They are governed by a sultan, who has no great revenue, yet is so absolute that he even commands the private purse of every one at his pleasure.  The reigning sultan was between fifty and sixty years old, and had twenty-nine concubines besides his wife or sultana.  When he goes abroad he is carried in a couch on the shoulders of four men, and is attended by a guard of eight or ten men.  His brother, named Rajah Laut, a shrewd person of good conversation, is both chief minister and general, and both speaks and writes Spanish very readily.  In war they use swords and lances, and every one, from the highest to the lowest, constantly wears a criss or dagger, much like a bayonet.  They never fight any pitched battles, but construct small wooden forts defended by guns, whence the adverse parties endeavour to surprise each other in small parties, and never give or take quarter.

We came first to anchor on the N.E. side of the island, but learning from the natives that the city of Mindanao was on the W. side, we again set sail and anchored on the 4th July on the S.W. side of a very deep bay in fifteen fathoms, the land within the bay on the E. side being very high and woody, but watered by several rivers.  On its W. side, bordering on the sea, there were large plains covered with long grass, on which were vast herds of deer, of which we killed as many as we thought fit.  We remained here till the 12th, when we again set sail, and arrived on the 18th at the entrance of the river of Mindanao, in lat. 7 deg.  N. and long. 124 deg. 35’ E. from Greenwich.[192] We here anchored in fifteen fathoms on clean hard sand, two miles from the shore.  Soon afterwards Rajah Laut came on board, accompanied by one of the sultan’s sons, and asked in Spanish, Who we were?  Being told we were English, he asked if we came to settle among them, of which they had formerly some promise, and were now in hopes of its being effected, to serve to protect them against the Dutch, whom they greatly dreaded.  Had we properly considered the matter, it might have been much for our advantage, Mindanao being conveniently situated between the Spice islands and the Philippines, and besides the three islands of Meangis,[193] only about twenty leagues from hence, abound with spice and cloves.  We were also well filled for such a settlement, having among our company all manner of artificers, as carpenters, bricklayers, shoemakers, tailors, and the like, as also abundance of tools, arms, cannon, and sufficient ammunition to begin with; and, notwithstanding the great distance from England, we might easily have had supplies from thence, providing ships set out the latter end of August, proceeding round Cape Horn, and so directly across the Pacific for Mindanao, or else coasting along the western shore of America as far as was necessary, and then stretching across to have the advantage of the trade-wind.  By this way the voyage might be accomplished in six or seven months, which would at least require eight or nine by the Cape of Good Hope.