pieces with ball, and fired a second time: by this discharge it is probable that some of them were wounded; yet we had the satisfaction to see that they all ran away with great agility. As I was not disposed forcibly to invade this country, either to gratify our appetites or our curiosity, and perceived that nothing was to be done upon friendly terms, we improved this interval, in which the destruction of the natives was no longer necessary to our own defence, and with all expedition returned towards our boat. As we were advancing along the shore, we perceived that the two men on board made signals that more Indians were coming down; and before we got into the water, we saw several of them coming round a point at the distance of about five hundred yards: it is probable that they had met with the three who first attacked us; for as soon as they saw us they halted, and seemed to wait till their main body should come up. We entered the water, and waded towards the boat; and they remained at their station, without giving us any interruption. As soon as we were aboard we rowed abreast of them, and their number then appeared to be between sixty and a hundred. We now took a view of them at our leisure; they made much the same appearance as the New Hollanders, being nearly of the same stature, and having their hair short-cropped: like them also they were all stark naked, but we thought the colour of their skin was not quite so dark; this, however, might perhaps be merely the effect of their not being quite so dirty. All this while they were shouting defiance, and letting off their fires by four or five at a time. What these fires were, or for what purpose intended, we could not imagine: those who discharged them had in their hands a short piece of stick, possibly a hollow cane, which they swung sideways from them, and we immediately saw fire and smoke, exactly resembling those of a musket, and of no longer duration. This wonderful phenomenon was observed from the ship, and the deception was so great, that the people on board thought they had fire-arms; and in the boat, if we had not been so near as that we must have heard the report, we should have thought they had been firing volleys. After we had looked at them attentively some time, without taking any notice of their flashing and vociferation, we fired some muskets over their heads: upon hearing the balls rattle among the trees, they walked leisurely away, and we returned to the ship. Upon examining the weapons they had thrown at us, we found them to be light darts, about four feet long, very ill-made, of a reed or bamboo cane, and pointed with hard wood, in which there were many barbs. They were discharged with great force; for though we were at sixty yards' distance, they went beyond us, but in what manner we could not exactly see: possibly they might be shot with a bow; but we saw no bows among them when we surveyed them from the boat, and we were in general of opinion, that they were thrown with a stick, in the manner practised by the New Hollanders.

This place lies in the latitude of 6° 15′ S., and about sixty-five leagues to the N.E. of Port St. Augustine, or Walche Caep, and is near what is called in the charts C. de la Colta de St. Bonaventura. The land here, like that in every other part of the coast, is very low, but covered with a luxuriance of wood and herbage that can scarcely be conceived. We saw the cocoa-nut, the bread-fruit, and the plantain-tree, all flourishing in a state of the highest perfection, though the cocoa-nuts were green, and the bread-fruit not in season: besides, most of the trees, shrubs, and plants that are common to the South Sea islands, New Zealand, and New Holland.

Soon after our return to the ship we hoisted in the boat and made sail to the westward, being resolved to spend no more time upon this coast, to the great satisfaction of a very considerable majority of the ship's company. But I am sorry to say that I was strongly urged by some of the officers to send a party of men ashore, and cut down the cocoa-nut trees for the sake of the fruit. This I peremptorily refused, as equally unjust and cruel. The natives had attacked us merely for landing upon their coast, when we attempted to take nothing away; and it was therefore morally certain that they would have made a vigorous effort to defend their property, if it had been invaded, in which case many of them must have fallen a sacrifice to our attempt, and perhaps also some of our own people. I should have regretted the necessity of such a measure, if I had been in want of the necessaries of *These fires do not appear to have been observed by any other navigator; nor has their nature been hitherto explained.-ED.

