are certain islands of Asia, which lie between 114° and 126° degrees of east longitude, and between 6° and 20° degrees of north latitude; about 300 miles south east of China. They are said to be about 1200 in number, of which there are 400 very considerable. They form a principal division of that immense Indian Archipelago, which consists of so many thousand islands, some of which are the largest, and many of them the richest, in the world. The Philippines form the northernmost cluster of these islands, and were discovered in the year 1521 by the famous navigator Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese gentleman, who had served his native country both in the wars of Africa and in the East Indies; particularly under Albuquerque, the famous Portuguese general, who reduced Goa and Malacca to the obedience of that crown. Magellan having had a considerable share in those actions, and finding himself neglected by the government of Portugal, and even denied, as it is said, the small advance of a ducat a month in his pay, left the court of Portugal in disgust, and offered his services to Charles V. then emperor of Germany and king of Spain, whom he convinced of the probability of discovering a way to the Spice Islands, in the East Indies, by the west; whereupon the command of five small ships being given him, he set sail from Seville, on the 10th of August 1519, and standing over to the coast of South America, proceeded southward to 52°, where he fortunately hit upon a strait, since called the Strait of Magellan, which carried him into the Pacific Ocean or South Sea; and then steering northward, repassed the equator; after which, he stretched away to the west, across that vast ocean, till he arrived at Guam, one of the Ladrones, on the 10th of March 1521; and soon after sailed to the westward, and discovered the Philippines, which he did on St Lazarus's day; and, in honour of that saint, he called them the Archipelago of St Lazarus. He took possession of them in the name of the king of Spain, but happened to be killed in a skirmish he had with the natives of one of them. His people, however, Philippine however, arrived afterwards at the Moluccas, or Clove Islands, where they left a colony, and returned to Spain by the way of the Cape of Good Hope; being the first persons that ever sailed round the globe.

But there was no attempt made by the Spaniards to subdue or plant the Philippine Islands until the year 1564, in the reign of Philip II., son of Charles V., when Don Louis de Velasco, viceroy of Mexico, sent Michael Lopez Delagafes thither with a fleet, and a force sufficient to make a conquest of these islands, which he named the Philippines, in honour of Philip II., then upon the throne of Spain; and they have remained under the dominion of that crown till taken by Sir William Draper. The Philippines are scarce inferior to any other islands of Asia in all the natural productions of that happy climate; and they are by far the best situated for an extensive and advantageous commerce. By their position, they form the centre of intercourse with China, Japan, and the Spice Islands; and whilst they are under the dominion of Spain, they connect the Asiatic and American commerce, and become a general magazine for the rich manufactures of the one and for the treasures of the other. Besides, they are well situated for a supply of European goods, both from the side of Acapulco and by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. In fact, they formerly enjoyed a traffic in some degree proportioned to the peculiar felicity of their situation; but the Spanish dominion is too vast and unconnected to be improved to the best advantage.

The spirit of commerce is not powerful in that people. The trade of the Philippines is thought to have declined; its great branch is now reduced to two ships, which annually pass between these islands and Acapulco in America, and to a single port of Manila in the island of Luconia.

Indeed the Spaniards appear by no means to be actuated by the spirit of industry; for, so far from improving the fine situation of these islands to the utmost, it happens, on the contrary, that the trade is hurtful to the mother-country; for (to confine ourselves to Manila, with which they have most to do), instead of taking Spanish manufactures, they trade with the Chinese for spices, silks, stockings, Indian stuffs, calicoes, chintz, and many other articles; and with the Japanese for cabinets, and all sorts of lacquered ware; for all which they pay in gold or silver. All these commodities, together with what the islands produce, and great quantities of wrought plate by the Chinese artisans, are collected at Manila, and transported annually in two ships to Acapulco in Mexico. Each of these ships is esteemed worth £600,000 Sterling; and in the war which began in 1739, and which was not distinguished by such a series of wonderful successes as that which ended in 1763, the taking of one of the galleons which carry on the trade between Manila and America, was considered as one of the most brilliant advantages which we gained. This trade is not laid open to all the inhabitants of Manila, but is confined by very particular regulations, somewhat analogous to those by which the trade of the register ships from Cadiz to the West Indies is restrained. The Philippine ships employed are all king's ships, commissioned and paid by him; and the tonnage is divided into a certain number of bales, all of the same size. These are divided among the convents at Manila, but principally the Jesuits (A), as a donation to support their missions, for the propagation of the Roman Catholic faith. Most of the religious are concerned in this trade, and sell to the merchants at a great price what room in the ship they are not to occupy. This trade is by a royal edict limited to a certain value, but it always exceeds it, each ship being generally worth 3,000,000 dollars. The returns made from America are in silver, cochineal, sweetmeats, together with some European millinery ware for the women, and some strong Spanish wine. It is obvious, that the greatest part of the treasure remitted does not remain at Manila, but is dispersed over India for goods. Many strong remonstrances against this Indian trade to Mexico have been made to the court of Spain, wherein they urge, that the silk manufactories of Valencia and other parts of Spain, the linens from Cadiz, and their other manufactories, are hurt in their sale in Mexico and Peru, by the Chinese being able to afford them goods of the same sort cheaper than they are able; that were this trade laid open, the whole treasure of the New World would centre in Spain, or with European merchants; but now it enriches only the Jesuits and a few private persons. Wise as these arguments are, the Jesuits and priests, versant in intrigue, and the most selfish set of men on earth, had interest enough at court to stop the effect.

