which is carried from hence to other parts of the East Indies, is dried into small grains, and is used with milk of almonds as a remedy against fluxes, being of an astringent quality. The other fruits of this island, being well known or described by various authors, need not be here mentioned. The nutmegs here are very large and good, but the natives do not care for propagating them, being afraid lest the Dutch, who monopolize the spice islands, should be induced to pay them a hostile visit. This island also produces abundance of animals, both wild and tame, as horses, cows, buffaloes, goats, wild hogs, deer, monkeys, and others; also guanas, lizards, snakes, scorpions, and centipeds. These last are not thicker than a goose-quill, but five inches long, and they sting fiercer even than scorpions. Of tame fowl, they have only ducks and hens; but have plenty of wild birds, as pigeons, parrots, parrakeets, turtle-doves, bats as large as our kites, and an infinite number and variety of small birds. Their wild hogs feed in the woods in prodigious herds, and have thick knobs growing over their eyes. There are mountains in the interior of this island, which afford considerable quantities of gold. Their chief fish are bonitos, snooks, cavallies, breams, and mullets; and they have abundance of sea-tortoises; and the island has many harbours, creeks, and rivers. Considering the situation of this island, so near the Line, its climate is by no means excessively hot, especially near the sea, where the sea-breeze cools the air by day and the land-breeze at night. The wind blows from the east between October and May, and then blows from the west till October. The west wind produces the wet season, which is heaviest in July and August, and, gradually lessening in September, ceases in October, when the east wind brings fair weather, which lasts till May. The inhabitants of this island, though all resembling each other in colour and stature, and all Mahometans, differ considerably in language and government. The mountaineers, or _Hillanoons_, who inhabit the interior, and are masters of the gold-mines, are also rich in bees-wax, both of which they exchange with the _Mindanayans_ on the coast for foreign commodities. The _Sologus_ inhabit the N.W. end of the island, and traffic with the inhabitants of Manilla and some other adjacent islands, but not with the Mindanayans. The _Alfoores_ were formerly under the same government with the Mindanayans, but were separated from them by falling to the share of the younger children of the sultan of Mindanao, who has of late laid claim to their allegiance.