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life; and certainly it would have been highly criminal, when nothing was to be obtained but two or three hundred of green cocoa-nuts, which would at most have procured us a mere transient gratification. I might indeed have proceeded farther along the coast to the northward and westward, in search of a place where the ship might have lain so near the shore as to cover the people with her guns when they landed; but this would have obviated only part of the mischief, and though it might have secured us, would probably in the very act have been fatal to the natives. Besides, we had reason to think that before such a place

would have been found, we should have been carried so far to the westward as to have been obliged to go to Batavia, on the north side of Java; which I did not think so safe a passage as to the south of Java, through the Straits of Sunda: the ship also was so leaky that I doubted whether it would not be necessary to heave her down at Batavia, which was another reason for making the best of our way to that place; especially as no discovery could be expected in seas which had already been navigated, and where every coast had been laid down by the Dutch geographers. The Spaniards indeed as well as the Dutch, seem to have circumnavigated all the islands in New Guinea, as almost every place that is distinguished in the chart has a name in both languages. The charts with which I compared such part of the coast as I visited, are bound up with a French work, entitled "Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes," which was published in 1756, and I found them tolerably exact; yet I know not by whom, nor when they were taken: and though New Holland and New Guinea are in them represented as two distinct countries, the very History in which they are bound up leaves it in doubt. I pretend, however, to no more merit in this part of the voyage, than to have established the fact beyond all controversy.

As the two countries lie very near each other, and the intermediate space is full of islands, it is reasonable to suppose that they were both peopled from one common stock: yet no intercourse appears to have been kept u between them; for if there had, the cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, plantains, and other fruits of New Guinea, which are equally necessary for the support of life, would certainly have been transplanted to New Holland, where no traces of them are to be found. The author of the "Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes," in his account of Le Maire's voyage, has given a vocabulary of the language that is spoken

in an island near New Britain; and we find, by comparing that vocabulary with the words which we learnt in New Holland, that the languages are not the same. If, therefore, it

should appear that the languages of New Britain and New Guinea are the same, there will be reason to suppose that New Britain and New Guinea were peopled from a common stock ; but that the inhabitants of New Holland had a different origin, notwithstanding the proximity of the countries.

CHAPTER VII.

THE PASSAGE FROM NEW GUINEA TO THE ISLAND OF SAVU, AND THE
TRANSACTIONS THERE.

WE made sail, from noon on Monday the 3rd to noon on Tuesday the 4th, standing to the westward, and all the time kept in soundings, having from fourteen to thirty fathom; not regular, but sometimes more, sometimes less. At noon on the 4th, we were in fourteen fathom, and latitude 60° 44′ S., longitude 223° 51' W.; our course and distance since the 3rd at noon, were S. 76 W. one hundred and twenty miles to the westward. At noon on the 5th of September we were in latitude 7° 25' S., longitude 225° 41' W.; having been in soundings the whole time from ten to twenty fathom.

At half an hour after one in the morning of the next day we passed a small island, which bore from us N.N.W., distant between three and four miles; and at daylight we discovered another low island, extending from N.N.W. to N.N.E., distant about two or three leagues. Upon this island, which did not appear to be very small, I believe I should have landed to examine its produce, if the wind had not blown too fresh to admit of it. When we passed this island we had only ten fathom water, with a rocky bottom; and therefore I was afraid of running down to leeward, lest I should meet with shoal water and foul ground. These islands have no place in the charts, except they are the Arrou islands; and if these, they are laid down much too far from New Guinea. I found the south part of them to lie in latitude 7° 6′ S., longitude 225° W. We continued to steer W.S.W. at the rate of four miles and a half an hour, till ten o'clock at night, when we had forty-two fathom; at eleven we had thirty-seven, at twelve forty-five, at one in the morning forty-nine, and at three one hundred and twenty, after which we had no ground. At daylight we made all the sail we could, and at ten o'clock saw land, extending from N.N.W. to W. by N., distant between five and six leagues at noon it bore from N. to W., and at about the same distance: it appeared to be level, and of a moderate height. By our distance from New Guinea, it ought to have been part of the Arrou islands, but it lies a degree farther to the south than any of these islands are laid down in the charts, and by the latitude should be Timor Laoet: we sounded, but had no ground with fifty fathom. As I was not able to satisfy myself from any chart what land it was that I saw to leeward, and fearing that it might trend away more southerly, the weather also being so hazy that we could not see far, I steered S.W., and by four had lost sight of the island. I was now sure that no part of it lay to the southward of 8° 15′ S., and continued standing to the S.W. with an easy sail, and a fresh breeze at S.E. by E., and E.S.E. we sounded every hour, but had no bottom with 120 fathom.

