Four Young Explorers by Oliver Optic

The ship had slowed down in the afternoon, and reached the entrance of Manila Bay about eight bells, or four o'clock in the morning. At the Boca Grande she had taken a pilot; but she still had twenty-five miles to run. She had come in by the larger of the two passages, formed by a group of islands, both of which are called "mouths" (_bocas_); and the smaller of them is the Boca Chica. The Blanche had followed the example of the Guardian-Mother in slowing down, and had taken a pilot at about the same time.

The passengers had asked the steward on watch in the cabin to call them at half-past five, and they were all on deck as soon as it was light enough for them to see the shore clearly. But the bay is so large that they could make out the shores only ahead of the ship. They could see the mountains in the distance, with a lower stretch of land between them and the low ground of the shore. All that they could observe was tropical verdure, with lofty palms on every hand. The low ground, covered with water in the rainy season, was planted with rice-fields.