Chapter XXXVI: Section VIII

_Some Account of the Coast of Mindanao, and the Islands near it, in which some Mistakes of Dampier are corrected._

On the 26th, we discovered land again, but not being able to make an observation, we could ascertain our latitude and longitude only by our dead reckoning; the next day, however, was more favourable, and I then found the effect of the current had been so great, that I was obliged to add to the log S.W. by S. no less than sixty-four miles for the last two days. We now knew that the land we had seen was the north-east part of the island of Mindanao.[60] As I had many sick people on board, and was in the most pressing need of refreshments, I determined to try what could be procured in a bay which Dampier has described as lying on the south-east part of the island, and which, he says, furnished him with great plenty of deer from a savannah. I therefore coasted that side of the island, and that I might be sure not to miss the bay, I sent out the lieutenant with the boat and a proper number of hands, to keep in-shore a-head of the ship. No such bay, however, was to be found; but, at the very southernmost extremity of the island, they opened a little nook, at the bottom of which was a town and a fort. As soon as our boat was discovered by the people on shore, they fired a great gun, and sent off three boats or canoes full of people. As the lieutenant had not a sufficient force to oppose them, he immediately made towards the ship, and the canoes chaced him till they came within sight of her, and being then overmatched in their turn, they thought fit to go back. Being thus disappointed in my search of Dampier's Bay and Savannah, I would have anchored off this town, notwithstanding these hostile appearances, if it had not been necessary first to get up some guns from the hold, and make a few necessary repairs in the rigging; this however being the case, I ran a little to the eastward, where, on the 3d of November, I came to an anchor in a little bay, having a bottom of soft mud, and seven fathom of water, at the distance of a cable's length from the shore. The westermost point of the bay bore W.S.W. distant about three miles; the easier-most point E. by S. distant about one mile; a river, which empties itself into the bay, about N.W. and the peak of an island, called Hummock Island, S. 7° E. distant about five leagues. Before it was dark the same day, our two boats went to the river, and brought off their loads of water: They saw no signs of inhabitants where they were on shore, but we observed a canoe come round the westermost point of the bay, which we supposed had been dispatched from the town, to learn what we were, or at least to see what we were doing. As soon as I discovered this canoe, I hoisted English colours, and was not without hope that she would come on board: but after viewing us some time, she returned. As we had seen no inhabitants, nor any signs of inhabitants where we got our water, I intended to procure a further supply the next day from the same place, and endeavour also to recruit our wood; but about nine o'clock at night, we were suddenly surprised by a loud noise on that part of the shore which was a-breast of the ship: It was made by a great number of human voices, and very much resembled the war-whoop of the American savages; a hideous shout which they give at the moment of their attack, and in which all who have heard it agree there is something inexpressibly terrifying and horrid.

[Footnote 60: For some particulars respecting this island, see vol. X. p. 275, &c. Playfair's and Pinkerton's Geography also may be advantageously consulted as to Mindanao and the other eastern islands spoken of in this voyage. Some account will be given of them when we come to treat of Cook's discoveries.]

