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Updated: June 7, 2025
On the twenty-eighth, Good Friday, there was a fire in Binondo and part of Tondo; and one thousand two hundred and sixty houses were destroyed two hundred and fifty-eight in the village of Tondo, and one thousand and two in that of Binondo. Thirteen persons were burned to death, and many others escaped only with serious injuries.
In spite of the fact that, contrary to his usual custom, he had made the announcement only that afternoon, it was already the sole topic of conversation in Binondo and adjacent districts, and even in the Walled City, for at that time Capitan Tiago was considered one of the most hospitable of men, and it was well known that his house, like his country, shut its doors against nothing except commerce and all new or bold ideas.
The artisans in Manila are almost wholly Chinese; and all trades are local, so that in each quarter of the Binondo suburb the privilege of exclusive occupancy is claimed by some particular kinds of shops.
Were the banks removed, and the stone bridge joining Manila to Binondo replaced by a swing bridge, or a canal made round it, the coasting vessels would be able to ship the produce of the lagoon provinces at the very foot of the fields in which they grow. The traffic would be very profitable, the waters would shrink, and the shallows along the shore might be turned into rice and sugar fields.
The fire caught three times in the church of Binondo, but the Indians of San Miguel and Dilao put it out. On the twelfth of April the archbishop demanded aid from the governor, and with it arrested the cantor Don Geronimo de Herrera, and placed him in the fort of Santiago.
"In this paragraph Rizal alludes to an incident that had very serious results. There was annually celebrated in Binondo a certain religious festival, principally at the expense of the Chinese mestizos.
The semi-circular space called "Manilla," contains the dwellings of the full-fed drowsy officials, whilst surrounding it is a busy, active buzzing hive. The change from the bustle of the Binondo quarter to the dull torpor intra murales, strikes you at once.
A few American houses have branches in Manila, so that there is an American population of perhaps 100. The city faces a fine bay, into which flows the River Pasig. Most of the Europeans live in Binondo, a beautiful suburb on higher ground, across the river. There are many native dialects, but the social, official and business idiom is Spanish.
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