the west.

On Monday the 12th, we discovered a small island, with trees upon it,
though scarcely bigger than a rock; and I called it _Current Island_. It
lies in latitude 4 deg.40'N. longitude 14 deg.24'W. of Queen Charlotte's
Foreland. The next day, we discovered two other small islands, which I
called _Saint Andrew's Islands_. They lie in latitude 5 deg.18'N. longitude
14 deg.47'W. of Queen Charlotte's Foreland. I called the small island
Current Island, because we had here a southerly current so strong that
it set us from twenty-four to thirty miles southward every day, besides
the difference it might make in our longitude. The wind was now
variable, blowing by turns from every point in the compass, with much
rain and hard squalls. On Tuesday the 20th, being in latitude 8 deg.N. it
blew with such violence that we were obliged to lie-to sixty-four hours.
This gale, which made a very great sea, I supposed to be the shifting of
the monsoon; and, notwithstanding the southerly current, it drove us,
while we lay-to, as far as nine degrees northward.

SECTION VIII.

_Some Account of the Coast of Mindanao, and the Islands near it, in
which some Mistakes of Dampier are corrected._

On the 26th, we discovered land again, but not being able to make an
observation, we could ascertain our latitude and longitude only by our
dead reckoning; the next day, however, was more favourable, and I then
found the effect of the current had been so great, that I was obliged to
add to the log S.W. by S. no less than sixty-four miles for the last two
days. We now knew that the land we had seen was the north-east part of
the island of Mindanao.[60] As I had many sick people on board, and was
in the most pressing need of refreshments, I determined to try what
could be procured in a bay which Dampier has described as lying on the
south-east part of the island, and which, he says, furnished him with
great plenty of deer from a savannah. I therefore coasted that side of
the island, and that I might be sure not to miss the bay, I sent out the
lieutenant with the boat and a proper number of hands, to keep in-shore
a-head of the ship. No such bay, however, was to be found; but, at the
very southernmost extremity of the island, they opened a little nook, at
the bottom of which was a town and a fort. As soon as our boat was
discovered by the people on shore, they fired a great gun, and sent off
three boats or canoes full of people. As the lieute