fHE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, AND THE ISLE OF FRANCE. 71

at Wampoo, on board the fame American veffel which brought me to China , boundfirft for Manila, and thence for the Ifle of France .

On the 31ft we loft fight of the coaftof China .

On the 4th of February we coafted along the fhores of Manila , and had hopes ofreaching the bay the fame day, when, of a fudden, the wind fell, but rifing again blewfo hard that, after ineffectually endeavouring for fcveral days to double the Corregidorby the northern paffage, we were fain to leek Ihelter behind the mountain which formsPoint Mirabel. The wind at length declining we fteered to leeward of the illand ofthe Corregidor, that is, by the fouthern paffage, for the bay, where we made feverallong tacks in order to fetch the anchoring place; this we reached on the iithofFebruary.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PHILIPPINE ISLES.

OF the numerous colonies belonging to the Spaniards as one of the ^ jortant,muft indifputably be reckoned the Luyones (pr. Lufones,, or PhiUppmc Iflands. T ipofition, their great fertility, and the nature of their produft.ons, render them adrmrablyadapted for aftive commerce; and if the Spaniards have not derive mm. 1 efrom them, to themfelves and to their manner of trading is the fault to be aicnbed.

Magellan, who left Seville the 10th of Auguft 15 and was ^ lled on the lflandZebu, one of the Philippines, was the firft European who made his appearance m thispart of the world. He it was who fecured the pofleffion of thefe iflands to t re mg 11smafter, in right of difcovery, but the Spaniards did not obtain fovereignty or them, inaright of conqueft, until 1564, under Lopez de Legafpe ; at this epoch they gave to theLu^one Iflands the name of the Philippines , although, according to fome authors, theyreceived this appellation much earlier, that is, when Lopez de Villalobes with his fleetvifited them in x 542. „ , , r , f

The Spaniards on their arrival at the Lufones found there feveia i eren race opeople, and among them fome Chinefe. Thefe laft in 1603 would probably havewrefted from them this important colony, but for the bravery and ability of PedroAcugna, who refilled the efforts of that active and enter prizing, .but at the fame time,unwarlike people. Since this attempt the Spaniards have tranquilly enjoyed polleiiion.of the Philippines ; and if the cruizes, or unimportant attacks of thofe Moors beexcepted, who inhabit fome of the contiguous iflands, maintain undifturbed peace withall the different inhabitants of this thicklv ftudded Archipelago .

The Philippines extend from the fixthto nearly the twentieth degree of latitude north,

and from the hundred and fixteenth to the hundred and twenty-fixth degree of longi-tude eaft of Paris *.

.Under the denomination of the Philippines a confiderable number of iflands are corn-prized ; but as the detail of the whole of them would be tedious, I lhall confine myfelfto a delcription of the larger only, and thofe moft deferving attention.

The climate is hot and moift, yet, notwithftanding the iflands are fituate in the torridzone, the heat is lefs confiderable than might be imagined, on account of the fea breezes,and thofe from the land, which render it tolerable.

The foil is highly fertile, and the crops of rice and wheat are abundant.

hlmes of gold exift, but thefe are not wrought; the only portion of this metal col-lected is that obtained in fmall grains waflied down by the rivers. The iflands arelubject to earthquakes.

"* Paris is fituate two degrees twenty minutes eaft of Greenwich*

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