249

as was generally believed, by Raja | ways ashore, there was no command, Laut. There were others also, who, and therefore every man did what he fearing we should not go to an Eng- pleased and encouraged each other in lish port, bought a canoe and de- his villanies. Now Mr Hartop, who signed to go in her to Borneo; for was one of Captain Swan's merchants, not long before a Mindanao vessel did very much importune him to settle came from thence and brought a his resolutions and declare his mind letter directed to the chief of the to his men; which at last he conEnglish factory at Mindanao. This sented to do; therefore he gave warnletter the General would have Cap- ing to all his men to come aboard the tain Swan to have opened; but he 13th of January 1687. thought it might come from some of the East India merchants, whose affairs he would not intermeddle with, and therefore did not open it. I since met with Captain Bowry at Achin, and telling him this story he said that he sent that letter, supposing that the English were settled there at Mindanao; and by this letter we also thought that there was an English factory at Borneo; so here was a mistake on both sides. But this canoe wherewith some of them thought to go to Borneo, Captain Swan took from them, and threatened the undertakers very hardly. How ever, this did not so far discourage them, for they secretly bought another; but their designs taking air, they were again frustrated by Captain Swan. The whole crew were at this time under a general disaffection, and full of very different projects; and all for want of action. The main division was between those that had money and those that had none. There was a great difference in the humours of these; for they that had money lived ashore, and did not care for leaving Mindanao; whilst those that were poor lived aboard and urged Captain Swan to go to sea. These began to be unruly as well as dissatisfied, and sent ashore the merchants' iron to sell for rack and honey to make punch, wherewith they grew drunk and quarrelsome; which disorderly actions deterred me from going aboard, for I did ever abhor drunkenness, which now our men that were aboard addicted themselves wholly

to.

Yet these disorders might have been crushed if Captain Swan had used his authority to suppress them; but he with his merchants living al

We did all earnestly expect to hear what Captain Swan would propose, and therefore were very willing to go aboard; but unluckily for him, two days before this meeting was to be, Captain Swan sent aboard his gunner to fetch something ashore out of his cabin. The gunner rummaging to find what he was sent for, among other things took out the captain's journal from America to the Island of Guam, and laid it down by him. This journal was taken up by one John Reed, a Bristol man. He was a pretty ingenious young man, and of a very civil carriage and behaviour. He was also accounted a good artist, and kept a journal, and was now prompted by his curiosity to peep into Captain Swan's journal to see how it agreed with his own; a thing very usual among seamen that keep journals, when they have an opportunity, and especially young men who have no great experience. At the first opening of the book, he lighted on a place in which Captain Swan had inveighed bitterly against most of his men, especially against another John Reed, a Jamaica-man. This was such stuff as he did not seek after; but hitting so pat on the subject, his curiosity led him to pry further; and therefore while the gunner was busy, he conveyed the book away, to look over it at his leisure. The gunner having despatched his business, locked up the cabin-door, not missing the book, and went ashore; then John Reed shewed it to his name-sake, and to the rest that were aboard, who were by this time the biggest part of them ripe for mischief, only wanting some fair pretence to set themselves to work about it. There

1687.]

APPARENT CHANGE IN THE TIME.
CHAPTER XIV.

THE 14th of January 1687, at 3 o'clock
in the afternoon, we sailed from the
River of Mindanao, designing to cruise
before Manilla. It was during our
stay at Mindanao that we were first
made sensible of the change of time
in the course of our voyage.
having travelled so far westward,
For
keeping the same course with the sun,
we must consequently have gained
something insensibly in the length
of the particular days, but have lost
in the tale, the bulk, or number, of
the days or hours.
the different longitudes of England
According to
and Mindanao, this isle being west
from the Lizard, by common compu-
tation, about 210 degrees, the differ-
ence of time at our arrival at Mindanao
ought to be about fourteen hours:
and so much we should have antici-
pated our reckoning, having gained
it by bearing the sun company. Now
the natural day in every particular
place must be consonant to itself: but
this going about with or against the
sun's course will of necessity make a
difference in the calculation of the
civil day between any two places.
Accordingly, at Mindanao and all
other places in the East Indies, we
found them reckoning a day before
us, both natives and Europeans; for,
the Europeans coming eastward by
the Cape of Good Hope, in a course
contrary to the sun and us, wherever
we met they were a full day before us
in their accounts.
Indian Mahometans here, their Friday,
So, among the
the day of their Sultan's going to their
mosques, was Thursday with us;
though it was Friday also with those
who came eastward from Europe.
Yet at the Ladrone Islands we found
the Spaniards of Guam keeping the
same computation with ourselves; the
reason of which I take to be, that they
settled that colony by a course west-
ward from Spain; the Spaniards going
first to America, and thence to the
Ladrones and Philippines.

