The intercourse between the Spaniards and many of the foreigners residing at Manilla is not very great, as the British here, as everywhere else, appear to prefer associating with their own countrymen to frequenting the houses of their Spanish friends, even although quite sure of a cordial reception there. The time for visiting is in the evening, when there are numbers of impromptu conversaziones—or tertulias, as they are called—of which the Dons are very fond, and in which very many of their evenings are passed.

Any one having a few Spanish acquaintances is pretty sure to number among them some persons who, from their own character, or that of some member of their family, such as a pretty and pleasant wife, or a handsome daughter, has generally many visitors at his house, perhaps six, ten, or a dozen of an evening, who call there without any preconcerted plan, and sit down to play a round game at cards or gossip with each other for an hour. Should there be ladies of the party, music and dancing are probably the amusements for an hour or two; you may, of course, escape and go on to the house of some one else should the party turn out to be dull, which, however, is very seldom the case when Spaniards are the company, as every one appears to exert himself to amuse and be amused to the best of his power.

The time for evening visits is any time after seven o’clock, for till about that hour nearly all the white population are enjoying the cool air on the Calyada, or on some of the other drives, all of which are crowded with carriages from about half-past five till that time of the evening.

Some of these equipages are handsome enough, and are almost universally horsed by a pair of the country ponies, there being only one or two people who turn out with a pair of Sydney horses, and very few who drive a single-horse vehicle, although it is met with now and then. The only persons allowed to drive four horses in their carriages are the Governor and the Archbishop: this regulation is frequently grumbled at by the Spanish Jehus, and one gentleman, the colonel of a regiment, having applied to the government for permission to indulge his taste in this respect by driving a four-in-hand, was refused it, so he had to content himself with turning out with only three in his drag. With that number of quadrupeds, however, he did a good deal to frighten and amuse the world, apparently wishing to break his neck, in which he very nearly succeeded on more than one occasion; Spanish accomplishments in driving being by no means equal to those general at home.

A young Spaniard who fills an important office connected with the commerce of Manilla, a situation he is said to owe more to the frailty of his mother, a fair lady at the court of the late King of Spain, whom he exactly resembles in appearance, temper, and manners, than to any qualifications especially pointing him out for the post, used frequently to assert his royal blood by turning out a neat barouche and pair, accompanied by two outriders, and certainly he looked much smarter and better appointed than either of the authorities driving four horses.

The expense of keeping horses is very small, so that nearly all, except the very poorest people, keep carriages, which in that climate are considered more as necessaries of life than as luxuries, and to a certain extent really are so; for the sun most effectually prevents Europeans walking to any distance during the heat of the day, and should any one attempt doing so, a month of it is about time enough seriously to injure or perhaps to kill him. About sunset everybody is most glad to escape from the impure air of the town and the crowded narrow streets, to inhale the fresh breeze from the bay on the Calyada, which is the most frequented drive.

Formerly all the ladies turned out to drive without bonnets or coverings of any sort on the head, but bowled along, seated in open carriages, in about the same style of evening dress they would appear in at a tertulia or the theatre, or, in fact, at a ball-room. They were in the habit of spreading a sort of gum, which washed easily off, over the hair after it had been dressed, in order to keep out the dust, &c.; but within the last two years several bonnets have made their appearance in the carriages at the drive, and I fear their general use will supersede the former fashion, which from its simplicity allowed their most striking beauties of eyes, hair, &c., to be seen in a most charming manner.

Many of the Creole girls have very handsome countenances, and there are not a few who would be remarked upon as fine women by the side of any European beauty: but they are generally seen to most advantage in the evening, as their chief attraction does not consist in freshness of complexion so much as in fine features, which are often full of character and lighted up by eyes as brilliant as they are soft. Their figures are good, and their feet and ankles quite unexceptionable, being generally very much more neatly turned than those of my handsomest countrywomen.

