E x t e n t .
N a t i v e s v
H a r a t o r a s .
and with a wooden fort, ereCted to check the excurfion o f the
corfairs o f Yolo; but in vain; they cannot even protect their own
fubjeCts who happen to be out of the reach of their cannon.
T h e ifland extends eaft and weft about ninety leagues, is triangular,
and the fhores greatly indented by bays ; the circumference
is faid to be about eight hundred miles. It is very moun-
tanous; the vallies confift o f a rich foil, black, fat, prodigioufly
fruitful, and finely watered with the pureft rills : the fides o f the
mountains rocky, yet \vell clothed with trees o f large growth.
The heauty of fcenery in various parts, is Unfpeakable : we are
obliged to Mr. Forrejl forgiving us fome idea of it in his Voyage
to New Guinea ; in plate 19, is a view o f Yetyan harbor, o f La-
bugan, and o f the circular harbor o f XJbal, in the ifle o f Bunwoot,
on the eaft fide o f the bay o f Illano, near the great ifland.
Mindanao is inhabited by feveral different nations, fpeaking
various languages, governed by fultans or rajahs. Mr. Forrejl,
and our faithful voyager Damper, give accurate accounts o f the
manners o f the country, but particularly the ftrft. The Hara-
foras, the primitive people, now driven into the interior parts,
are highly taxed and opprefied by the Mahometan nations!who
pofiefs the coafts. Dampier* defcribes what he names the Minda-
-nayans, properly fo called, as men o f mean ftature, fmall limbs,
ftrait bodies, little heads, oval, faces, flat foreheads, fmall black
eyes, ihort low nofes, pretty large mouths, thin red lips, black
teeth, black ftrait hair, tawny ikins, inclining more to brighter
yellow than other Indians; and adds, that they are of good un-
derftanding, ingenious,. and aCtiVe, when they chufe to exert
themfelves, otherwife, like all other Indians, extremely indo-
* Voyages, vol. i. p. 324.
lent;
lent ; ftately in their gait, but very civil to ftrangers; vindictive,
and given to the crime of poifoning. The drefles of the inhabitants
is given in one o f Mv. ForfeJFs plates, reprefenting the
nuptials of two young people o f rank.
T h e capital town is on the great bay o f Illano, on the fouth
fide of the ifland, in Lat. 7° 20'; the houfes, even the palace, are
fupported on pofts, from fourteen to twenty feet high, to keep
them clear o f the water in the feafon o f inundations. Captain
Forrejl, in his Voyage to New Guinea *, mentions the
Lanoy a great lake far inland ; it is about fixty miles in circum- L a n o L a k e ,;
ference, and in one place fome hundred fathoms deep, in others
ten, twenty, and thirty; has four iflands, and abounds with fifh.
The inhabitants o f its banks are called Illanos, and amount to
thirty thoufand, intermixed with Haraforas, all of whom are
faid to be very much civilized.
In mentioning the productions o f this archipelago, I fhall juft P r o d u c t io n s .
diftinguifh the few that, with great uncertainty, are thought peculiar
to Mindanao. Gold is common to all. It has its faltpetre
cave, from which much o f that article is extracted;' on the roofs
are infinite clufters pf fmall bats, the dung of which is fuppofed
to be one caufe of the fait; a brook of a moft offenfive tafte and
fmell, and of a iky blue color, iftues from the mountain which
inclofes the cavern.
T h e s e iflands feem to produce all the animals common to Q u a d r u p e d s .
thofe adjacent with the addition of an ugly hog, with great
knobs over the eyes, evidently my /Ethiopian Boar, Hift. Quad. i.
N' 76 ; numerous in the woods, and very lean, but fweet.
* P. *73.
L 2 T he