...

We coasted to the westward on the south side of the Island Mindanao, keeping within four or five leagues off

1

251

the shore. The land from hence
height by the sea and very woody;
trends away W. by S.; it is of a good
and in the country we saw high hills.
The next day we were abreast of
Chambongo, a town in this island,
thirty leagues from the River of Min-
danao. Here is said to be a good har-
plenty of beef and buffalo. It is re-
bour and a great settlement, with
ported that the Spaniards were for-
merly fortified here also. About six
leagues before we came to the west
end of the Island Mindanao, we fell
in with a great many small low islands
to the southward of these keys there is
or keys; and about two or three leagues
about twelve leagues.
a long island, stretching NE. and SW.
is low by the sea on the north side,
This island
and has a ridge of hills in the middle
running from one end to the other.
Between this island and the small
keys there is a good large channel.
The 17th, we anchored on the east
side of all these keys in eight fathoms
water, clean sand. Here are plenty
of green turtle, whose flesh is as sweet
are very shy. A little to the west-
as any in the West Indies; but they
ward of these keys, on the Island
Mindanao, we saw abundance of cocoa-
canoe ashore, thinking to find inhabi-
nut trees. Therefore we sent our
tants, but found none, nor sign of
any, but great tracks of hogs and
great cattle; and close by the sea
there were the ruins of an old fort;
the walls thereof were of a good
and, by the workmanship, seemed to
height, built with stone and lime,
be Spanish. We weighed again the
14th, and went through between the
keys, but met such uncertain tides
that we were forced to anchor again.

at the south end of the great jut of
1 Chambongo, or Zamboanga, stands
land which forms the western portion
of the Island of Mindanao; the bay
enclosed in the curve of the coast
between Mindanao and Zamboanga
Illana.
being called the Bay of Llana or

islands to the south of Zamboanga.
2 Evidently the Basilian group of

are of a pale green colour, clothed over with a coat of short thick hairy substance of a dun colour, but it comes off by only drawing the cane through your hand. We did cut many of them, and they proved very tough heavy canes. We saw no houses, nor sign of inhabitants. In the middle of this bay, about a mile from the shore, there is a small low woody island not above a mile in circumference; our ship rode about a mile from it. This island was the habitation of an incredible number of great bats, with bodies as big as ducks or larger fowl, and with vast wings; for I saw at Mindanao one of this sort, and I judge that the wings, stretched out in length, could not be less asunder than seven or eight feet from tip to tip, for it was much more than any of us could fathom with our arms extended to the utmost.

The 22d, we got about the western- | five or six fathoms of the end. They most point of all Mindanao, and stood to the northward, plying under the shore, and having the wind at NNE., a fresh gale. Here we met with two proas belonging to the Sologus, one of the Mindanayan nations before mentioned. They came from Manilla laden with silks and calicoes. We kept on this western part of the island, steering northerly, till we came abreast of some other of the Philippine islands that lay to the northward of us, then steered away towards them, but still keeping on the west side of them, and we had the winds at NNE. The 3d of February we anchored in a good bay on the west side of an island in Lat. 9° 55', where we had thirteen fathoms water, good soft ooze. This island has no name that we could find in any book, but lies on the west side of Island Sebo. It is about eight or ten leagues long, mountainous and woody. At this place Captain Reed, who was the same Captain Swan had so much railed against in his journal, and was now made captain in his room (as Captain Tait was made master, and Mr Henry More quarter-master), ordered the carpenters to cut down our quarter-deck, to make the ship snug and the fitter for sailing. When that was done we heeled her, scrubbed her bottom, and tallowed it; then we filled all our water, for here is a delicate small run of water. The land was pretty low in this bay, the mould black and fat, and the trees of several kinds, very thick and tall. In some places we found plenty of canes, such as we use in England for walkingcanes. These were short-jointed, not above two feet and a half or two feet ten inches the longest, and most of them not above two feet. They run along on the ground like a vine, or taking hold of the trees they climb up to their very tops. They are fifteen or twenty fathoms long, and much of a bigness from the root till within

It seems to be the Island of Negros, which lies to the west of Zebu, or, as Dampier calls it, Sebo.

