. THE INDIAN OCEAN. 333 
placed in the other, while the fast sheet being let 
fly, and the loose sheet hauled in, the boat is 
immediately trimmed again, without loss by lee-way. 
From their extraordinary power of lying near the 
wind, that is, of sailing nearly towards the point 
from which the wind is blowing, as well as from 
their extreme narrowness cutting the water with 
little resistance, these boats are the fleetest vessels 
known. Anson affirms that they will run nearly 
twenty miles an hour, which, though greatly short 
of what the Spaniards report of them, is yet a pro- 
digious degree of swiftness. In more modern voy- 
ages, we find the native boats called by the names 
of prows and prahus; as they seem, however, to 
refer to vessels of the. same construction as those 
described by Anson, they are probably to be con- 
sidered as somewhat closer approximations to the 
true pronunciation of the native name. 
The navigation of these seas is rendered pecu- 
liarly unsafe by the swarms of Malay pirates by 
which they are infested. Voyagers continually allude 
to the alarm which every collection of native boats 
inspires, as being so exceedingly swift, and the 
men merciless and daring. Whole colonies of these 
desperate adventurers proceed from Magindanao to 
the coast of Borneo, where they seek some con- 
venient, but retired, harbour, in which they make 
their home; not living, however, upon the land, 
but on board their prahus (or proas), which are fre- 
quently of sixty tons’ burthen. During the south- 
east monsoon they cruise about near the entrance 
of the Straits of Malacca, ready to pounce upon 
