certain islands of Asia, lying between 114 and 131 degrees of east longitude, and between 5 and 19 of north latitude, about 300 miles south-east of China. The chief of them are those of Luconia or Manilla, Tandaga or Samar, Mosbate, Mindora, Luban, Paragoa, Panay, Leyte, Bohol, Sibu, Sogbu, Negros, St John, Xollo, and Mindanao. They were discovered by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese gentleman, who had served his native country both in the wars of Africa and in the East Indies; particularly under Albuquerque, the famous Portuguese general, who reduced Goa and Malacca to the Philipine, the obedience of that crown. Magellan, having had a considerable share in those actions, and finding himself neglected by the government of Portugal, and even denied, as it is said, the small advance of a ducat a month in his pay, left the court of Portugal in disgust, and offered his service to Charles V., then emperor of Germany and king of Spain, whom he convinced of the probability of discovering a way to the Spice Islands, in the East Indies, by the west; whereupon, the command of five small ships being given him, he set sail from Seville, on the tenth of August 1519, and standing over to the coast of South America, proceeded southward to 52°, where he fortunately hit upon a strait, since called the Strait of Magellan, which carried him into the Pacific Ocean or South Sea; and then, steering northward, repassed the equator; after which, he stretched away to the west, across that vast ocean, till he arrived at Guam, one of the Ladrones, on the sixth of March 1521; and soon after got to the Philippine Islands, which he took possession of in the name of the king of Spain, but happened to be killed in a skirmish he had with the natives of one of them. His people, however, arrived afterwards at the Moluccas, or Clove Islands, where they left a colony, and returned to Spain, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope; being the first that ever sailed round the globe. But there was no attempt made by the Spaniards to subdue or plant the Philippine Islands until the year 1564, in the reign of Philip II., son of Charles V., when Don Lewis de Velasco, viceroy of Mexico, sent Michael Lopez Delagafes thither with a fleet, and a force sufficient to make a conquest of these islands, which he named the Philippines, in honour of Philip II., then upon the throne of Spain; and they have ever since been subject to that crown.

The inhabitants of these islands consist of Chinese, Ethiopians, Malays, Spaniards, Portuguese, Pintados or Painted People, and Mestees, a mixture of all these. Their persons and habits resemble those of the several nations whence they derive their original; only, it is observable, that the features of the blacks of these islands are as agreeable as those of the white people. There is not a soil in the world that produces greater plenty of all things for life; as appears by the multitude of inhabitants to be found in the woods and mountains, who subsist almost entirely by the fruits of the earth, and the venison they take. Nor can any country appear more beautiful; for there is a perpetual verdure, and buds, blossoms, and fruit, are found upon the trees all the year round, as well on the mountains as in the cultivated gardens. Vast quantities of gold are washed down from the hills by the rains, and found mixed with the sand of their rivers. There are also mines of other metals, and excellent load-stones found here; and such numbers of wild buffaloes, that a good huntsman on horseback, armed with a spear, will kill 10 or 20 in a day. The Spaniards take them for their hides, which they sell to the Chinese; and their carcases serve the mountaineers for food. Their woods also abound with deer, wild hogs, and goats. Of the last, there is such plenty in one of these islands, that the Spaniards gave it the name of Cabras. Horses and cows have been likewise imported into these islands, from New Spain, China, and Japan, which have multiplied considerably; but Philippine sheep that were brought over came to nothing.

The trees produce a great variety of gums; one kind, which is the commonest, by the Spaniards called brea, is used instead of pitch; of the others, some are medicinal, others odoriferous.

In those islands are monkeys and baboons of monstrous bigness, that will defend themselves if attacked by men. When they can find no fruit in the mountains, they go down to the sea to catch crabs and oysters; and that the oysters may not close and catch their paws, they first put in a stone to prevent their shutting close: they take crabs by putting their tail in the holes where they lie, and when the crab lays hold of it, they draw him out. There are also great numbers of civet-cats in some of the islands. The bird called tavany, is a black sea-fowl, something less than a hen, and has a long neck; it lays its eggs in the sand by the sea-side, 40 or 50 in a trench, and then covers them, and they are hatched by the heat of the sun. They have likewise the bird falagan, which builds her nest on the sides of rocks, as the swallows do against a wall; and these are the delicious Birds-Nest, so much esteemed, being a kind of jelly that dissolves in warm water.

The Spaniards have introduced several of the American fruits, which thrive here as well as in America; the cocoa or chocolate-nut particularly, which increases so that they have no occasion now to import it from Mexico. Here is also the Fountain-Tree, from which the natives draw water; and there is likewise a kind of cane, by the Spaniards called waxaco, which, if cut, yields fair water enough for a draught, of which there are plenty in the mountains, where water is most wanted.

These islands being hot and moist, produce abundance of venomous creatures, as the soil does poisonous herbs and flowers, which do not kill those who touch or taste them, but so infect the air, that many people die in the time of their blooming.

The orange, lemon, and several other trees, bear twice a year. If they plant a sprig, within a year it becomes a tree, and bears fruit; and therefore, without any hyperbole, says our author, I may affirm, that I never saw such a luxuriant verdant foil, nor woods full of such old, large, and lofty trees, nor trees that yield more sustenance to man, in any part of the world. However, these islands, besides the inconveniences mentioned above, are also subject to earthquakes, which are sometimes very fatal.

The whole number of them is said to be 1100.