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us if the government was not fo fevere againft it; for they have no goods but whatare brought from Manilo at an extraordinary dear rate. I am of the opinion that ifany of our nations will feek a trade with them, they would not lofe their labour ; forthe Spaniards can and will l'muggle (as our feamen call trading by Health) as well asany nation that I know; and our Jamaicans are to their profit fenfible enough of it.And I have been informed that Captain Goodlud of London , in a voyage which hemade from Mindanao to China , touched at fome of thefe iflands, and was civilly treatedby the Spaniards, who bought fome of his commodities, giving him a very good pricefor the fame.
There are about twelve or fourteen more large iflands lying to the fouthward ofLuconia; moll of which, as I faid before, are inhabited by the Spaniards. Befidesthefe, there are an infinite number of fmall iflands of no account, and even the greatiflands, many of them are without names ; or at lead; fo varioufly fet down, that I findthe fame iflands named by divers names.
TJie ifland St. John and Mindanao are the fouthernmofl: of all thefe iflands, and arethe only iflands in all this range that are not fubject to the Spaniards.
St. John’s Ifland is on the eaft fide of the Mindanao , and diftant from it three orfour leagues. It is in latitude about feven or eight degrees north. This ifland is inlength about thirty-eight leagues, ftretching north-north-well and fouth-fouth-eaft, andit is in breath about twenty-four leagues in the middle of the ifland : The northern-moll end is broader, and the fouthernmofl; is narrower. This ifland is of a good height,and is full of many fmall hills. The land at the fouth-eafl: end, where I was alhore,is of a black fat mould ; and the whole ifland feems to partake of the fame fatnefs, bythe vaft number of large trees that it produceth ; for it looks all over like one greatgrove.
As we were palling by the fouth-eafl: end we faw a canoe of the natives under theIhore ; therefore one of our canoes went after to have fpoken with her ; but Ihe runaway from us, feeing themfelves chaced, put their canoe alhore, leaving her, fled intothe woods, nor would be allured to come to us, although we did what we could toentice them ; befides thefe men, we faw no more here, nor fign of any inhabitants atthis end.
When we came on board our Ihip again, we fleered away for the ifland Mindanao ,which was now fair in fight of us, it being about ten leagues diftant from this part ofSt.John’s. The twenty-fecond day we came within a league of the eaft fide of theifland Mindanao , and having the wind at fouth-eafl; we fteered toward the north end,keeping on the eaft fide, till we came into the latitude of feven degrees forty minutes,and there we anchored in a fmall bay, about a mile from the Ihore, in ten fathom water,rocky foul ground.
Some of our books gave us an account that Mindanao city and ifle lies in feven degreesforty minutes. We gueflfed that the middle of the ifland might lie in this latitude, but wewere at a great lofs where to find the city, whether on the eaft or weft fide. Indeed, had itbeen a fmall ifland, lying open to the eaftern wind, we might probably have fearched firfton the weft fide; for commonly the iflands within the tropics, or within the boundsof the trade-winds, have their harbours on the weft fide, as bell Iheltered; but theAland Mindanao being guarded on the eaft fide by St. John’s ifland, we might as rea-sonably expe£t to find the harbour and city on this fide, as any where elfe ; but cominginto the latitude in which we judged the city might be, found no canoes or peoplethat might give us any umbrage of a city, or place of trade near at hand, though wecoafted within a league of the Ihore.
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