THE INDIAN OCEAN. 333 



placed in the other, while the fast sheet being let 

 fly, and the loose sheet hauled in, the boat is 

 immediately trimmed again, without loss by lee- way. 

 From their extraordinary power of lying near the 

 wind, that is, of sailing nearly towards the point 

 from which the wind is blowing, as well as from 

 their extreme narrowness cutting the water with 

 little resistance, these boats are the fleetest vessels 

 known. Anson affirms that they will run nearly 

 twenty miles an hour, which, though greatly short 

 of what the Spaniards report of them, is yet a pro- 

 digious degree of swiftness. In more modern voy- 

 ages, we find the native boats called by the names 

 of 2 yrows an( i prahus; as they seem, however, to 

 refer to vessels of the same construction as those 

 described by Anson, they are probably to be con- 

 sidered as somewhat closer approximations to the 

 true pronunciation of the native name. 



The navigation of these seas is rendered pecu- 

 liarly unsafe by the swarms of Malay pirates by 

 which they are infested. Voyagers continually allude 

 to the alarm which every collection of native boats 

 inspires, as being so exceedingly swift, and the 

 men merciless and daring. Whole colonies of these 

 desperate adventurers proceed from Magindanao to 

 the coast of Borneo, where they seek some con- 

 venient, but retired, harbour, in which they make 

 their home; not living, however, upon the land, 

 but on board their prahus (or proas), which are fre- 

 quently of sixty tons' burthen. During the south- 

 east monsoon they cruise about near the entrance 

 of the Straits of Malacca, ready to pounce upon 



