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See two of these girls, both riding one pony, taking eggs to Caviti, as they pass through the shady lanes, and you cannot desire a more agreeable picture. January 3rd. From this day till the 20th of February we were surveying various portions of the Phillippine group; but as there is nothing to interest the reader, I shall pass over a dry catalogue of mostly uninhabited islands.
After completing the observations, we moved further down the Bay, and surveyed the shoals of St. Nicholas; after which we returned to Manilla, where all gaiety had ceased. Caviti was once a place of great importance, having been the capital of Luzon, from whence the galleons conveyed the treasure to Spain.
The reader may therefore imagine our disgust and vexation when, on the 23d, without our having the least notice of his intention, the captain gave orders for the anchor to be weighed, and ran the ship down to Caviti, a town about seven miles distant.
We then sailed again for Caviti, which was now again inhabited. The society is confined to the families of the civil and military officers who are stationed there. Some of the villages in the vicinity of Caviti are very picturesque: the bamboos planted on each side of the road meet over head, and form shady lanes.
At Caviti lie the remains of an old Spanish galleon, one of the few which had the good fortune to escape Commodore Anson. The whole of one side of the vessel is gone, and she is now fast falling to pieces, but the Spaniards look upon her with great reverence. She is a relic of their former grandeur; and I was informed by a Spanish gentleman that she never would be broken up.
Caviti was deserted; all the inhabitants had gone to Manilla to enjoy the holidays; not a soul remained to welcome us; but if they had, it would have been of no good to us, as, on Christmas morning, about two o'clock, we were almost all of us sent on shore to take a set of magnetic observations, which were not completed until the same hour on the following day.
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