Chapter XVII
Reading edition
EARLY HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES.
The Abolishment of the 31st of December, 1844, in Manila—The Mystery of the Meridian 180 Degrees West—What Is East and West?—Gaining and Losing Days—The Tribes of Native Filipinos—They Had an Alphabet and Songs of Their Own—The Massacre of Magellan—His Fate Like That of Captain Cook—Stories of Long-Ago Wars—An Account by a Devoted Spanish Writer of the Beneficent Rule of Spain in the Philippines—Aguinaldo a Man Not of a Nation, But of a Tribe—Typhoons and Earthquakes—The Degeneracy of the Government of the Philippines After It Was Taken from Mexico—"New Spain"—The Perquisites of Captain-Generals—The Splendor of Manila a Century Ago