We stayed here till the 10th of February 1687, and then, having completed our business, we sailed hence with the wind at north; but going out we struck on a rock, where we lay two hours. It was very smooth water, and the tide of flood, or else we should there have lost our ship. We struck off a great piece of our rudder, which was all the damage that we received; but we more narrowly missed losing our ship this time than in any other in the whole voyage. This is a very dangerous shoal, because it does not break, unless probably it may appear in foul weather. After we were passed this shoal, we coasted along by the rest of the Philippine Islands, keeping on the west side of them. Some of them appeared to be very mountainous dry land. We saw many fires in the night as we passed by Panay, a great island settled by Spaniards; and by the fires up and down it seems to be well settled by them; for this is a Spanish custom, whereby they give notice of any danger, or the like, from sea; and it is probable they had seen our ship the day before. The

2

2 Lying to the north-west of Negros.

1687.]

SE.

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

253

18th of February we anchored at the | the place that had been so long deNW. end of the Island Mindoro, in sired by us. ten fathoms water, about three-quar- coming from the northward, and We presently saw a sail ters of a mile from the shore. Min- making after her, we took her in two doro is a large island, the middle of hours' time. She was a Spanish bark it lying in Lat. 13°, about forty that came from a place called Pangaleagues long, stretching NW. and sanam, a small town on the N. end It is high and mountainous, of Luconia, as they told us; proand not very woody. Here we saw bably the same with Pongassinay, great tracks of hogs and beef, and we which lies on a bay at the NW. side of saw some of each, and hunted them; the island. She was bound to Manbut they were wild, and we could kill illa, but had no goods aboard; and none. While we lay here, there was therefore we turned her away. The a canoe with four Indians came from 23d we took another Spanish vessel Manilla. They were very shy of us a that came from the same place as the while; but at last, hearing us speak other. She was laden with rice and Spanish, they came to us, and told cotton cloth, and bound for Manilla us that they were going to a friar that also. These goods were purposely lived at an Indian village towards the for the Acapulco ship; the rice was SE. end of the island. They told us for the men to live on while they lay also that the harbour of Manilla is there, and in their return; and the seldom or never without twenty or cotton cloth was to make sails. The thirty sail of vessels, most Chinese, master of this prize was boatswain of some Portuguese, and some few the the Acapulco ship, which escaped us Spaniards have of their own. said that when they had They at Guam, and was now at Manilla. their business with the friar, they lation of what strength it had, how done It was this man that gave us the rewould return to Manilla, and hoped they were afraid of us there, and of to be back again at this place in four the accident that happened to them, days' time. We told them that we came for a trade with the Spaniards Chapter. We took these two vessels as is before mentioned in the tenth at Manilla, and should be glad if they within seven would carry a letter to some merchant Manilla. or eight leagues of there, which they promised to do. But this was only a pretence of ours, to get out of them what intelligence we could as to their shipping, strength, and the like, under colour of seeking a trade; for our business was to pillage. Now if we had really designed to have traded here, this was as fair an opportunity as men could have desired, for these men could have brought us to the friar that they were going to, and a small present to him would have engaged him to do any kindness for us in the way of trade; for the Spanish Governors do not allow of it, and we must trade by stealth.

The 21st, we went from hence with the wind at ENE., a small gale. The 23d, in the morning, we were fair by the SE. end of the Island Luconia,

1 Not of the whole island, which

but I shall now add this further Luconia I have spoken of already; account of it. It is a great island, taking up between six and seven degrees of Latitude in length, and its breadth near the middle is about sixty leagues, but the ends are narrow.

19° N., and the south end in about The north end lies in about 12° 30'. This great island has abundance of small keys or islands lying about it, especially at the north end. The south side fronts towards the rest of the Philippine Islands; of these that are its nearest neighbours, Mindoro, lately mentioned, is the chief, and gives name to the sea or

stretches away south-east of Manilla,
into a long jagged peninsula; Dam-
pier evidently means at the southern
| land of Luzon.
point of what we may call the main-