Curiously enough, foundry work is not much done by Tagals, although when Legaspi arrived in Luzon he not only found cannon mounted at Manila, but there was a cannon-foundry there, and another at Tondo. There are foundries at the latter place to this day belonging to Chinese half-castes, but church bells are more to their way now than cannon. They, however, cast small brass mortars with handles like quart pots, which are used for firing salutes at the feasts of the church. But I think most of the workmen were then, and are now, Chinese. They make their own gunpowder, and fireworks of all kinds. They are inordinately fond of these, and get up very creditable displays. They are careless in handling them, and I was eye-witness of an explosion of fireworks during a water fête, on the passing in front of the governor's palace at Malacañan, when a number of people were killed. I never learned how many had perished, and the newspapers were forbidden to enlarge upon it. Excellent carriages are built in Manila entirely by native labour, the carromatas, or two-wheeled vehicles used for travelling, being made in the suburbs, or in Malabon. Carriage-building is an important trade, for an incredible number of vehicles of all sorts are used in Manila. Of an evening, in the Luneta, some hundreds may be seen, and on one occasion, at the races of the Jockey Club in Santa Mesa, two thousand vehicles were reported to be present. Painting and decorating is executed by Manila men in excellent style. This art was taught them by Alberoni, and other Italians. Their pupils have covered the walls of many buildings with frescoes in the Italian style, very fairly done. There is much scope for their art in decorating altars and shrines. The Tagals also show some talent for sculpture, as any visitor to Manila can see for himself by inspecting the Jesuit Church, which is a marvel of patient artistic labour, having taken eleven years to construct. Some of the carving there, however, is so delicate and minutely detailed, that it appears more suitable for a show case in a museum than for the adornment of a place of worship. Of course, every detail of design is due to the Jesuits themselves, amongst whom talented men of every profession can be found. As a fisherman, the Tagal excels, and the broad expanse of Manila Bay, some 700 square miles in area, gives ample scope for his ingenuity. He practises every kind of fishing Corrales de Pesca, or fish-stakes within the five-fathom line, casting nets and seines in the shallow water, huge sinking nets attached to bamboo shear-legs mounted on rafts in the estuaries, drift nets and line-fishing in the deeper parts of the bay.