As I was now farther convinced that it was necessary to dispose of our little force to the greatest advantage, we began the next day by getting the guns up from the hold, and making the necessary repairs to our rigging. At eleven o'clock, not having seen any thing of the people, who had endeavoured to terrify us by their yells in the night, I sent the long-boat on shore for more water; but as I thought it probable that they might have concealed themselves in the woods, I kept the cutter manned and armed, with the lieutenant on board, that immediate succour might be sent to the waterers, if any danger should threaten them. It soon appeared that my conjectures were well-founded, for our people had no sooner left their boat, than a number of armed men rushed out of the woods, one of whom held up somewhat white, which I took to be a signal of peace. Upon this occasion I was again sensible of the mortifying deficiency in the ship's equipment, which I had so often experienced before. I had no white flag on board, and therefore, as the best expedient in my power, I ordered the lieutenant, whom I sent on shore in the cutter, to display one of my table-cloths: As soon as the officer landed, the standard-bearer and another came down to him unarmed, and received him with great appearance of friendship. One of them addressed him in Dutch, which none of our people understood; he then spoke a few words in Spanish, in which one of the persons of the cutter was a considerable proficient: The Indian however spoke it so very imperfectly, that it was with great difficulty, and by the help of many signs, he made himself understood; possibly if any of our people had spoken Dutch, he might have been found equally deficient in that language. He asked for the captain however by the name of the skipper, and enquired whether we were Hollanders; whether our ship was intended for merchandize or for war; how many guns and men she carried; and whether she had been, or was going to Batavia. When we had satisfied him in all these particulars, he said that we should go to the town, and that he would introduce us to the governor, whom he distinguished by the title of Raja. The lieutenant then told him, that we intended to go to the town, but that we were in immediate want of water, and therefore desired permission to fill some casks; he also requested that the people who were armed with bows and arrows, might be ordered to a greater distance. With both these requisitions the Indian, who seemed to be invested with considerable authority, complied; and as he seemed to take particular notice of a silk handkerchief which the lieutenant had tied round his neck, it was immediately presented to him; in return for which he desired him to accept a kind of cravat, made of coarse calico, which was tied round his own, his dress being somewhat after the Dutch fashion. After this interchange of cravats, he enquired of the officer whether the ship was furnished with any articles for trade; to which he answered that she was sufficiently furnished to trade for provisions, but nothing more: The chief replied, that whatever we wanted we should have. After this conference, which I considered as an earnest of every advantage which this place could afford us, the boats returned on board laden with water, and we went cheerfully on with our business on board the ship. In about two hours, however, we saw with equal surprise and concern, many hundreds of armed men, posting themselves in parties at different places, among the trees, upon the beach, a-breast of the ship; their weapons were muskets, bows and arrows, long pikes or spears, broad-swords, a kind of hanger called a cress, and targets: We observed also, that they hauled a canoe, which lay under a shed upon the beach, up into the woods. These were not friendly appearances, and they were succeeded by others that were still more hostile; for these people spent all the remainder of the day in entering and rushing out of the woods, as if they had been making sallies to attack an enemy; sometimes shooting their arrows, and throwing their lances into the water towards the ship; and sometimes lifting their targets, and brandishing their swords at us in a menacing manner. In the mean time we were not idle on board: We got up our guns, repaired our rigging, and put every thing in order before evening, and then, being ready to sail, I determined, if possible, to get another conference with the people on shore, and learn the reason of so sudden and unaccountable a change of behaviour. The lieutenant therefore was again dispatched, and as a testimony that our disposition was still peaceable, the table-cloth was again displayed as a flag of truce. I had the precaution, however, to order the boat to a part of the beach which was clear of wood, that the people on board might not be liable to mischief from enemies whom they could not see; I also ordered that nobody should go on shore. When the Indians saw the boat came to the beach, and observed that nobody landed, one of them came out of the wood, with a bow and arrows in his hand, and made signs for the boat to come to the place where he stood. This the officer very prudently declined, as he would then have been within bow-shot of an ambuscade, and after waiting some time, and finding that a conference could be procured upon no other terms, he returned back to the ship. It was certainly in my power to have destroyed many of these unfriendly people, by firing my great guns into the wood, but it would have answered no good purpose: We could not afterwards have procured wood and water here without risking the loss of our own people, and I still hoped that refreshment might be procured upon friendly terms at the town, which, now I was in a condition to defend myself against a sudden assault, I resolved to visit.

The next morning, therefore, as soon as it was light, I sailed from this place, which I called _Deceitful Bay_, with a light land-breeze, and between ten and eleven o'clock we got off the bay or nook, at the bottom of which our boats had discovered the town and fort. It happened however that just at this time the weather became thick, with heavy rain, and it began to blow hard from a quarter which made the land here a lee-shore; this obliged me to stand off, and having no time to lose, I stood away to the westward, that I might reach Batavia before the season was past.

I shall now give a more particular account of our navigating the sea that washes the coasts of this island, the rather as Dampier's description is in several particulars erroneous.

Having seen the north-east part of the island on the twenty-sixth of October, without certainly knowing whether it was Mindanoa or Saint John's, we got nearer to it the next day, and made what we knew to be Saint Augustina, the south-eastermost part of the island, which rises in little hummocks, that run down to a low point at the water's edge; it bears N. 40 E. at the distance of two-and-twenty leagues from a little island, which is distinguished from the other islands that lie off the southernmost point of Mindanao by a hill or hummock, and which for that reason I called _Hummock Island_. All this land is very high, one ridge of mountains rising behind another, so that at a great distance it appears not like one island but several. After our first discovery of the island, we kept turning along the east side from the northward to Cape Saint Augustina, nearly S. by W. 1/2 W. and N. by E. 1/2 E. for about twenty leagues. The wind was to the southward along the shore, and as we approached the land, we stood in for an opening, which had the appearance of a good bay, where we intended to anchor; but we found that it was too deep for our purpose, and that some shoals rendered the entrance of it dangerous. To this bay, which lies about eight or ten leagues N. by E. from Cape Saint Augustina, the south-east extremity of the island, I gave the name of _Disappointment Bay_. When we were in the offing standing in for this bay, we observed a large hummock, which had the appearance of an island, but which I believe to be a peninsula, joined by a Low isthmus to the main; this hummock formed the northernmost part of the entrance, and another high bluff point opposite to it formed the southernmost part; between these two points are the shoals that have been mentioned; and several small islands, only one of which can be seen till they are approached very near. On this part of the coast we saw no signs of inhabitants; the land is of a stupendous height, with mountains piled upon mountains till the summits are hidden in the clouds: In the offing therefore it is almost impossible to estimate its distance, for what appear then to be small hillocks, just emerging from the water, in comparison of the mountains that are seen over them, swell into high hills as they are approached, and the distance is found to be thrice as much as it was imagined; perhaps this will account for the land here being so ill laid down, and in situations so very different, as it appears to be in all our English charts. We found here a strong current setting to the southward along the shore, as the land trended. The high land that is to the north of Saint Augustina, becomes gradually lower towards the Cape, a low flat point in which it terminates, and off which, at a very little distance, lie two large rocks. Its latitude is 6° 15' N. and the longitude, by. account, 127° 20' E.

