desire to do; but I am of opinion, that when the current set southward, it inclined to the east; and that when it set northward, it inclined to the west.

On Monday the 12th, we discovered a small island, with trees upon it, though scarcely bigger than a rock, and I called it Current Island. It lies in latitude 4° 40′ N. longitude 14° 24′ W. of Queen Charlotte's Foreland. The next day, we discovered two other small islands, which I called Saint Andrew's Islands. They lie in latitude 5° 18′ N. longitude 14° 47′ W. of Queen Charlotte's Foreland. I called the small island Current Island, because we had here a southerly current so strong that it set us from twenty-four to thirty miles southward every day, besides the difference it might make in our longitude. The wind was now variable, blowing by turns from every point in the compass, with much rain and hard squalls. On Tuesday the 20th, being in latitude 8° N. it blew with such violence that we were obliged to lie-to sixty-four hours. This gale, which made a very great sea, I supposed to be the shifting of the monsoon; and, notwithstanding the southerly current, it drove us, while we lay-to, as far as nine degrees northward.

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." As I had many sick people on board, and was in the most pressing need of refreshments, I determined to try what

could

'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 voy. age. Some account will be given of them when we come to treat of Cook's discoveries.

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 lieute nant 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 southermost 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 necessa ry repairs in the rigging; this however being the case, I ran a little to the eastward, where, on the 2d 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 eastermost 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.

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

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 ar rows, 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

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 naviga ting 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 twen ty-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 hum mocks, 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