At Cavite in this bay are a fort, a town, and a fine dock-yard, where these large galleons are built and repaired, and where they load and unload, together with all the other large ships that trade to this bay.

The principal of the Philippine islands are Luconia or Manila, Tandago or Samul, Malabate, Mindoro, Luban, Paragaoa, Panay, Leyte, Bohel, Sibu, Sogbu, Negros, St John, Xolo, and Mindanao. In most of these, the Spanish power prevails, and all are under the governor of Luconia; but there are some in which that nation has little authority, or even influence, such as Mindanao.

The inhabitants of these islands consist of Chinese, Ethiopians, Malays, Spaniards, Portuguese, Pintados or Painted People, and Melites, a mixture of all these. Their persons and habits resemble those of the several nations whence they derive their original; only, it is observable, that the features of the blacks of these islands are as agreeable as those of the white people. There is not a soil in the world that produces greater plenty of all things for life; as appears by the multitude of inhabitants to be found in the woods and mountains, who subsist almost entirely by the fruits of the earth, and the venison they take. Nor can any country appear more beautiful; for there is a perpetual verdure, and buds, blossoms, and fruit, are found upon the trees all the year round, as well on the mountains as in the cultivated gardens. Vaft quantities

(A) We do not know who has the Jesuits share since they were expelled the Spanish dominions. ties of gold are washed down from the hills by the rains, and found mixed with the sand of their rivers. There are also mines of other metals, and excellent lead-stones found here; and such numbers of wild buffaloes, that a good huntman on horseback, armed with a spear, will kill 10 or 20 in a day. The Spaniards take them for their hides, which they sell to the Chinese; and their carcasses serve the mountaineers for food. Their woods also abound with deer, wild hogs, and goats. Of the latter, there is such plenty in one of these islands, that the Spaniards gave it the name of Cabra. Horses and cows have been likewise imported into these islands, from New Spain, China, and Japan, which have multiplied considerably; but the sheep that were brought over came to nothing. The trees produce a great variety of gums; one kind, which is the commonest, by the Spaniards called breu, is used instead of pitch; of the others some are medicinal, others odoriferous.

In these islands are monkeys and baboons of a monstrous bigness, that will defend themselves if attacked by men. When they can find no fruit in the mountains, they go down to the sea to catch crabs and oysters; and that the oysters may not close and catch their paws, they first put in a stone to prevent their shutting close: they take crabs by putting their tail in the holes where they lie, and when the crab lays hold of it, they draw him out. There are also great numbers of civet-cats in some of the islands. The bird called tawon, is a black sea-fowl, something less than a hen, and has a long neck; it lays its eggs in the sand by the sea-side, 40 or 50 in a trench, and then covers them, and they are hatched by the heat of the sun. They have likewise the bird falagan, which builds her nest on the sides of rocks, as the swallows do against a wall; and these are the delicious birds' nests so much esteemed, being a kind of jelly that dissolves in warm water.

The Spaniards have introduced several of the American fruits, which thrive here as well as in America; the cocoa or chocolate-nut particularly, which increases so that they have no occasion now to import it from Mexico. Here is also the Fountain-Tree, from which the natives draw water; and there is likewise a kind of cane, by the Spaniards called waxco, which, if cut, yields fair water enough for a draught, of which there are plenty in the mountains, where water is most wanted.

These islands being hot and moist, produce abundance of venomous creatures, as the soil does poisonous herbs and flowers, which do not kill those who touch or taste them, but so infect the air, that many people die in the time of their blossoming.

The orange, lemon, and several other trees, bear twice a year. A sprig, when planted, becomes a tree and bears fruit in a year's time; so that without any hyperbole it may be affirmed, that a more luxuriant verdant foil can scarcely be conceived. The woods are filled with old, large, and lofty trees, and such as yield more sustenance to man than is to be found in almost any other part of the world. These islands, however, besides their other inconveniences, of which they have many, are very subject to earthquakes, which often prove very fatal. See Manila.