1765. August. many of us fuffered fo feverely, that we were afraid to lie down in our beds; nor were thofe on board in a much better fituation than those on fhore, for great numbers of these creatures being carried into the fhip with the wood, they took poffeffion of every birth, and left the poor feamen no place of reft either below or upon the deck. As foon as we were fettled in our new habita tions, I fent out parties to difcover the haunts of the cattle, fome of which were found but at a great distance from the tents, and the beafts were fo fhy that it was very difficult to get a fhot at them. Some of the parties which, when their haunts had been discovered, were fent out to kill them, were abfent three days and nights before they could fucceed; and when a bullock had been dragged feven or eight miles through fuch woods and lawns as have just been described, to the tents, it was generally full of fly-blows, and stunk so as to be unfit for ufe: nor was this the worft, for the fatigue of the men in bringing down the carcass, and the intolerable heat they suffered from the climate and the labour, frequently brought on fevers which laid them up. Poultry however we procured upon easier terms: there was great plenty of birds, and they were eafily killed; but the flesh of the best of them was very ill-tasted, and such was the heat of the climate that within an hour after they were killed it was as green as grafs, and fwarmed with maggots. Our principal resource for fresh meat, was the wild hog, with which the island abounds. These creatures are very fierce, and fome August. and fome of them fo large that a carcafe fre- 1765. quently weighed two hundred pounds. We killed them without much difficulty, but a Black belonging to the Tamar contrived a method to fnare them, fo that we took great numbers of them alive, which was an unfpeakable advantage; for it not only enfured our eating the flesh while it was sweet, but enabled us to fend a good number of them on board as fea-stores. In the mean time we were very defirous of procuring fome beef in an eatable ftate, with lefs rifk and labour, and Mr. Gore, one of our mates, at laft, difcovered a pleasant spot upon the northweft part of the island, where cattle were in great plenty, and whence they might be brought to the tents by fea. To this place therefore I dispatched a party, with a tent for their accommodation, and fent the boats every day to fetch what they should kill; fometimes however there broke fuch a fea upon the rocks that it was impoffible to approach them, and the Tamar's boat unhappily lost three of her beft men by attempting it. We were now, upon the whole, pretty well fupplied with provifions, especially as we baked fresh bread every day for the fick; and the fatigue of our people being lefs, there were fewer ill with the fever: but several of them were fo much difordered by eating of a very fine looking fish which we caught here, that their recovery was for a long time doubtful. The Author of the Account of Lord Anson's Voyage fays, that the people on board the Centurion thought it prudent to abftain from fish, as the few VOL. I. which L Auguft. 1765. which they caught at their first arrival furfeited thofe who eat of them. But not attending fufficiently to this caution, and too haftily taking the word forfeit in its literal and common acceptation, we imagined that thofe who tafted the fish when Lord Anson first came hither, were made fick merely by eating too much: whereas, if that had been the cafe, there would have been no reafon for totally abstaining afterwards, but only eating temperately. We however bought our knowledge by experience, which we might have had cheaper; for though all our people who tafted this fish, eat sparingly, they were all foon afterwards dangerously ill. Befides the fruit that has been mentioned already, this island produces cotton and indigo in abundance, and would certainly be of great value if it was fituated in the Weft-Indies. The furgeon of the Tamar enclosed a large spot of ground here, and made a very pretty garden, but we did not stay long enough to derive any advantage from it. While we lay here, I fent the Tamar to examine the island of Saypan, which is much larger than Tinian, rifes higher, and, in my opinion, has a much pleasanter appearance. She anchored to the leeward of it, at the distance of a mile from the fhore, and in about ten fathom water, with much the fame kind of ground as we had in the road of Tinian. Her people landed upon a fine fandy beach which is fix or feven miles long, and walked up into the woods, where they faw many trees which were very fit for topmafts, They faw no fowls, Auguft. fowls, nor any tracks of cattle; but of hogs and 1762. guanicoes there was plenty. They found no fresh water near the beach, but faw a large pond inland, which they did not examine. They faw large heaps pearl oyfter-shells thrown up together, and other figns of people having been there not long before: poffibly the Spaniards may go thither at fome feafons of the year, and carry on a pearl fishery. They also saw many of those square pyramidal pillars which are to be found at Tinian, and which are particularly described in the Account of Lord Anson's Voyage. Monday 30. Tuesday t. On Monday the 30th of September, having now September. been here nine weeks, and our fick being pretty well recovered, I ordered the tents to be ftruck, and with the forge and oven carried back to the fhip; I also laid in about two thousand cocoanuts, which I had experienced to be fo powerful a remedy for the fcurvy, and the next day I weighed, October. hoping that before we should get the length of the Bashé Islands, the N. E. monsoon would be set in. I ftood along the fhore to take in the beef-hunters; but we had very little wind this day and the next Wednes, z. till the evening, when it came to the weftward and blew fresh: I then ftood to the northward till the morning of the 3d, when we made Anatacan, an Thursd. 34 island that is remarkably high, and the same that was first fallen in with by Lord Anfon. 1765. October. CHA P. XII. The Run from Tinian to Pulo Timoan, with Some Account of that Ifland, its Inhabitants and Productions, and thence to Batavia. WE E continued our courfe till Thursday the 10th, when being in latitude 18° 33′ N., Thurid, 10. longitude 136° 50' E. we found the fhip two and twenty miles to the fouthward of her account, which must have been the effect of a strong current in that direction. The variation here was 5° Io' E., and for fome time we found it regularly decreasing, so that on the 19th, being in latitude 21° 10' N., longitude 124° 17′ E., the needle pointed due north. On the 18th, we had found the fhip eighteen miles to the northward of her account, and faw feveral land birds about the fhip, which appeared to be very much tired: we caught one as it was refting upon the booms, and found it very remarkable. It was about as big as a goofe, and all over as white as fnow, except the legs and beak which were black; the beak was curved, and of fo great a length and thickness, that it is not easy to conceive how the muscles of the neck, which was about a foot long and as fmall as that of a crane, could fupport it. We kept it about four months upon biscuit and water, but it then died, apparently for want of nourishment, being almost as |