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days in the week: for I did ufe myself to it when I lived afterwards at Bencooly, and found it very refreshing and comfortable. It is very good for thofe that have fluxes to wash and stand in the river mornings and evenings. I fpeak it experimentally, for I was brought very low with that diftemper at Achin; but by wafhing conftantly mornings and evenings I found great benefit, and was quickly cured by it.

In the city of Mindanao they fpeak two languages indifferently, their own Min. danao language, and the Malaya: but in other parts of the island they speak only their proper language, having little commerce abroad. They have fchools, and inftruct their children to read and write, and bring them up in the Mahometan religion. Therefore many of the words, especially their prayers, are in Arabic; and many of the words of civility the fame as in Turkey; and especially when they meet in the morning, or take leave of each other, they exprefs themfelves in that language.

Many of the old people, both men and women, can speak Spanish, for the Spaniards were formerly fettled among them, and had several forts on this ifland; and then they fent two friars to the city to convert the Sultan of Mindanao and his people. At that time thefe people began to learn Spanish, and the Spaniards incroached on them, and endeavoured to bring them into fubjection; and probably before this time had brought them all under their yoke, if they themselves had not been drawn off from this ifland to Manila, to refift the Chinese, who threatened to invade them there. When the Spaniards were gone, the old Sultan of Mandanao, father to the present, in whofe time it was, razed and demolished their forts, brought away their guns, and fent away the friars; and fince that time will not fuffer the Spaniards to fettle on the islands.

They are now most afraid of the Dutch, being fenfible how they have inflaved many of the neighbouring iflands. For that reason they have a long time defired the English to fettle among them, and have offered them any convenient place to build a fort in, as the general himself told us; giving this reafon, that they do not find the English fo incroaching as the Dutch or Spanish. The Dutch are no lefs jealous of their admitting the English, for they are fenfible what detriment it would be to them if the English fhould fettle here.

There are but few tradefmen at the city of Mindanao. The chiefeft trades are goldfmiths, blacksmiths, and carpenters. There are but two or three goldsmiths; thefe will work in gold or filver, and make any thing that you defire: but they have no shop furnished with ware ready made for fale. Here are feveral blacksmiths who work very well, confidering the tools that they work with. Their bellows are much different from ours: they are made of a wooden cylinder, the trunk of a tree, about three feet long, bored hollow like a pump, and fet upright on the ground, on which the fire itself is made. Near the lower end there is a fmall hole, in the fide of the trunk next the fire, made to receive a pipe, through which the wind is driven to the fire by a great bunch of fine feathers faftened to one end of the stick, which clofing up the infide of the cylinder, drives the air out of the cylinder through the pipe: two of these trunks or cylinders are placed fo nigh together, that a man ftanding between them may work them both at once alternately, one with each hand. They have neither vice nor anvil, but a great hard ftone or a piece of an old gun, to hammer upon yet they will perform their work, making both common utenfils and ironworks about ships to admiration. They work altogether with charcoal. Every man almost is a carpenter, for they can work with the axe and adz. Their axe is but fmall, and fo made that they can take it out of the helve, and by turning it make an adz of it. They have no faws; but when they make plank, they fplit the tree in

two,

two, and make a plank of each part, plaining it with the axe and adz. This requires much pains, and takes up a great deal of time; but they work cheap, and the goodnefs of the plank thus hewed, which hath its grain preserved entire, makes amends for their coft and pains.

