BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON- WOODS. 633 



influence, but its power and civilisation far exceed that of the 

 other islands, and have enabled the sultan to extend his authority 

 over them and over Palawan, and at one time also over several 

 parts of Borneo and the adjacent islands. 



CAGAYANES GEOUP. 



The Cagayanes Islands, though 130 miles to the north, are 

 included in the Sulu group. I visited these in H.M.S. 'Flying 

 Fish ' when we were employed in searching for certain shoals that 

 had been reported in the neighbourhood. The group lies 21 

 leagues to the westward of Negros Island in the Philippines. 



Bounding the west side of the strait are two low woody islands 

 of considerable size. The largest is to the westward, and is filled 

 with islets and rocks. They are surrounded by a reef which 

 projects to the northward. To the south-west, 10 miles distant, 

 are a few small rocks called Cabesa, and at 26 miles a group 

 called Cavili. 



Cavili or Caueli is a high sandbank with a belt of trees, the 

 breakers extending nine miles from its south-west side. This 

 makes the islands particularly dangerous, because they are almost 

 invisible from where the reefs begin. The island is wooded with 

 heavy timber, and is surrounded for three-quarters of a mile with 

 a fringing coral reef. The breakers mentioned above are on a 

 detached reef, having on it a small sandbank or cay with trees. 

 In other parts, also, the sand is dry, of an oval shape, the greater 

 length being in a north-east and south-west dir-ection, and in size 

 similar to Cavili. When the Cagayanes Islands bore west by 

 north about 18 miles distant, they wei-e just visible from the 

 deck. The body of them is in lat. 9° 34' N., long. 121° 17' 30" E. 

 There is an opening in the reef off the south point of the most 

 easterly island, with soundings of four or five fathoms inside, 

 forming a kind of harbour for small vessels. 



During our stay at Cagayanes we were generally anchored so 

 far from the littlj harbour just mentioned that it was not easy to 

 make an expedition to the islands. Once or twice we attempted 



