In this account of the island of Savu it must be remem bered, that except the facts in which we were parties, and the account of the objects which we had an opportunity to examine, the whole is founded merely upon the report of Mr. Lange, upon whofe authority alone therefore it must rest. 1770. September. Friday 21. BIBLI Saturday 22. Sunday 23. Monday 24. CHA P. X. The Run from the Island of Savu to Batavia, and an IN N the morning of Friday the 21ft of September, 1770, we got under fail, and flood away to the weftward, along the north fide of the island of Savu, and of the smaller that lies to the weftward of it, which at noon bore from us S. S. E. diftant two leagues. At four o'clock in the afternoon, we discovered a small low ifland, bearing S. S. W. diftant three leagues, which has no place in any chart now extant, at leaft in none that I have been able to procure: it lies in latitude 10° 47′ S, longitude 238° 28′ W. At noon on the 22d, we were in latitude 11° 10′ S., longitude 240° 38′ W. In the evening of the 23d, we found the variation of the needle to be 2° 44′ W.; as foon as we got clear of the islands we had conftantly a swell from the southward, which I imagined was not caufed by a wind blowing from that quarter, but by the sea being fo determined by the pofition of the coast of New Holland. At noon on the 26th, being in latitude 10° 47′ S., longiWednef. 26. tude 249° 52′ W. we found the variation to be 3° 10' W, and our fituation to be twenty-five miles to the northward of the log; for which I know not how to account. At noon on the Thursday 27. 27th, our latitude by obfervation was 10° 51′ S. which was agreeable to the log; and our longitude was 252° 11' W. We fteered N. W. all day on the 28th, in order to make the land Friday 28. land of Java; and at noon on the 29th, our latitude by obser- 1770. September. vation was 9° 31'S., longitude 254° 10′ W.; and in the mornSaturday 29. ing of the 30th, I took into my poffeffion the log-book and Sunday 30. journals, at least all I could find, of the officers, petty officers, and feamen, and enjoined them fecrecy with respect to where they had been. At seven in the evening, being in the latitude of Java Head, and not feeing any land, I concluded that we were too far to the weftward: I therefore hauled up E. N. E. having before fteered N. by E. In the night, we had thunder and lightning; and about twelve o'clock, by the light of the flashes, we saw the land bearing eaft. I then tacked and stood to the S. W. till four o'clock in the morning of the ift of October; and at fix, Java Head, or the weft end of Java, bore S. E. by E. diftant five leagues: foon after we saw Prince's Ifland, bearing E. S.; and at ten, the island of Cracatoa, bearing N. E. Cracatoa is a remarkably high-peaked ifland, and at noon it bore N. 40 E. diftant feven leagues. I must now observe that, during our run from Savu, I allowed twenty minutes a-day for the wefterly current, which I concluded must run ftrong at this time, especially off the coast of Java, and I found that this allowance was just equivalent to the effect of the current upon the fhip. October: Monday At four o'clock in the morning of the 2d, we fetched close Tuesday z. in with the coast of Java, in fifteen fathom; we then stood along the coaft, and early in the forenoon, I fent the boat ashore to try if she could procure fome fruit for Tupia, who was very ill, and some grass for the buffaloes that were still alive. In an hour or two she returned with four cocoa-nuts, and a small bunch of plantains, which had been purchased for a fhilling, and fome herbage for the cattle, which the Indians not only gave us, but assisted our people to cut. The country 3 1770. October. Tuesday 2. Wednef. 3. country looked like one continued wood, and had a very pleasant appearance. About eleven o'clock, we faw two Dutch fhips lying off Anger Point, and I fent Mr. Hicks on board of one of them to enquire news of our country, from which we had been absent fo long. In the mean time it fell calm, and about noon I anchored in eighteen fathom with a muddy bottom. When Mr. Hicks returned, he reported that the ships were Dutch East Indiamen from Batavia, one of which was bound to Ceylon, and the other to the coaft of Malabar; and that there was also a flyboat or packet, which was faid to be ftationed here to carry letters from the Dutch ships that came hither to Batavia, but which I rather think was appointed to examine all fhips that pafs the Streight: from these ships we heard, with great pleasure, that the Swallow had been at Batavia about two years before. At feven o'clock a breeze sprung up at S. S. W. with which having weighed, we ftood to the N. E. between Thwart-theway-Ifland and the Cap, founding from eighteen to twentyeight fathom: we had but little wind all night, and having a ftrong current against us, we got no further by eight in the morning than Bantam Point. At this time the wind came to the N. E. and obliged us to anchor in two and twenty fathom, at about the distance of two miles from the fhore; the point bore N. E. by E. distant one league, and here we found a ftrong current setting to the N.W. In the morning we had feen the Dutch packet ftanding after us, but when the wind shifted to the N. E. fhe bore away. At fix o'clock in the evening, the wind having obliged us to continue at anchor, one of the country boats came alongfide of us, on board of which was the Master of the packet. He feemed to have two motives for his vifit, one to take an account account of the ship, and the other to sell us refreshments; for in the boat were turtle, fowls, ducks, parrots, paroquets, rice-birds, monkies, and other articles, which they held at a very high price, and brought to a bad market, for our Savu ftock was not yet expended: however, I gave a Spanish dollær for a small turtle, which weighed about fix and thirty pounds; I gave also a dollar for ten large fowls, and afterwards bought fifteen more at the fame price; for a dollar we might also have bought two monkies, or a whole cage of rice-birds. The Mafter of the floop brought with him. two books, in one of which he defired that any of our officers would write down the name of the ship and its Commander, with that of the place from which fhe failed, and of the port to which she was bound, with fuch other parti-culars relating to themselves, as they might think proper, for the information of any of our friends that should come after us: and in the other he entered the names of the ship and the Commander, himself, in order to tranfmit them to the Governor and Council of the Indies. We perceived that in the first book many ships, particularly Portuguese, had made entries of the fame kind with that for which it was pre-fented to us. Mr. Hicks, however, having written the name of the ship, only added "from Europe." He took notice of this, but faid, that he was fatisfied with any thing we thought fit to write, it being intended merely for the infor-mation of those who should enquire after us from motives of friendship.. 1770. October. Wednef. 3. Having made feveral attempts to fail with a wind that would not stem the current, and as often come to an anchor, a proa.came along-fide of us in the morning of the 5th, Friday 5in which was a Dutch officer, who fent me down a printed paper in English, duplicates of which he had in other lan-guages,, |