86 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



chief are the Mindanao, or Eio Grande, on the western 

 side, and the Agusan river, which debouches into Butuan 

 Bay in the Surigao district. The lakes are scarcely less 

 numerous, but many are pinags, and disappear in the 

 dry season. So little is the interior known that the 

 position of Lake Mindanao, a large sheet of water re- 

 ported to exist near the centre of the island, has never 

 been determined. M. Montano, whose bold journey from 

 the Davao Gulf to Butuan Bay in 1880 added consider- 

 ably to our knowledge of the country, crossed the Linao 

 Lake in lat. 8° 12' N., and found it to be of small size, 

 and Mainit is only a crater lake. In the Cottabato or 

 Cota Batu district Lakes Liguasan and Buluan feed the 

 Eio Grande, and are said to unite in the rainy season. 

 The whole island, being within ten degrees of the 

 equator, avoids the terrible typhoons which so frequently 

 devastate the islands to the north, but is by no means 

 stormless. From November to April a heavy sea and 

 strong currents render the navigation of the east coast 

 very dangerous, the more so as it is almost without 

 harbours. The climate is more equable than that of 

 Luzon, and the rainfall still heavier. 



The inhabitants of Mindanao are of three, if not 

 more, distinct peoples. A line drawn from Iligan Bay 

 on the north coast to Davao roughly divides the island 

 into halves, the west of which is inhabited by the Mows 

 or Mohammedan Malays, who have gradually extended 

 eastward from Borneo, while the eastern half is occupied 

 by savage tribes of sub-Malayan stock, who appear to be 

 allied to the Bisayans. A Negrito race is found in the 

 mountains to the north-east. There are also the Man- 

 dayas, a people of doubtful origin, whose height and 

 fairness of skin have led some writers to suggest that 

 they are partly European ! Of all the Mows, the Illanuns 



