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.
In an underhand way, however, these particulars can be obtained from
some of the Indian copyists employed in that establishment, if they
are paid for it; and, in fact, they are in the habit of communicating a
note of the different cargoes of ships coming in, or going away loaded,
to some of the merchants. Yet these notes are nearly always more or
less erroneous, from various causes. To obviate these inconveniences,
several of the principal export merchants are in the habit of mutually
furnishing each other with a correct statement of the various cargoes
they ship; but still, as there are many exporters besides themselves,
some degree of error must pervade even their carefully-gleaned
information. But there is one thing to be borne in mind, that the
following table is most likely to be considerably under the truth,
and certainly is not over it.
General Statement of Exports from Manilla during 1850.
---------------+--------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+-------+----------------
| To | To the | To the | To | To | To | To |
| Great |Continent|Australian| China. |Singapore|California|United |
|Britain.| of | Colonies | | Batavia,| and the |States.| Total
| | Europe. | | |& Bombay.| Pacific. | |
---------------+--------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+-------+----------------
Sugar | 146,926| 50,830 | 142,359 | -- | 12,749 | 29,144 | 77,919|459,927 peculs.
Hemp | 16,073| 5,568 | -- | -- | 544 | -- |102,184|124,367 "
Cordage | 96| 476 | 3,753 | 1,732 | 680 | 2,137 | 210| 9,084 "
Cigars | 10,319| 11,867 | 12,561 | 9,262 | 26,859 | 1,707 | 914| 73,439 mil.
Leaf Tobacco | -- | 42,629 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 42,629 quintals
Sapan-wood | 37,068| 14,436 | -- | 18,942 | 17,337 | -- | 9,015| 96,798 arrobas.
Coffee | 165| 9,670 | 1,481 | 100 | 250 | 1,072 | 2,063| 14,801 peculs
Indigo | 259| 213 | -- |uncertain| -- | -- | 3,753| 4,225 quintals
Hides | 3,340| 213 | -- | 1,069 | -- | -- | -- | 4,622 peculs.
Hide Cuttings | -- | -- | -- | 536 | -- | -- | 2,419| 2,955 "
Mother-of-pearl| | | | | | | |
Shell | 820| 338 | -- | -- | 260 | -- | 74| 1,492 "
Tortoise-shell | 2,081| 580 | -- | 555 | 1,912 | -- | 469| 5,597 catties.
Rice | -- | 6,576 | -- |uncertain| -- | 1,467 | -- |Uncertain.
Beche de Mer | -- | -- | -- | 4,348 | -- | -- | -- | 4,348 peculs.
Gold Dust | -- | -- | -- | 5,068 | -- | -- | -- | 5,068 taels.
Camagon, or | | | | | | | |
Ebony-wood | 235| 1,213 | -- | 794 | -- | -- | -- | 2,242 peculs.
Grass-cloth | 175| 13,252 | -- | 500 | -- | 650 | 22,975| 37,552 pieces.
Hats | -- | -- | 9,400 | 5,115 | 9,115 | 500 | 25,870| 50,000 hats.
---------------+--------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+-------+----------------
The quantity of rice and paddy shipped to China from the provinces
cannot be ascertained with any degree of exactness; what goes from
Manilla is very small, because, before arriving there, it has, by its
transport expenses, added to the price at which it is obtainable in
the districts where it is produced, which, of course, prevents its
being shipped from the capital. At a guess, however, I should suppose
that about a million cavans, each of which, one with another, weighs
about a China pecul, or 133 1/3 lbs, is an average yearly export,
should the Government not prohibit the article from being exported
for a longer period than usual, which is annually regulated by the
scarcity or abundance of food in the country.
From the preceding table, the reader will observe that the exports
of 1850, when compared with those of 1847, of which the following is
a statement, have increased in some respects, and fallen off in others.
Statement of Exports from Manilla during 1850.
---------------+--------+---------+-------+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+----------------
| To | To the |To the | To the | To the | To | To | To |
| Great |Continent|United | Pacific |Australian| China. |Singapore.|Batavia.|
|Britain.| of |States.| and |Colonies. | | | | Total
| | Europe. | |California.| | | | |
---------------+--------+---------+-------+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+----------------
Sugar |104,246 | 18,755 | 92,149| 4,150 | 174,777 | -- | -- | -- |394,077 peculs.
Hemp | 16,592 | 2,438 | 98,440| -- | -- | 300 | 1,888 | -- |119,658 "
Cordage | 20 | 546 | 7,038| 404 | 4,430 | 825 | 1,425 | -- | 14,688 "
Indigo | 58 | 78 | 2,166| -- | -- | 149 | 118 | -- | 2,569 quintals
Sapan-wood | 12,055 | 11,960 | 28,891| -- | 160 | 5,210 | 18,814 | 1,817 | 78,907 peculs.
Hides | 1,366 | 183 | 1,821| -- | -- | 2,389 | -- | -- | 5,759 "
Hide Cuttings | -- | -- | 1,893| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1,893 "
Gold Dust | -- | -- | -- | 3,970 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3,970 taels.
Coffee | -- | 9,244 | 395| -- | 4,267 | -- | -- | -- | 13,906 peculs.
Rice | 23,760 | 4,520 | -- | 300 | 772 |uncertain| 875 | -- |Uncertain.
Paddy | 1,870 | 13,978 | -- | -- | -- |uncertain| -- | -- |Ditto.
Cigars | 16,010 | 11,176 | 548 | 787 | 9,674 | 6,706 | 19,169 | 5,943 | 70,013 mil.
Leaf Tobacco | 5,440 | 115,016 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5,280 | -- |125,733 arrobas.
Mother-of-Pearl| | | | | | | | |
Shell | 708 | 92 | -- | -- | -- | 16 | -- | -- | 816 peculs.
Grass-cloth | -- | -- | 56,171| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 56,171 pieces.
Hats | -- | -- | 1,600| -- | 10,932 | -- | 5,560 | -- | 18,092 hats.
---------------+--------+---------+-------+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+----------------
The quantity of hemp shipped during the years 1848 and 1849, was
greater than the quantity indicated in either of these tables, but
as the increased export was principally caused by speculation in
the United States, the average annual export may probably not be
greater than the amount set down in the table of 1850, although,
in the previous year, about 30,000 peculs more were shipped.
Of the exports to the continent of Europe only a small proportion
goes to Spain, probably not exceeding a third part of the quantities
set down in the table for the continent.
Bremen, Hamburg, and Antwerp, are the three towns in the north
with which most business is done, and Bordeaux and Havre de Grâce,
are nearly the only places to which the other exports are shipped
for Europe, exclusive of the ports of Cadiz, Malaga, and Bilboa,
in the Peninsula.
Having furnished the preceding tables of the amount of the exports
from the only outlet for foreign trade with the islands, excepting in
rice to China, as before mentioned, the reader may be able to form
some opinion of their veracity and value. And as it may be of some
service, I shall give a short sketch of each of the most important
of the articles there set down, premising it with a memorandum of the
weights and measures now in use through the islands. The pecul is equal
to 140 lbs. English, or 137 1/2 lbs. Spanish; the Spanish lb. being
two per cent. heavier than the standard British lb. The quintal is
102 lbs. English, and the arroba 25 1/2 lbs. English. The cavan is a
measure of the capacity of 5,998 cubic inches, and is subdivided into
25 quintas. The Spanish yard, or vara, is eight per cent. shorter
than the British yard, by which latter all the cotton and other
manufactures are sold by the merchants importing them, although the
shopkeepers who purchase them retail everything by the Spanish yard.