79° fhe Voyages and Obfervaiions of j. A. de Mandeilloe, Book I. 
Fruit the eighth Year, and lafts one hundred Years. The 
Fruit of it is gathered but once every other Year, becaufe 
the Inhabitants break off the Buds the firft, that they may 
have a more plentiful Crop the fecond Year, The Fruit 
is ripe from Auguft to January. This Tree affords no 
Gum, by reafon of its exceffive Heat, the Fruit being fo 
dry that the inhabitants, to encreafe its Weight, put a 
Pitcher with Water, within ten Foot of their Clove-Bags, 
which is fucked up within two or three Days time. The 
Chinefe do the fame with their raw Silk. 
As the Moluccas yield more Cloves than any other 
Hands hereabouts, this has milled feme to affirm that they 
grow only here, it being certain they yield yearly Six 
thoufand Barrels of Cloves, allowing Five hundred and 
an half to a Barrel ; though, at the fame time, the Hies 
of Ires , Meytarna , Cuvaly , Sabugo , Marigoron , Garnoeo- 
mra , Amboyna , but efpecially the I fie of Varanula , pro- 
duce ccnfiderabie Quantities, but not fo good as thofe of 
the Moluccas. In the Mid ft of the Ifland of female , is 
a very high Mountain, full of Palms and other Trees, 
which has a moft miraculous Well on the Top, which is 
fo deep that 500 Fathom of Rope did not reach the Bot- 
tom, but to a very fair Spring, the Water of which no 
body hitherto has ventured to tafte, by reafon of the ful- 
phurous Exhalations, which, efpecially about the Equi- 
noxes, ifliie from the Mountain, and fometimes caft red 
Stones at twenty Leagues diftance. This Mountain is co- 
vered with Wood near half its Heighth, but afterwards is 
exceffive cold, having on the Top a very cold Spring, and 
a Lake of frefh Water, furrounded by Trees.' They 
know not of any certain Difference of Seafon in thefe 
I (lands, except that it generally rains more with the North 
than with the South- wind. 
Serpents they have of thirty Foot long, but not veno- 
mous, living for the moft part upon Fifh. This Ifland 
has alfb a peculiar Creature, called by the Inhabitants Ca- 
fes, which, as it feeds on Fruits, fo it is always feen upon 
the Trees, its Tail being of fuch Strength, that it will hang 
by it to a Branch of the Tree, the better to come at the 
Fruit ; it is in Shape not unlike our Rabbets ; its Colour 
betwixt a Grey and a Red, with thick, curling, and foft 
Hair, round and fierce Eyes, and very fmall Feet. As 
they have fcarce any domeftick Bird except the Parrot, fo 
their Forefts are full of wild ones. The Moluccas produce 
a certain Wood which burns, fparkles, and flames like 
common Wood, but confumes not, though you may rub 
it to Powder with your Fingers. Not far from the Fort 
of female grows a certain Shrub, called Catopa by the In- 
habitants, from which falls a Leaf, which, by degrees, is 
fuppofed to turn to a Butterfly. The Ifle of fidor is at 
leaft as large and fruitful as female , the Inhabitans here 
being fo induftrious as to improve the Fruit of the Clove- 
tree, by pruning and watering it, which, by this means, 
becomes both fairer and larger than the reft. Here they 
have alfo the beft white Sandal- wood, and thofe Birds 
called Paxeras del Cielo by the Spaniards , and by us Birds 
of Paradife. After they have catched them, they cut off 
their Feet' dole to the Body, fo that when the Flefh dries 
the Skin and Feathers join infenfibly together, fo that many 
have been of Opinion thefe Birds are without Feet. 
The Dutch are Matters of Malaya , a well fortified 
Town in fernate , as alfo of the Fort of faluco , and that 
of Marie co and fidor , of the Fort Barnevild in Bachiam , 
and three more in the Ifle of Machian n, at faffaco , fabi- 
calo , and Goffiqirla they have alfo a Stone-Fort in Moiir . 
The Kingdom of Machiam , which is governed by its own 
Sovereign, being fo well flocked with Sago that the Inha- 
bitants have fufficient wherewith to fubfift without Labour, 
has made them fo idle and carelefs that they are fcarce able 
to raife 500 fighting Men. The Ifle of Machiam , which 
is fubjcCt to the King of fernate , is about feven Leagues 
in Circumference , the Dutch made themfelves Matters of 
it in 1601, fince which Time they have ereCted three Forts, 
the firft ■ at Gueffiqui , fituate upon an Eminence, and 
ftrengthened by four Raftions of Stone *, as is alfo the Fort 
of faffafo built like wife upon an Afcent at an hundred and 
fixty Paces from the Sea-fhore ; it is bigger than the firft. 
