These Are A Range Of Large Islands
Reaching From About The Latitude Of 5 Deg.
To about 19 deg.
N. and from long.
120 deg. to 126 deg. 30' E. The principal island of the group is Luzon, or
Luconia, in which Magellan was slain by a poisoned arrow, and which is
now entirely subject to the Spaniards. Their capital city of Manilla is
in this island, being a large town and sea-port, seated at the
south-west end, opposite to the island of Mindora, and is a place of
great strength and much trade, especially occasioned by the Acapulco
ships, which procure here vast quantities of India commodities, brought
hither by the Chinese and Portuguese, and sometimes also by stealth by
the English from fort St George or Madras; for the Spaniards allow of no
regular trade here to the English and Dutch, lest they should discover
their weakness, and the riches of these islands, which abound in gold.
To the south of Luzon there are twelve or fourteen large islands,
besides a great number of small isles, all inhabited by, or subject to,
the Spaniards. But the two most southerly, Mindanao and St John, are not
subjected by the Spaniards.
The Island of St John, or San Juan, is about the lat. of 9 deg. N. on the
east side of Mindanao, and about four leagues from that island, being
about thirty-eight leagues in length from N.N.W. to S.S.E. and about
twenty-four leagues broad in the middle, having a very rich and fertile
soil.
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