At day-break, in the morning, we steered W.S. W., and afterwards W. by S., which by noon brought us into the latitude of 9° 30′ S., longitude 229° 34′ W., and by our run from New Guinea, we ought to have been within sight of Weasel isles, which in the charts are laid down at the distance of twenty or twenty-five leagues from the coast of New Holland ; we, however, saw nothing, and, therefore, they must have been placed erroneously; nor can this be thought strange, when it is considered that not only these islands, but the coast which bounds this sea, have been discovered and explored by different people, and at different times, and the charts upon which they are delineated put together by others, perhaps at the distance of more than a century after the discoveries had been made; not to mention that the discoverers themselves had not all the requisites for keeping an accurate journal, of which those of the present age are possessed. We continued our course, steering W. till the evening of the 8th, when the variation of the compass, by several azimuths, was 12′ W., and by the amplitude 5' W. At noon, on the 9th, our latitude, by observation, was 9° 46′ S., longitude 232° 7′ W. For the last two days, we had steered due W., yet by

observation, we made sixteen miles southing, six miles from noon on the 6th to noon on the 7th, and ten miles from noon on the 7th to noon on the 8th, by which it appeared that there was a current setting to the southward. At sunset we found the variation to be 2′ W., and at the same time saw an appearance of very high land bearing N.W.

In the morning of the 10th we saw clearly that what had appeared to be land the night before, was Timor. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 10° 1' S., which was fifteen miles to the southward of that given by the log; our longitude, by observation, was 233° 27′ W. We steered N.W. in order to obtain a more distinct view of the land in sight, till four o'clock in the morning of the 11th, when the wind came to the N.W. and W., with which we stood to the southward till nine, when we tacked and stood N.W., having the wind now at W.S.W. At sunrise the land had appeared to extend from W.N.W. to N.E., and at noon we could see it extend to the westward as far as W. by S. & S., but no farther to the eastward than N. by E. We were now well assured, that as the first land we had seen was Timor, the last island we had passed was Timor Laoet, or Laut. Laoet is a word in the language of Malacca signifying "sea," and this island was named by the inhabitants of that country. The south part of it lies in latitude 8° 15′ S., longitude 228° 10′ W., but in the charts the south point is laid down in various latitudes, from 8° 30′ to 9° 30': it is indeed possible that the land we saw might be some other island, but the presumption to the contrary is very strong: for if Timor Laut had lain where it is placed in the charts, we must have seen it there. We were now in latitude 9° 37′ S.; longitude, by an observation of the sun and moon, 233° 54′ W.; we were the day before in 233° 27′; the difference is 27', exactly the same that was given by the log: this, however, is a degree of accuracy in observation that is seldom to be expected. In the afternoon we stood in shore till eight in the evening, when we tacked and stood off, being at the distance of about three leagues from the land, which at sunset extended from S. W. W. to N.E.: at this time we sounded, and had no ground with 140 fathom. At midnight, having but little wind, we tacked and stood in, and at noon the next day our latitude, by observation, was 9° 36′ S. This day we saw smoke on shore in several places, and had seen many fires during the night. The land appeared to be very high, rising in gradual slopes one above another: the hills were in general covered with thick woods, but among them we could distinguish naked spots of a considerable extent, which had the appearance of having been cleared by art. At five o'clock in the afternoon we were within a mile and a half of the shore, in sixteen fathom water, and abreast of a small inlet into the low land, which lies in latitude 9° 34' S., and probably is the same that Dampier entered with his boat, for it did not seem to have sufficient depth of water for a ship. The land here answered well to the description that he has given of it: close to the beach it was covered with high spiry trees, which he mentions as having the appearance of pines; behind these there seemed to be salt-water creeks, and many mangroves, interspersed however with cocoa-nut trees: the flat land at the beach appeared in some places to extend inward two or three miles before the rise of the first hill; in this part, however, we saw no appearance of plantations or houses, but great fertility; and from the number of fires, we judged that the place must be well peopled.

S. The south-
While we were

When we had approached within a mile and a half of the shore, we tacked and stood off, and the extremes of the coast then extended from N.E. by E. to W. by S. westerly extremity was a low point, distant from us about three leagues. standing in for the shore, we sounded several times, but had no ground till we came within about two miles and a half, and then we had five-and-twenty fathom, with a soft bottom. After we had tacked, we stood off till midnight, with the wind at S.; we then tacked and stood two hours to the westward, when the wind veered to S. W. and W.S.W., and we then stood to the southward again. In the morning we found the variation to be 1° 10′ W. by the amplitude, and by the azimuth 1o 27'. At noon our latitude was, by observation, 9° 45′ S., our longitude 234° 12′ W.; we were then about seven leagues distant from the land, which extended from N. 31 E., to W.S.W. W.

