MALAY PIRATES. 319 



islands. When tlie Euro23eans first came to the 

 East, pirates abounded in every part of the archipel- 

 ago, particularly in the Straits of Malacca, in the 

 Sulu archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, 

 and especially on the southern shores of the latter 

 island. The establishment of a large port at Singa- 

 pore by the English, and a settlement on Rhio by 

 the Dutch, have quite scattered them from the former 

 region, but they continue to infest the Sulu Sea and 

 the southern part of the Philippines. They come 

 down here in the middle of the western monsoon, 

 that is, in January and February, and return in 

 the beginning of the eastern monsoon, so as to 

 Lave fair wind both ways, and be here during the 

 calms that prevail in these seas in the changing of 

 the monsoons, when the large number of oars 

 they use enables them to attack their prey as they 

 please. They appear to come mostly from the 

 shores of Lanun Bay, on the south coast of Min- 

 danao. From Dampier we learn that in 1686 they 

 were an inland people. " The Hilanoones," he says, 

 " live in the heart of the country " (Mindanao). " They 

 have little or no commerce by sea, yet they have 

 praus that row with twelve or fourteen oars apiece. 

 They enjoy the benefit of the gold-mines, and, with 

 their gold, buy foreign commodities of the Mindanao 

 people." They are now the most daring pirates in 

 these seas. Last year the man-of-war on this station 

 had the good fortune to surprise five boats, one of 

 them carrying as many as sixty men. At first they 

 attempted to escape by means of their oars, but her 

 shot and shell soon began to tear them to pieces. 



