A pleasant morning, though it looks as though it would rain before night I was up on deck early, and it was a pleasant prospect, I assure you. The Cavite (where ships usually anchor in the south-west monsoons) on one side and Manila on the other. The caseos look quite lively, with the natives going about from one to another. These caseos are dug out of trees, and have a covering of bamboo, under which the family live. In one the wife was rowing. I should not have known her to be a woman at first, as she had on nothing but trousers. The men are merely covered about the middle. I did not like their looks as much as the Malays. Their faces are not so intelligent. Manila looks pleasant from the Bay. It is a walled city, and we can bear the beating of the drums from the shore where the troops are stationed. After being examined by the custom-house officers and going through a variety of ceremonies, the gentlemen left us, and went on shore to seek accommodations. We were rather lonely till the captain returned about three. He brought the dreadful news of the death of Mr. Forbes and Mr. Monson, lost in a gale of wind in going from Macao to Canton. Uncle could not come off, as he was obliged to wait till late to get a permit for our baggage, and then the sea was too heavy.
