Philippine Stereoviews "Calle Real-Principal Street of Walled City, Manila, P.I."
Published by The Keystone View ompany
Contemporary notes on the card:
"Manila is the chief seaport, the largest city, and the capital of the Philippines. It is the city of about 250,000 people. It is situated on Manila Bay, which afford only a fairly good harborage for vessels. Hurricanes sometimes sweep across the broad bay and scatter the shipping. The bay is noted in American history for the Battle of Manila, fought May 1, 1898. Here the american fleet under Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet and hammered the spanish ports to pieces.
The Pasig river divides the City of Manila in two parts-an old and new section. The old section is on the south side of the river. It was founded by the Spanish in 1570-71, by Legaspi. It was once made the capital of the islands, and this it has ever since. The old city is walled in. The wall dates from 1590. It is built of stone throughout, and is 2 1/2 miles long. Six gates through it connect with the chief streetw. Along this wall are old forts, and in front of it is a moat, once cross by drawbridges where the gates are. This is the way in which most cities were fortified in the Middle Ages.
You are looking down the principal street of the old city from the top of one of the gates in the wall. This street is the calle real which is the Spanish for King's Street. There are 16 other streets in the old section. This part formerly contained the government, school, and churc quarters. The business section lay behind the Pasig.
The Pasig is crossed by 4 bridges. The new city is partly on the island of Binondo. Here are fine, new streets and many new modern buildings. many of the stores are owned by the Spanish merchants. In many of small shops Chinese do a thriving trade."
Very fascinating views.