322 TRAVELS IN THE EAST IXDIAN ARCniPELAGO. 



suddenly appeared on some part of the adjacent 

 coasts, fires have been instantly lighted on the 

 tops of the neighboring hills, evidently as signals to 

 pirates in the immediate vicinity. As soon as they 

 receive this alarm they hide away in the shallow 

 creeks and bays among the mangiove-trees, so that 

 a war- vessel might steam past them again and again 

 without discovering the slightest indication of where 

 they are concealed. To the Dutch almost exclusive- 

 ly belongs the honor of having rendered the naviga- 

 tion of these seas so comparatively safe as it now is. 

 The English have assisted in the western part of 

 the archij^elago, but the Spaniards, from whose terri- 

 tory these marauders now come, have effected little 

 toward removing this pest fi'om the Philij^pines, 

 where it is as rife as it was two hundred years ago. 