They build good and ferviceable ships or barks for the fea, fome for trade, others for pleasure; and fome fhips of war. Their trading veffels they fend chiefly to Manila. Thither they transport bees'-wax, which, I think, is the only commodity befides gold that they vend there. The inhabitants of the city of Mindanao get a great deal of bees'-wax themselves: but the greatest quantity they purchase is of the mountaineers, from whom they also get the gold which they fend to Manila; and with these they buy their calicoes, muflins, and China filk. They fend fometimes their barks to Borneo and other islands; but what they transport thither, or import from thence, I know not. The Dutch come hither in floops from Ternate and Tidore, and buy rice, bees'-wax, and tobacco: for here is a great deal of tobacco grows on this island, more than in any island or country in the East Indies, that I know of, Manila only excepted. It is an excellent fort of tobacco; but these people have not the art of managing this trade to their best advantage, as the Spaniards have at Manila. I do believe the feeds were first brought hither from Manila by the Spaniards, and even thither, in all probability from America: the difference between the Mindanao and Manila tobacco is, that the Mindanao tobacco is of a darker colour; and the leaf larger and groffer than the Manila tobacco, being propagated or planted in a fatter foil. The Manila tobacco is of a bright yellow colour, of an indifferent fize, not strong, but pleasant to smoke. The Spaniards at Manila are very curious about this tobacco, having a peculiar way of making it up neatly in the leaf. For they take two little sticks, each about a foot long, and flat, and placing the stalks of the tobacco leaves in a row, forty or fifty of them between the two sticks, they bind them hard together, fo that the leaves hang dangling down; one of thefe bundles is fold for a rial at Fort St. George: but you may have ten or twelve pounds of tobacco at Mindanao for a rial; and the tobacco is as good, or rather better than the Manila tobacco, but they have not that vent for it as the Spaniards have.

The Mindanao people are much troubled with a fort of leprofy, the fame as we obferved at Guam. This diftemper runs with a dry fcurf all over their bodies, and caufeth great itching in those that have it, making them frequently fcratch and scrub themselves, which raifeth the outer fkin in fmall whitish flakes, like the fcales of little fish, when they are raised on end with a knife. This makes their skin extraordinary rough, and in fome you fhall fee broad white spots in feveral parts of their body. I judge fuch have had it, but were cured; for their skins were smooth, and I did not perceive them to fcrub themselves: yet I have learnt from their own mouths that these spots were from this distemper. Whether they use any means to cure themselves, or whether it goes away of itself, I know not: but I did not perceive that they made any great matter of it, for they did never refrain any company for it; none of our people caught it of them, for we were afraid of it, and kept off. They are fometimes troubled with the fmall-pox, but their ordinary distempers are fevers, agues, fluxes, with great pains and gripings in their guts. The country affords a great many drugs and medicinal herbs, whofe virtues are not unknown to fome of them that pretend to cure the fick..

The Mindanao men have many wives: but what ceremonies are used when they marry 1 know not. There is commonly a great feast made by the bridegroom to entertain his friends, and the most part of the night is spent in mirth.

The

The Sultan is abfolute in his power over all his fubjects. He is but a poor Prince; for as I mentioned before, they have but little trade, and therefore cannot be rich. If the fultan understands that any man has money, if it be but twenty dollars, which is a great matter among them, he will fend to borrow fo much money, pretending urgent occafions for it; and they dare not deny him. Sometimes he will fend to fell one thing or another that he hath to difpofe of, to fuch whom he knows to have money, and they must buy it, and give him his price; and if afterwards he hath occafion for the fame thing, he must have it if he fends for it. He is but a little man, between fifty or fixty years old, and by relation very good-natured, but over-ruled by those about him. He has a queen, and keeps about twenty-nine women, or wives more, in whofe company he spends most of his time. He has one daughter by his fultanefs or queen, and a great many fons and daughters by the reft. These walk about the streets, and would be always begging things of us; but it is reported, that the young Princess is kept in a room and never ftirs out, and that she did never fee any man but her father and Raja Laut her uncle, being then about fourteen years old.

