B a s h e e
I s l a n d s .
S i n g u l a r
V IL L A G E S .
Calamba ■, the ftream which runs from it is o f a boiling heat ;
and raifed the liquor in M. de Reaumur's thermometer to the
height of 69 degrees, even at the diftance of a league from the
fource. M. Sonnerat obferved five ihrubs, the roots of which
were drenched by the ftream, and the top enveloped in the vapor,
yet grew with vigor. At the fame time the fwallows which
happened to ikim the brook, at the height o f feven or eight feet
from the furface, fell down motionlefs.
T h e . Bajhee iflands lie midwray between Manilla and For-
mofa-, the middlemoft o f them is, according to Lord Anfon, in
Lat. 2.° 4' north. I fpeak o f them here notwithftanding they
belong to neither one or the other. Dampier, in the year 1687,
being engaged in thefe feas in a buccaneering expedition, wiihed
for a temporary concealment. He had feen in certain charts, the
figure V. which denoted their number *. He failed to the fpot-,
and found them to correfpond in pofition and number. None
o f them had names, fo he bellowed on them thofe of Orange,
Grafton, Monmouth, Goat, and Bajhee, the laft from a fort .of
beer made o f the boiled juice of the fugar cane, and fome fmall
black berries, which was put into jars to fettle, and was thought
by our feamen an excellent liquor, capable o f giving the pleafure
of ebriety, without the bad-effe£is. The natives fold it to them in
plenty, for which reafon they made it the general name of the.
iflands.
Monmouth and Grafton ifles are very lofty, with a/numerous
fucceflion o f precipices one above another. On thefe the.
natives build their villages, which affords the Angular profpeft
* Dampier’s voyage, i. 420..
o f
o f three or four rows o f fmall houfes, eredted on polls, and
wattled with boughs. They have no other way o f getting to
their habitations but by a ladder, which is pulled up after them,
i f they mean to afcend to the upper villages, orto fecure them-
felves from an affault. Thefe two iflands are the moft populous,
as they have more o f thefe precipices. Bajhee ifland has but
one precipice, .and in confequence only one town. Orange is
lofty, yet fo plain as to furnifh no fpot fitted for the fite of their
villages, and is therefore uninhabited.
T h e produce o f thefe iflands are a few o f the tropical fruits, Produce.
pine apples, fugar canes, plantains, bananas, calabalhes, yams,
and potatoes. Thefe are planted in the vallies, which are well
watered with fmall ftreams ; they are alfo well wooded, but the
trees do not grow to any large fize. Their animals are hogs and
goats in plenty ; their poultry few ; among the wild fowl, par-
roquets and fome other fmall birds.
T h e natives aré fhort and fquat, round vifaged, with low N a t i v e s . -
foreheads and thick eye-brbws ; ihort low nofes, eyes fmall and
hazel, but larger than thofe of the Chine/e; lips and mouth o f
a middle fize, hair black, thick, lank, and cut ihort, fo.as juft
to cover the ears. The defeription o f thefe people agrees fo
exaftly with that of the Japanefe given by Kaempferfs, that
there cannot be any doubt of their origin.
T h e i r government is quite patriarchal; their religion has no G o v e r n m e n t .
exterior rites, but probably is mental, as is common with many
orientalifts. There is no appearance o f idols on any of their
iflands : They certainly have laws; for Dampier faw the crime
of theft puniftied in a.young man who was buried alive iri-the
* Hiih of Japan, i. p. 95,
prefence