The Floors Are Generally Well Covered With Mats,
And They Have No Chairs, But Usually Sit Cross-Legged.
Their ordinary
food is rice, sago, and some small fish; but the better people use
buffaloe beef, and fowl, with a great deal of rice, every one using
their fingers, as they have no spoons.
The inhabitants of the city of
Mindanao speak both the Mindanayan and Malay languages, and their
prayers are in Arabic, in which also they retain some Turkish words.
Some of the old people of both sexes can speak Spanish, as the Spaniards
had formerly several forts in the island, and had assuredly reduced the
whole if they had not been afraid of an attack from the Chinese at
Manilla, on which account they withdrew their troops from Mindanao, when
the father of the present sultan laid hold of the opportunity to gain
possession of their forts, and to expel them from the island. At present
they are most in fear of the Dutch, for which reason they have often
invited the English to make a settlement among them, believing them not
so ready to encroach as either of the other nations.
The chief trades in this city are goldsmiths, blacksmiths, carpenters,
and shipwrights, for they build good ships both for war and trade. Their
chief commodities for export are gold, bees-wax, and tobacco; the two
first being purchased from the mountaineers, and the last grows in all
parts of the island in great plenty. They exchange these commodities for
calicoes, muslins, and China silks.
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