far this way; When the fultan vifits his friends he is carried in a fmall couch on four men's fhoulders, with eight or ten armed men to guard him; but he never goes far this for the country is very woody, and they have but little paths, which renders it the lefs commodious. When he takes his pleasure by water, he carries fome of his wives along with him. The proes that are built for this purpose, are large enough to entertain fifty or fixty perfons or more. The hull is neatly built, with a round head and ftern, and over the hull there is a fmall flight houfe built with bamboos; the fides are made up with split bamboos, about four feet high, with little windows in them of the fame, to open and fhut at their pleasure. The roof is almost flat, nearly thatched with palmeto leaves. This houfe is divided into two or three fmall partitions The fecond room is or chambers, one particularly for himself. This is neatly matted underneath and round the fides, and there is a carpet and pillows for him to fleep on. for his women, much like the former. The third is for the fervants, who tend them Befides this, they with tobacco and betel-nut; for they are always chewing or smoking. The fore and afterparts of the veffel are for the mariners to fit and row. have outlayers fuch as those I described at Guam; only the boats and outlayers here are larger. These boats are more round, like a half-moon almoft; and the bamboos or outlayers that reach from the boat are alfo crooked. Befides, the boat is not flat on one fide here, as at Guam; but hath a belly and outlayers on each fide: and whereas at Guam there is a little boat faftened to the outlayers, that lies in the water; the beams or bamboos here are fastened traversewife to the outlayers on each fide, and touch not the water like boats, but one, three, or four feet above the water, and serve for the barge-men to fit and row and paddle on; the infide of the veffel, except only just afore and abaft, being taken up with the apartments for the paffengers. There run across the outlayers two tier of beams for the paddlers to fit on, on each fide the veffel. The lower tier of these beams is not above a foot from the water; fo that And upon any the leaft reeling of the veffel, the beams are dipped into the water, and the men that fit are wet up to their wafte; their feet feldom efcaping the water. thus, as all our veffels are rowed from within, these are paddled from without. The fultan hath a brother called Raja Laut, a brave man. the kingdom. All ftrangers that come hither to trade must make their address to him, for all fea-affairs belong to him. He licenfeth strangers to import or export any commodity, and 'tis by his permiffion that the natives themselves are fuffered to trade: nay,

2

He is the second man in

the

the very fishermen must take a permit from him; fo that there is no man can come into the river or go out of it but by his leave. He is two or three years younger than the fultan, and a little man like him. He has eight women, by fome of whom he hath iffue. He hath only one fon, about twelve or fourteen years old, who was circumcifed while we were there. His eldest son died a little before we came hither, for whom he was still in great heavinefs. If he had lived a little longer he should have married the young princefs; but whether this fecond fon must have her I know not, for I did never hear any difcourfe about it. Raja Laut is a very fharp man: he speaks and writes Spanish, which he learned in his youth. He has, by often converfing with ftrangers, got a great fight into the cuftoms of other nations, and by Spanish books has fome knowledge of Europe. He is general of the Mindanayans, and is accounted an expert foldier, and a very ftout man; and the women in their dances, fing many songs in his praise.

The fultan of Mindanao fometimes makes war with his neighbours the mountaineers, or Alfoores. Their weapons are fwords, lances, and fome hand-creffets. The creffet is a small thing like a bayonet, which they always wear in war or peace, at work or play, from the greatest of them to the pooreft, or the meaneft perfons. They do never meet each other so as to have a pitched battle, but they build fmall works or forts of timber, wherein they plant little guns, and lie in fight of each other two or three months fkirmishing every day in small parties, and fometimes furprising a breast-work; and whatever fide is like to be worsted, if they have no probability to escape by flight, they fell their lives as dear as they can; for there is feldom any quarter given, but the conqueror cuts and hacks his enemies to pieces.

The religion of these people is Mahometanifm. Friday is their fabbath: but I did never see any difference that they make between this day and any other day; only the fultan himself goes then to the mofque twice. Raja Laut never goes to the mofque, but prays at certain hours, eight or ten times in a day; wherever he is, he is very punctual to his canonical hours, and if he be aboard will go afhore, on purpose to pray; for no business nor company hinders him from this duty. Whether he is at home or abroad, in a house or in the field, he leaves all his company, and goes about one hundred yards off, and there kneels down to his devotion. He first kisses the ground, then prays aloud, and divers times in his prayers he kiffes the ground, and does the fame when he leaves off. His fervants and his wives and children talk and fing, or play how they please all the time, but himself is very ferious. The meaner fort of people have little devotion; I did never fee any of them at their prayers, or go into a mofque.

