There are six gates to the city, two on each face: those on the land side have neat stone bridges over the outer ditch, which are not mined, and, being of solid masonry, would be found cumbersome in case of an attack. The inner ones, and those on the sea side, are of wood or stone pillars with drawbridges. The ditches are wide and deep, but much encumbered with mud and weeds, from which last the fortifications also have suffered. The bastions on the sea and land sides are in many places without embrasures, the guns being "en barbette." [127] The shore is not very flat, and will perhaps allow a frigate to lay within gunshot of the ramparts. Within the walls of the city is the cathedral, the inside of which is very handsome, though the exterior is destitute of all symmetry, and seems to have been intended as a contrast to the majestic architecture of the interior. The governor's palace resembles a decent barn or warehouse, both externally and internally. It is large, dirty, and ill distributed, the basement being used as a prison. The Cabildo, or Town House, is a handsome building, and the only one in the country which has any pretensions to symmetry, of which the architects of the Phillippines take every opportunity of shewing a sovereign contempt:--so much so, that it is rare to find even the doors and windows, or the angles of a room, correctly placed and laid out! These three buildings form three sides of a small square, the only one in the city, of about 100 yards on each side, the fourth side being occupied by private houses. In the centre is a handsome pedestal of reddish marble, on which no statue has yet been placed. [128] The streets of the city are narrow and dirty; and the middle being a hollow, in rainy weather forms a continued puddle. They are paved at the sides with granite from China, the stone in the immediate neighbourhood of Manila being too soft. The pavement is not in good repair, and in some streets only occupies one side; the other, which is generally occupied by a large house, or the wall of a convent, being heaped up with dirt, rendered solid by long accumulation, and forming a hill against the wall, the receptacle of.... This is not confined to bye-lanes, but is most common in the great square (Plaza Constitucional) in front of the cathedral! [129] The city and suburbs are well lighted, and the European quarters of the last are cleaner than the city. The convents, which occupy nearly one third of the whole area of the city! are more distinguished for their size and massy architecture, than for their beauty. The church and convent of St. Augustine, and that of the Jesuits (now fast falling to decay), are, however, neat and well built. That of San Domingo is the most extensive.