The Fort of fobillala has only two Baftions. Befides 
thefe five Iflands, properly called the Moluccas , there are 
about feventy-two more fubjed to the King of fernate, 
from Mindanao on the North Side, and Bina and Corea on 
the South, and between the Continent of Ne-w-Guinea to 
the Eaft. 
14. The Philippine Iflands, which lie to the North of 
the Moluccas , were difeovered by Ferdinand Megalknus 
in 1520, but no Eftablifliment was made there till 1564, 
when they got the Name of Philippines from Philip II! 
then King of Spain. The firft Settlement of the Spaniards 
was made in the Ifle of Zebu, and about fix Years after that 
in the Ifle of Luc on , now called Manilla , from its chief City, 
which is fituate in an Ifle made by an Arm of the Sea, in 
the moft Southern Part of the Ifle, the whole Compafs of 
which is three hundred and fifty Leagues ; it is feventy 
Leagues from China to the North, and two hundred and 
feventy Leagues to the North- Eaft from Japan to the Eaftj 
it is encompaffed by the Ocean, and to the South by the 
great Archipelago, which is divided into five Seas, and 
flocked with a vaft Number of Iflands. The Fertility of 
the Soil, joined to the Induftry of its Inhabitants, makes 
this Ifland abound in Corn, Rice, Fruits of all forts, and 
Drugs j as likewife in Beef, Buffaloes, Deer, Goats, and 
Hogs. Their Cocoa Wine they keep till it 'becomes as 
ftrong as Spanifh Wine ; their Lemons, Oranges, Figs, 
and Pears, are the beft in the World, and they abound 
both in Domeftick, and Wild-fowl, and Birds. They have 
a peculiar Way here of killing the Crocodiles, of which 
they have great Numbers ; he who is to engage with this 
Creature, gantlets his left Arm to his Elbow, having in the 
fame Eland a Truncheon of a Foot long, piked at both 
Ends, with a Dagger in the other : Thus armed, he goes 
into the Water up to the Waift, and while the Crocodile, 
is making at him with his Jaws open, he thrufts his left 
Hand down his Throat, fo as to keep them from fiiutting, 
and in the mean while ftabs him with the Dagger in the 
Throat, till he drops down dead. 
The Philippine Iflands produce more Tygers, Lions, 
Bears, and fuch-like wild Beafts, than Africk itfelf, and 
abounds in Algalias, which are the Creatures that produce 
Mufk, and Civet Cats. The Chinefe drive a vaft Trade in 
this Country with the Spaniards, who buy their Calicoes, 
Silks, Porcelain, Gun-powder, Sulphur, Iron, Quickfilver, 
Copper, Meal, Nuts, £dV. and carry them to the Weft- 
Indies, where thefe things are fold at a very dear rate. In 
, the City of Manilla refides a Spanifh Archbifhop, who has 
three Bifliops under his JurifdiCtion, for the fpiritual Go- 
vernment of the Philippine Iflands ; and fuch is the Influ- 
ence they have over thefe ignorant Wretches, that they 
keep them in Subjection without any (landing Forces. The 
Archbifhop is alfo Viceroy of thofe Iflands, and has the 
Management of all publick Affairs, in Conjunction with 
the King’s Council appointed in that City, which is very 
large, and its Houfes built of Stone, after the modem 
Way. Within and about it live above fifteen thoufand 
Chinefe , and vaft Numbers of the fame Nation refort thi- 
ther every Year for the Conveniency of Traffick. So that 
from December to April you may fee in the Harbour (which 
is defended by two wooden Forts) near five hundred Chi- 
nefe Junks. This Place is alfo much frequented by the 
Japanefe , but not in near fo great Numbers as by the Chi- 
nefe : Notwithftanding which, the Spaniards are much more 
jealous of the firft than the laft. 
1 5. Japan is compofed of many Iflands, divided by 
feveral Arms of the Sea, extended from 3 1 to 39°, being, 
in fome Places fcarce ten, in others thirty Leagues in 
Breadth. On the Eaft Side it hath New-Spain, to the 
North fart ary', on the Weft China, and the Sea to the 
South, with Part of the ferra Auftralis , The whole Em- 
pire confifts of fixty-fix leffer Kingdoms or Provinces, 
fifty-three whereof are comprehended within the two great 
Kingdoms of Meaco and Amagunce , nine others within the 
great Kingdom cAXimo, and the remaining four in that called 
Xicbuni. According to the Japanefe , they are to this Day 
uncertain, whether the whole Empire be an Ifland, or an- 
nexed to the Continent ; forafmuch as from the Province 
of Quanto to the Borders of the Province of fzungaa, is 
twenty- (even Days Journey to the Eaft-North-Eait, and 
then they crofs an Arm of the Sea of eleven Leagues broad, 
which brings, them into the Province of JeJfo, fo inclofed 