In the fultan's mofque there is a great drum, with but one head, called a gong; which is inftead of a clock. This gong is beaten at twelve o'clock, at three, fix, and nine; a man being appointed for that fervice. He has a stick as big as a man's arm, with a great knob at the end, bigger than a man's fift, made with cotton, bound faft with small cords: with this he strikes the gong as hard as he can, about twenty ftrokes; beginning to strike leisurely the first five or fix ftrokes, then he ftrikes fafter, and at laft strikes as faft as he can; and then he strikes again flower and flower fo many more ftrokes: thus he rifes and falls three times, and then leaves off till three hours after. This is done night and day.

They circumcife the males at eleven or twelve years of age, or older; and many are circumcifed at once. This ceremony is performed with a great deal of folemnity. There had been no circumcifion for fome years before our being here; and then there was one for Raja Laut's fon. They choose to have a general circumcifion when the

Sultan

Sultan or general, or fome other great perfon hath a fon fit to be circumcifed; for with him a great many more are circumcifed. There is notice given, about eight or ten days before, for all men to appear in arms; and great preparation is made against the folemn day. In the morning, before the boys are circumcifed, prefents are sent to the father of the child that keeps the feaft, which, as I faid before, is either the fultan or fome great perfon; and about ten or eleven o'clock the Mahometan priest does his office. He takes hold of the foreskin with two sticks, and with a pair of fciffars fnips it off. After this moft of the men, both in city and country being in arms before the house, begin to act as if they were engaged with an enemy, having fuch arms as I defcribed. Only one acts at a time; the reft make a great ring of two or three hundred yards round about him. He that is to exercife comes into the ring with a great fhriek or two, and a horrid look; then he fetches two or three large stately strides and falls to work. He holds his broad-fword in one hand, and his lance in the other, and traverses his ground, leaping from one side of the ring to the other; and, in a menacing pofture and look, bids defiance to the enemy whonr his fancy frames to him; for there is nothing but air to oppose him. Then he ftamps and shakes his head, and grinning with his teeth makes many rueful faces. Then he throws his lance, and nimbly fnatches out his creffet, with which he hacks and hews the air like a mad-nan, often fhrieking, At laft being almost tired with motion, he flies to the middle of the ring, where he seems to have his enemy at his mercy, and with two or three blows cuts on the ground as if he was cutting off his enemy's head. By this time he is all of a fweat, and withdraws triumphantly out of the ring, and presently another enters with the like fhrieks and gestures. Thus they continue combating their imaginary enemy all the reft of the day; towards the conclufion of which the richest men act, and at laft the general, and then the fultan concludes this ceremony: he and the general, with fome other great men, are in armour, but the rest have none. After this the fultan returns home, accompanied with abundance of people, who wait on him there till they are difmiffed. But at the time when we were there, there was an after-game to be played; for the general's fon being then circumcifed, the fultan intended to give him a second visit in the night, fo they all waited to attend him thither. The general alfo provided to meet him in the best manner, and therefore defired Captain Swan with his men to attend him. Accordingly Captain Swan ordered us to get our guns and wait at the general's houfe till further orders. So about forty of us waited till eight o'clock in the evening; when the general with Captain Swan, and about one thousand men, went to meet the fultan, with abundance of torches that made it as light as day. The manner of the march was thus: first of all there was a pageant, and upon it two dancing women gorgeously apparelled, with coronets on their heads, full of glittering fpangles, and pendants of the fame, hanging down over their breaft and shoulders. Thefe are women bred up purposely for dancing: their feet and legs are but little employed, except fometimes to turn round very gently; but their hands, arms, head, and body, are in continual motion, especially their arms, which they turn and twist so strangely, that you would think them to be made without bones. Befides the two dancing women, there were two old women in the pageant holding each a lighted torch in their hands, clofe by the two dancing women, by which light the glittering fpangles appeared very gloriously. This pageant was carried by fix lufty men: then came fix or feven torches, lighting the general and Captain Swan, who marched fide by fide next, and we that attended Captain Swan followed clofe after, marching in order fix and fix abreast, with each man his gun on his fhoulder,

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