330 



Forests of Mindanao. 



SOOLOO. 



Samboangan. Sangboys. 



pebbles. Those who were engaged in dredging 

 reported the bottom as being of coral, in from 

 four to six or eight fathoms ; but this was of 

 a different kind from that of which the fort was 

 constructed. 



The fort was built in the year 1784, principally 

 for protection against the Sooloo pirates, who were 

 in the habit of visiting the settlements, and carry- 

 ing off the inhabitants as slaves, to obtain ransom 

 for them. This and others of the same descrip- 

 tion, were therefore constructed as places of refuge 

 for the inhabitants, as well as to afford protection 

 to vessels. 



Depredations are still committed, which render 

 it necessary to keep up a small force. One or two 

 huts which were seen in the neighbourhood of the 

 bay, are built on posts twenty feet from the 

 ground, and into them they ascend by ladders, 

 which are hauled up after the occupants have 

 entered. 



These, it is said, are the sleeping-huts, and are 

 so built for the purpose of preventing surprise at 

 night. Before our arrival we had heard that the 

 villages were all so constructed, but a visit to one 

 soon showed that this was untrue. The natives 

 seen at the village were thought to be of a decidedly 

 lighter colour and a somewhat different expression 

 from the Malays. They were found to be very 

 civil, and more polished in manners than our gen- 

 tlemen expected. On asking for a drink of water, 

 it was brought in a glass tumbler on a china plate. 

 An old woman, to whom they had presented some 

 trifles, took the trouble to meet them in another 

 path on their return, and insisted on their accepting 

 a basket of potatoes. Some of the houses contained 

 several families, and many of them had no other 

 means of entrance than a notched post stuck up to 

 the door. 



The forests of Mindanao contain a great variety 

 of trees, some of which are of large size, rising to 

 the height of one hundred and one hundred and 

 fifty feet. Some of their trunks are shaped like 

 buttresses, similar to those before spoken of at 

 Manilla, from which they obtained broad slabs for 

 the tops of tables. The trunks were observed to 

 shoot up remarkably straight. Our botanical gen- 

 tlemen, though pleased with the excursion, were 

 disappointed at not being able to procure specimens 

 from the lofty trees ; and the day was less produc- 

 tive in this respect than they had anticipated. 

 Large woody vines were common, which enveloped 

 the trunks of trees in their folds, and ascending to 

 their tops, prevented the collection of the most 

 desirable specimens. 



The paths leading to the interior were narrow 

 and much obstructed: one fine stream was crossed. 

 Many buffaloes were observed wallowing in the 

 mire, and the woods swarmed with monkeys and 

 numbers of birds, among them the horn-bills : 

 these kept up a continual chatter, and made a 

 variety of loud noises. The forests here are en- 

 tirely different from any we had seen elsewhere ; 

 and the stories of their being the abode of large 

 boas and poisonous snakes, make the effect still 

 greater on those who visit them for the first time. 

 Our parties, however, saw nothing of these reptiles, 

 nor any thing to warrant a belief that such exist. 

 Yet the officer at the fort related to me many 

 snake stories that seemed to have some founda- 

 tion ; and by inquiries made elsewhere, I learned 



that they were at least warranted by some facts, 

 though probably not to the extent that he re- 

 presented. 



Traces of deer and wild hogs were seen, and 

 many birds were obtained, as well as land and sea 

 shells. Among the latter was the malleus vulgaris, 

 which is used as food by the natives. The soil on 

 this part of the island is a stiff clay, and the plants 

 it produces are mostly woody; those of an herba- 

 ceous character were scarce, and only a few orchi- 

 deous epiphytes and ferns were seen. Around the 

 dwellings in the villages were a variety of vegeta- 

 bles and fruits, consisting of sugar-cane, sweet- 

 potato, gourds, pumpkins, peppers, rice, water and 

 musk melons, all fine and of large size. 



The officer at the fort was a lieutenant of in- 

 fantry ; one of that rank is stationed here for a 

 month, after which he, with the garrison, consist- 

 ing of three soldiers, are relieved, from Sam- 

 boangan, where the Spaniards have three com- 

 panies. 



Samboangan is a convict settlement, to which 

 the native rogues, principally thieves, are sent. 

 The Spanish criminals are sent to Spain. 



The inhabitants of the island of Mindanao who 

 are under the subjection of Spain, are about ten 

 thousand in number, of whom five or six thousand 

 are at or in the neighbourhood of Samboangan. 

 The original inhabitants, who dwell in the moun- 

 tains and on the east coast, are said to be quite 

 black, and are represented to be a very cruel and 

 bad set ; they have hitherto bid defiance to all at- 

 tempts to subjugate them. When the Spaniards 

 make excursions into the interior, which is seldom, 

 they always go in large parties on account of the 

 wild beasts, serpents, and hostile natives ; never- 

 theless, the latter frequently attack and drive them 

 back. 



The little fort is considered as a sufficient protec- 

 tion for the fishermen and small vessels against the 

 pirates, who inhabit the island of Basillan, which 

 is in sight from Mindanao, and forms the southern 

 side of the straits of the same name. It is said 

 that about seven hundred inhabit it. The name of 

 Moor is given by the Spaniards to all those who 

 profess the Mahomedan religion, and by such all 

 the islands to the west of Mindanao, and known 

 under the name of the Sooloo Archipelago, are 

 inhabited. 



The day we spent at Caldera was employed in 

 surveying the bay. and in obtaining observations 

 for its geographical position, and for magnetism. 

 The flood tide sets to the northward and westward, 

 through the straits, and the ebb to the eastward. 

 In the bay we found it to run two miles an hour 

 by the log, but it must be much more rapid in the 

 straits. 



At daylight on the 1st of February, we got under 

 way to stand over for the Sangboys, a small island 

 with two sharp hills on it. One and a half mile 

 from the bay we passed over a bank, the least 

 water on which was ten fathoms on a sandy bottom, 

 and on which a vessel might anchor. The wind 

 shortly after failed us, and we drifted with the tide 

 for some hours, in full view of the island of Min- 

 danao, which is bold and picturesque. We had 

 thus a good opportunity of measuring some of its 

 mountain ranges, which we made about three thou- 

 sand feet high. 



In the afternoon, a light breeze came from the 



