MINDANO 278 MIND AM)
coast is extremely irregular, and on its north-western and southern sides, it is
indented by several deep bays, of which Bntuan and Yligan are the largest on
the first, and Illano or that of Lanun on the last. Those of Yligan and Lanun
indent it opposite to each other to such an extent as to make the land between
them an isthmus not exceeding 35 geographical miles broad, making the island, in
lact, to consist of two peninsulas, a larger or eastern and a smaller or western. The
extreme length of Mindano is reckoned to be 283 geographical miles, and its breadth
about the same. Its area is about 37,000 square geographical miles, or about one-
third part larger than Ireland. Its geological formation would seem to be, like that of
\iZOni i>artly sedimentary and plutonic, and partly volcanic. The surface is considered
to be generally mountainous and uneven, but, probably, contains some
extensive plains. Of the height of the mountains nothing is known. Several of
them, however, are active volcanos, from which have proceeded formidable irruptions,
since the island became known to Europeans. I t contains several lakes, as those of
Lmao or Mindano, of Lanao, of Buguey, of Lingasin, Buloan, Selangan, and Sapongan.
By far the largest of these is the first-named, which Spanish writers describe as being
by its extent a real inland sea. I t is situated towards the eastern side of the island
and about 8 leagues inland from the bay of Baganga in north latitude 7° 35'. This
is emptied by the considerable river which falls into the sea in the bay of Butuan on
the north-western coast. I t is from this lake that the island is supposed to have
received its Malay and European name, its two last syllables forming a word signifying
“ lake.” The Lanao or Malano is situated towards the isthmus between the bays of
Lanun and Yligan, and discharges its waters into the latter by a river called the
Ninanton. The lake of Buguey is situated in the western peninsula, and gives rise
to a considerable river, which falls into the bay of Kamaladan on the southern coast.
Very little, however, beyond an enumeration of names, is known of the greater part
of the interior of Mindano, which has certainly never been trodden by the foot of
an intelligent and instructed European. The rivers are numerous but small, and
fit only for the navigation of native craft. As far as is known, the largest is the
Butuan on the north-western coast, and the Salangan, which falls into the bay of
Illanun on its eastern side, and fronting the island of Bunwut. It is at the mouth of
this river that stands the chief town of the prince called the Sultan of Mindano, and
which bears the same name.
The climate of Mindano is hot and humid, and is under the influence of the monsoons
of the northern hemisphere, the north-east and south-west, but unlike the other
islands of the Philippine group, it is beyond the reach of typhoons. The mineral
products of the island applicable to economical uses, are, iron, gold, sulphur, and, it
is said, mercury. Among many unknown forest-trees we find here the well-known Teak
(Tectona grandis), Mindano being, except Java, the only island of the Malay and Philippine
Archipelagos that is known to produce it in any considerable abundance,—a fact
which indicates the presence of a calcareous formation, this being the one in which it
flourishes. The cultivated plants are rice, maiz, sugar-cane, the esculent and
the abaca banana, the coco, the areca, and the sago palms, with the usual fruits of
the Malayan countries, including the durian, but, as far as is known, not the man-
gostin. Dampier, who tarried six months on the southern coast, and is the most
accurate and intelligent European that ever visited and described the island, speaks
thus of the soil: “ The mould, in general, is deep and black, and extraordinarily fat
and fruitful. . . . The valleys are well moistened with pleasant brooks, and small
rivers of delicate water.”—Yol. i. p. 310. No doubt in the interior of the island, and
in the vicinity of the volcanic mountains, fruitful and well-watered valleys will be
found, well fitted for the growth of corn. Although the classes of the inhabitants in
easy circumstances use rice, a great proportion of the people feed on sago, groves of
the palms producing which are said by Dampier to extend along the marshy
banks of the rivers to the extent of five and six miles. The eastern side of the
island appears to be mountainous, and generally barren, and the Spanish portion,
lying chiefly on the north-western side, seems, generally, to be more remarkable for
sterility than fertility.
As far as is known, and it seems very probable, none of the larger ferocious animals
exist in Mindano. The elephant, the rhinoceros, and the tapir are also absent, and
the only known animal of the family to which they belong is the hog, which is very
abundant, and from the description given of it, it would seem to be the same as one
of the species of Java, the Sus verrucosus, with an excrescence over the cheeks.
Monkeys and deer are also very plentiful, but the species unknown. Dampier, who
went on a hunting party with a native chieftain, thus describes the abundance of deer:
MINDORO
, „..„as and it is plentifully stocked with deer. The
“ This savannah abounds with long g » » heat of the day, but mornings and even-
adjacent woods are a covert tor tnem England. I never saw,
ings they feed in the open p w i t h t h e i in several parts of
anywhere, such plenty ot wiia , »—Vol. i. P- 317. The wild hogs are
America/both in the north and souto ^ ¿ ority° <<yet,” says he, “ there are wild
equally numerous, g lentiful that they will come in troops out of the woods
hogs m the island, t “°® P under the houses, to romage up and down the
at night, to the very c y, tives therefore, would even desire us to lye in wait
filth that they find there The “a v®8, thereto shooting, and carrying
for the ^ g s , to destroy ^ > ^ X t e d t h e k h o u s i afterwards.”-V o l; i p.343.
them presently on board, but P , enujne wild race, or the domestic become
Wild oxen are also numerous, but whet e g uauai among the Malays, the
so, is not known. The domesticated animals “ * ^ osceon^ f ofX Common fowl and
ox, the buffalo,'the goat, and the horse^ T h e p o u l ^ o n ^ tm ^ ^ ^
duck. Fish, as in these regions gene y, Malayan race, without,
The inhabitants of Mindano appear to be all l i ^ lrito s They are composed
. as in some other islands of the ®anguages but of which no specimens have,
of many distinct tnbes, BPeak™g island ” says Dampier, “ is not subject to one
that I am aware, been produced. This islancl, ^ y P , muCh alike in
prince, neither is the language one and t h ^ m e , bvrtt i j * ^ ^
colour, strength, and stature. He _ , . fidelity which cannot be excelled,
communication, and this with a simp e, gr ap stature small limbs, straight
“ The Mindanayans, properly so called, ar their foreheads flat, with black small
bodies, and little heads. Their faces :3 ' ^ S t h black, yet very
eyes, short low noses, pretty small m "S tawney, but inclining
sound; their hair black and straight; t o o f t e n i ,M 2 4 ,
to a brighter yellow than some other Indians, p y ___ +imp « Tj. +he city
island are little better than ^ t e r savages, same state of social
and the Mindanese and Lanuns Malays of our time in enterprise and
advancement as the Malays, and supen daring and most d audacity, since from angerous pirates among them proceed the m ° s t t o g a n a mo S J to
of the Archipelagos, the men that infest it by their cruises iroin
^Mindano was discovered by the «debated
1521, and, &ve all been
s s i s £ the a
and the whole northern, with a p occupation of wild tribes whose very
much of the interior being still in tne occupation Nueva
MINDORO. One of the large islands of the^Philippine
these by far the poorest and 29- T t “ is^Q geographical miles in
le u ih ’ and 56 In its greatest breadth, and is computed to have an area of SW sq u ^ e
geographical miles. At its north-eastern end, it is separated fro“ J [ J1jf1onv L T
of about four miles broad, in the middle of which is the islet called M» ’Verda. To
the south-west it has the Calamianes group, the channel between them g