From this Cape the land trends away W. and W. by S. for six or seven leagues, and then turns up to the N.W. making a very deep bay, the bottom of which, as we crossed it from Saint Augustina to the high land on the other side, which is not less than twelve leagues, we could not see. The coast on the farther side of it, coming up from the bottom, trends first to the S. and S.S.W. and then to the S.W. by W. towards the south extremity of the island.

Off this southern extremity, which Dampier calls the south-east by mistake, the south-east being Saint Augustina, at the distance of five, six, and seven leagues, lie ten or twelve islands, though Dampier says there are only two, and that together they are about five leagues round. The islands that I saw could not be contained in a circuit of less than fifteen leagues, and from the number of boats that I saw among them I imagine they are well inhabited. The largest of these lies to the S.W. of the others, and makes in a remarkable peak, so that it is first seen in coming in with the land, and is indeed visible at a very great distance. Its latitude I make 5° 24' N., and its longitude, by account, 126° 37' E. This island, which I called _Hummock Island_, bears from Saint Augustina, S. 40 W. at the distance of between twenty and two-and-twenty leagues; and from the same Cape, the southermost part of the island Mindanao bears S.W. 3/4 W. at the distance of between twenty-one and twenty-three leagues. This southermost extremity consists of three or four points, which bear east and west of each other for about seven miles. They lie in latitude 5° 34' N., longitude 126° 25' E. according to my account. The variation here was one point east.

I passed between these islands and the main, and found the passage good, the current setting to the westward. Dampier has placed his bay and savannah four leagues N.W. from the easternmost island, and there I sought it, as indeed I did on all the S.E. part of the island till we came to the little creek which ran up to the town.

All the southern part of Mindanao is extremely pleasant, with many spots where the woods had been cleared for plantations, and fine lawns of a beautiful verdure: This part also is well inhabited, as well as the neighbouring islands. Of the town I can give no account, as the weather was so thick that I could not see it; neither could I sufficiently distinguish the land to set off the points, at which I was not a little mortified.

When I came to open the land to the westward of the southermost point, I found it trend from that point W.N.W. and N.W. by W. forming first a point at the distance of about seven or eight leagues, and then a very deep bay running so far into the N. and N.E. that I could not see the bottom of it. The westermost point of this bay is low, but the land soon rises again, and runs along to the N.W. by W., which seems to be the direction of this coast, from the southermost point of the island towards the city of Mindanao.

To the westward of this deep bay, the land is all flat, and in comparison of the other parts of the island, but thinly wooded. Over this flat appears a peak of stupendous height, which rises into the clouds like a tower. Between the entrance of this bay and the south point of the island there is another very high hill, the top of which has the funnel shape of a volcano, but I did not perceive that it emitted either fire or smoke. It is possible that this deep bay is that which Dampier mentions, and that is misplaced by an error of the press; for, if, instead of saying it bore N.W. _four_ leagues from the _eastermost_ of the islands, he had said it bore N.W. _fourteen_ leagues from the _westermost_ of the islands, it would correspond well with his description, the bearings being the same, and the land on the east side of it high, and low on the west: He is also nearly right in the latitude of his islands, which he makes 5° 10' N.; for probably some parts of the southermost of them may lie in that latitude; but as I did not go to the southward of them, this is only conjecture.

Between Hummock Island, which is the largest and westermost of them, and the islands to the eastward of it, which are all flat and even, is a passage running north and south, which appears to be clear. The north-eastermost of these islands is small, low, and flat, with a white sandy beach all round it, and a great many trees in the middle. East, or north-east of this island, there are shoals and breakers; and I saw no other appearance of danger in these parts. Neither did I see any of the islands which are mentioned by Dampier, and laid down in all the charts, near Mindanao in the offing: Perhaps they are at a more remote distance than is commonly supposed; for without great attention, navigators will be much deceived in this particular by the height of the land, as I have observed already. As I coasted this island, I found the current set very strong to the southward along the shore, till I came to the south end of it, where I found it run N.W. and N.W. by W. which is nearly as the land trends. We had the winds commonly from S.W. to N.W. with light airs, frequent rain, and unsettled weather.

We now bid farewell to Mindanao, greatly disappointed in our hope of obtaining refreshments, which at first the inhabitants so readily promised to furnish. We suspected that there were Dutchmen, or at least Dutch partisans in the town; and that, having discovered us to be English, they had dispatched an armed party to prevent our having any intercourse with the natives, who arrived about two hours after our friendly conference, and were the people that defied us from the shore.