As dress is a study which has a good deal of their attention, they appear to understand it pretty well, but show a marked fondness for gay colours, as no doubt their pale complexions require their aid more than when ruddy health is upon their cheeks. In the forenoon the skin of a Creole or Spanish beauty appears to be rather too pale to please the general taste; and sometimes their colour degenerates into sallowness, which I fancy may proceed from their fondness for chocolate, that being very largely consumed by all of them. This, and the want of exercise, communicated a somewhat bilious look to their appearance.

Many ladies, especially those from the northern provinces of Spain, have sometimes the beautiful white skins and the ruddy freshness of complexion so much admired in my countrywomen; but, unfortunately, that colour is not very lasting, as the first season they pass in the Philippines is generally sufficient to blanch their bloom, but it is very often succeeded by a soft and delicate-looking paleness, which is perhaps not a whit less dangerous to amatory bachelors than the more brilliant colours which preceded it.

Although lively and talkative enough, Spanish women seldom shine in conversation, which perhaps is more owing to the narrow and defective education they too often have in youth than to any natural want of the quickness and tact to talk well.

Their manners are peculiarly soft and pleasing, and their lively ingenuousness is extremely seductive. Their accomplished management of the fan has made it peculiarly their own weapon, and it has been converted into an important auxiliary to their natural good looks, both in attack and defence. There are few things more striking to a stranger than to see the ladies use it at the casino, when a number of them are together, and while there is no want of men to admire the graceful movement of the hand. Mere children are constantly seen using it. It is a ludicrous thing to watch one of these little creatures going through a set of flirting motions with a fan, should you look at her, copying no doubt the motions or play with it from those of some grown-up sister or gay mamma.

Foreign ladies seldom or never attain the same degree of dexterity and ease in the use of their fans, the climate they were born in not requiring that it should be placed in their hands at an early age.

The dress of Spanish ladies is becoming every day more like the French modes, although some elderly people still continue to use the country dress, which, from its coolness, is much more comfortable than the European habit; but it is rapidly going out, and young Spanish ladies never appear to wear it, as formerly they frequently did, within doors and in the country.

The mantilla is very rarely seen, except perhaps in the morning, when some fair penitent goes or returns from one of the churches, all of which are thrown open at a very early hour in the morning, at or before daylight, to give the people an opportunity of going there unostentatiously and unnoticed, to say their prayers and get home again before any one, but those on an errand similar to their own, is likely to meet them in the streets.

Nearly all the women, after reaching thirty years of age, get stout or fall off in flesh and become very thin, for there apparently is very little medium between the two degrees, as nearly all the old women one sees are either very fat or very thin. Of the two sorts the fat retain their good looks the longest; for after attaining a certain age, the thin women are seldom anything but atrociously ugly, probably caused by the climate more than anything else, as those Europeans who enjoy good health at Manilla appear to become stout in that climate, while those who get thin seldom appear to be well, and are unable to stand a lengthened residence there.

In youth, however, their natural elasticity of character prevents delicate girls getting sick, if moderate care be taken of them, and they are generally rather more slender figures than English girls, until reaching about twenty-five, when they begin to get fat or to become thin; at that age they look very matronly.

Apropos des dames. Even in these degenerate days, Spanish blood is as hot and Castilian gentlemen are as gallant as any of those of former times. Not long ago the following circumstance happened at the casino:—Don Camilo de T——, a natural son of the late King of Spain, after dancing with a female acquaintance, rejoined a group of acquaintances, who were standing together in a knot, criticising the appearance of their several fair friends, when just as he joined them some one happened to say to another that the lady he had just been dancing with appeared to have padded her bosom. On hearing this, Don Camilo took the speaker rather by surprise, by calling out “It is a lie,” in a tone loud enough to be heard by all near him, and by saying that as he had just been dancing with that lady, he knew that it was not so, and must resent the remark as a personal affront. A duel took place in consequence, in which the gallant was wounded in the sword arm, which, by letting out a little of his hot blood, may probably prevent a recurrence of such extreme devotion to his fair acquaintances.