The Coast of Mindanao
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Having seen the north east part of the island on the twenty-sixth of October, without certainly knowing whether it was Mindanao or Saint John's, we got nearer to it the next day, and made what we knew to be Saint Augustina, the south eastermost part of the island, which rises in little hummocks, that run down to a low point at the water's edge; it bears N. 40 E. at the distance of two and twenty leagues from a little island, which is distinguished from the other islands that lie off the southermost point of Mindanao by a hill or hummock, and which for that reason I called HUMMOCK ISLAND. All this land is very high, one ridge of mountains rising behind another, so that at a great distance it appears not like one island but several. After our first discovery of the island, we kept turning along the east side from the northward to Cape Saint Augustina, nearly S. by W. ½ W. and N. by E. ½ E. for about twenty leagues. The wind was to the southward along the shore, and as we approached the land, we stood in for an opening which had the appearance of a good bay, where we intended to anchor; but we found that it was too deep for our purpose, and that some shoals rendered the entrance of it dangerous. To this bay, which lies about eight or ten leagues N. by E. from Cape Saint Augustina, the south east extremity of the island, I gave the name of DISAPPOINTMENT BAY. When we were in the offing standing in for this Bay, we observed a large hummock, which had the appearance of an island, but which I believe to be a peninsula, joined by a low isthmus to the main; this hummock formed the northermost part of the entrance, and another high bluff point opposite to it formed the southermost part; between these two points are the shoals that have been mentioned; and several small islands, only one of which can be seen till they are approached very near. On this part of the coast we saw no signs of inhabitants; the land is of a stupendous height, with mountains piled upon mountains till the summits are hidden in the clouds: in the offing therefore it is almost impossible to estimate its distance, for what appear then to be small hillocks, just emerging from the water, in comparison of the mountains that are seen over them, swell into high hills as they are approached, and the distance is found to be thrice as much as it was imagined; perhaps this will account for the land here being so ill laid down, and in situations so very different as it appears to be in all our English charts. We found here a strong current setting to the southward along the shore, as the land trended. The high land that is to the north of Saint Augustina, becomes gradually lower towards the Cape, a low flat point in which it terminates, and off which, at a very little distance, lie two large rocks. Its latitude is 6° 15'N. and the longitude by account 127° 20' E.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 617 - 618, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/617.html