With light land breezes from W. by N. for a few hours in a morning, and sea breezes from S.S.W. and S., we advanced to the westward but slowly. At noon, on the 14th, we were between six and seven leagues from the land, which extended from N. by E. to S. 78

W.; we still saw smoke in many places by day, and fire by night, both upon the low land and the mountains beyond it. We continued steering along the shore, till the morning of the 15th, the land still appearing hilly, but not so high as it had been the hills in general came quite down to the sea, and where they did not, we saw instead of flats and mangrove land, immense groves of cocoa-nut trees, reaching about a mile up from the beach: there the plantations and houses commenced, and appeared to be innumerable. The houses were shaded by groves of the fan-palm, or borassus, and the plantations, which were inclosed by a fence, reached almost to the tops of the highest hills. We saw, however, neither people nor cattle, though our glasses were continually employed, at which we were not a little surprised. We continued our course, with little variation, till nine o'clock in the morning of the 16th, when we saw the small island called ROTTE; and at noon the island SEMAU, lying off the south end of Timor, bore N.W.

Dampier, who has given a large description of the island of Timor, says, that it is seventy leagues long, and sixteen broad, and that it lies nearly N.E. and S.W. I found the east side of it to lie nearest N.E. by E. and S. W. by W., and the south end to lie in latitude 10° 23′ S., longitude 236° 5' W. We ran about forty-five leagues along the east side, and found the navigation altogether free from danger. The land, which is bounded by the sea, except near the south end is low for two or three miles within the beach, and in general intersected by salt creeks: behind the low land are mountains, which rise one above another to a considerable height. We steered W.N.W. till two in the afternoon, when being within a small distance of the north end of Rotte, we hauled up N.N.W. in order to go between it and Semau: after steering three leagues upon this course, we edged away N.W. and W. and by six we were clear of all the islands. At this time, the south part of Semau,

2

which lies in latitude 10° 15′ S., bore N.E. distant four leagues, and the island of Rotte extended as far to the southward as S. 36 W. The north end of this island, and the south end of Timor, lie N. E. and S. W., and are about three or four leagues distant from each other. At the west end of the passage between Rotte and Semau, are two small islands, one of which lies near the Rotte shore, and the other off the south-west point of Semau; there is a good channel between them, about six miles broad, through which we passed. The isle of Rotte has not so lofty and mountainous an appearance as Timor, though it is agreeably diversified by hill and valley on the north side, there are many sandy beaches, near which grew some trees of the fan-palm, but the far greater part was covered with a kind of brushy wood, that was without leaves. The appearance of Semau was nearly the same with that of Timor, but not quite so high. About ten o'clock at night, we observed a phenomenon in the heavens which, in many particulars, resembled the aurora borealis, and in others was very different: it consisted of a dull reddish light, and reached about twenty degrees above the horizon: its extent was very different at different times, but it was never less than eight or ten points of the compass: through and out of this passed rays of light of a brighter colour, which vanished, and were renewed nearly in the same time as those of the aurora borealis, but had no degree of the tremulous or vibratory motion which is observed in that phenomenon: the body of it bore S.S.E. from the ship, and it continued, without any diminution of its brightness, till twelve o'clock, when we retired to sleep, but how long afterwards I cannot tell.

Being clear of all the islands which are laid down in the maps we had on board, between Timor and Java, we steered a west course till six o'clock the next morning, when we unexpectedly saw an island bearing W.S.W., and at first I thought we had made a new discovery. We steered directly for it, and by ten o'clock were close in with the north side of it, where we saw houses, cocoa-nut trees, and to our very agreeable surprise, numerous flocks of sheep. This was a temptation not to be resisted by people in our situation, especially as many of us were in a bad state of health, and many still repining at my not having touched at Timor: it was therefore soon determined to attempt a commerce with people who appeared to be so well able to supply our many necessities, and remove at once the sickness and discontent that had got footing among us. The pinnace was hoisted out, and Mr. Gore, the second lieutenant, sent to see if there was any convenient place to land, taking with him some trifles as presents to the natives, if any of them should appear.