has been the object of envy, and the source of much contention in recent years.