349
and flhe returned the compliment. I fat befide her while lhe was employed in makingWats of palm for a bed. Her houfe was handfomely furnilhed with vafes of porcelain,which were lufpended from the fides of the apartments, as were four gongs, one ofwhich was very large, another of a middling fize, and two others fmall. She had adumber of Haves of both fexes to wait on her. We took our leave and returned to theKing’s houfe, and breakfafted on fugar-canes.
We found in this ifland hogs, goats, rice, ginger, and in fhort every thing we hadfeen on the others. What, however, moil abounds is gold. Vallies were pointed outto me, in which, by figns, they made me comprehend there were more lumps of goldthan we had hairs on our heads; but that, for want of iron, the mines exadt greaterlabour to work than they feel inclined to beftow.
In the afternoon, on my requefting to go on board of fhip, the King, with feveralchiefs of the ifland, offered to accompany me in their balanghay. As we fell down theriver I faw on a ftnall mount on the right three men hanging from a tree. On enquir-ln g the reafon of this, I learnt they were malefactors.
This part of the ifland, which is called Chipit, is a continuation of the fame land asthat on which Butuan and Calayan are fituate : it flretches above Bohol and approaches■Maflana*. The port is a tolerably good one. It is fituate in eight degrees of lati-tude north, longitude one hundred and fixty-feven degrees from the line of demarcation,ail d is fifty leagues diflant from Zuba. In the north-weft lies the ifland of Luzon f twodays fail away. This ifland is large, and every year there arrive at it fix or eightjunks from the people calledChipit in another place.
On leaving this ifland, fleering wefl-fouth-wefl, we came to an anchor off an iflandalnioft a defert The inhabitants, who are very few in number, confifl of Moorshanifhed from an ifland called Burne (Borneo ). They go naked like the inhabitants°f the other iflands, and for their arms ufe farbacanes J and arrows, for which they havequivers, that likewife ferve to hold the herbs with which their arrows are poifoned.
I hey alfo have poignards, their handles wrought with gold and precious {tones, lances,clubs, and fmall breaft-plates made of the buffalo’s hide. They looked upon us as godscr faints. In this ifland' the trees grow to a great fize, but provifions arefcarce. It isutuate in latitude feven degrees thirty minutes north, and forty-three leagues from Chi-; it is called Cay ay an ||.
Leaving this ifland, and continuing the fame courfe, that is to fay weft-fouth-wefl, wearrived at a large ifland, in which we found abundance of all kinds of provifions ; thisus was fortunate, for we were fo hungry and fo badly provided with food, that we^cre feveral times on the point of abandoning our fhips and eftablifhing ourfelves in0ni e of thefe countries there to end our days. This ifland, which is called Palaoan §,
furnifhed
Lequies, for the purpofe of trafficking. I fhall fpeak of
This is the ifland Mindanao , which our author writes Maingdanao. In the chart of Billin, .as in thatits° Ur ^ lanu f <; ript, the ports of Chipit, Butuan, and Caligan are laid down ; it extends beyond Bohol , and
ofti Sarca ba»es are hollow reeds ufed in Borneo and the neighbouring iflands, through which the nativesan 6 '^ ant ^ s blow fmall poifoned arrows at an enemy. They are very expert in the ufe of them, and fend
an arrow to
- a considerable diftance by the force of their breath.n table xviii. of ITrbano Monti,
Eng.Tr.
f a '• raDie xviii. of Urbano Monti, the ifland of Cayayan, fr.rrounded by fmall iflands, is marked asn S >n a fimilar diredtion. It is in like manner laid down in the atlas of Robert,the n anc ' en t charts Palaoan is placed north-weft of Manila ; this ifland could not confequently be inr °Ute of our circumnavigator, for Manila is north-eaft of Cayayan. But in this courfe is feen the
ifland.'