in either of the ships; but as I knew it to be more unhealthy than any other part of the East Indies, as the rainy season was at hand, and arrack was to be procured in great plenty, I determined to make my stay here as short as possible. I went on shore to wait upon the Dutch governor, but was told that he was at his country-house, about four miles distant from the town. I met however with an officer, called a shebander, who is a kind of master of the ceremonies, and he acquainted me, that if I chose to go to the governor immediately, rather than wait for his coming to town, he would attend me; I accepted his offer, and we set out together in his chariot. The governor received me with great politeness, and told me, that I might either take a house in any part of the city that I should like, or be provided with lodgings at the hotel. This hotel is a licensed lodging-house, the only one in the place, and kept by a Frenchman, an artful fellow, who is put in by the governor himself. It has indeed more the appearance of a palace than a house of entertainment, being the most magnificent building in Batavia; nor would a small edifice answer the purpose, for as there is a penalty of five hundred dollars upon any person in the city who shall suffer a stranger to sleep a single night at his house, the strangers who make it their residence are never few: All the houses indeed have a stately appearance on the outside, and are elegantly fitted up within, and we were told that the Chinese, of whom there are great numbers at this place, were the architects. The city is large, and the streets well laid out, but they have greatly the appearance of those in the cities of Holland, for a canal runs through most of them, with a row of trees planted on each side: This is convenient for the merchants, who have every thing brought up to their own doors by water, but it probably contributes to the unhealthiness of the place; the canal, indeed, as the city is built in a swamp, might be necessary as a drain, but the trees, though they have a pleasant appearance, must certainly prevent the noxious vapours that are perpetually arising, from being dispersed, by obstructing the circulation of the air.

The number of people here is incredible, and they are of almost every nation in the world, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Persians, Moors, Malays, Javanese, and many others: The Chinese, however, have a large town to themselves, without the walls, and carry on a considerable trade, for

they

they have annually ten or twelve large junks from China; and to these the opulence of the Dutch at Batavia is in a great measure owing. The beef here is bad, and the mutton scarce, but the poultry and fish are excellent and in great plenty. Here are also the greatest variety and abundance of the finest fruit in the world, but the musquitos, centipedes, scorpions, and other noxious vermin, which are innumerable, are extremely troublesome, especially to strangers. The roads, for many miles about the city, are as good as any in England: They are very broad, and by the side of them runs a canal, shaded by tall trees, which is navigable for vessels of a very large size : On the other side of the canal are gardens of a very pleasant appearance, and country-houses of the citizens, where they spend as much of their time as possible, the situation being less unwholesome than the city; and there are so few of them who do not keep a carriage, that it is almost a disgrace to be seen on foot.

At this place I continued from the 28th of November to the 10th of December, when, having procured what refreshments I could for my people, and taken on board a sufficient quantity of rice and arrack, to serve for the rest of the voyage, I weighed anchor and made sail. The fort saluted me with eleven guns, and the Dutch commodore with thirteen, which I returned; we were saluted also by the English ship. We worked down to Prince's Island, in the strait of Sunda, and came to an anchor there on the 14th. In this passage, the boats came off to us from the Java shore, and supplied us with turtle in such plenty, that neither of the ship's companies eat any thing else. We lay at Prince's Island till the 19th, and during all that time we subsisted wholly upon the same food, which was procured from the inhabitants at a very reasonable rate. Having now taken on board as much wood and water as we could stow, we weighed, and got without Java Head before night: But by this time a dangerous putrid fever had broken out among us; three of my people had died, and many others now lay in so dangerous a condition that there were little hopes of their recovery: We did not, however, bury one at Batavia, which, notwithstanding our stay was so short, was thought to be a very extraordinary instance of good fortune; and our sick gradually recovered after we had been a week or

two at sea.

SECTION

SECTION XIV.

The Passage from Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope, and from thence to England.

WE continued our course, without any event worthy of notice, (except that one of my best men unhappily fell overboard and was drowned,) till Monday the 10th of February, when, at six o'clock in the morning, we saw the coast of Africa, bearing from N.N.W. to N.E. distant about seven leagues: It made in several high hills, and white sandy cliffs, and its latitude was 34° 15′ S. longitude 21° 45′ E.; the variation here was 22° W. and our depth of water fifty-three fathom, with a bottom of coarse brown sand.

I stood in for the land, and when I was within about two leagues of it, I saw a great smoke rising from a sandy beach. I imagined the smoke to be made by the Hottentots; yet I was astonished at their chusing this part of the coast for their residence, for it consisted of nothing but sand-banks as far as we could see, without the least bush or a single blade of verdure, and so heavy a sea broke upon the coast, that it was impossible to catch any fish.

On Wednesday the 12th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we were abreast of Cape Lagullas, from which the coast lies W.N.W. to the Cape of Good Hope, which is distant about thirty leagues. The next day we passed between Penguin Island and Green Point, and worked into Table Bay with our top-sails close reefed, there being a strong gale, with hard squalls, at S.S.E. At three o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored, and saluted the fort, which wás returned. The Dutch told me, that none of their ships could have worked in such a gale of wind, and that we seemed to come in faster than they were generally able to do when the wind was fair.

The next morning, I waited upon the governor, who had sent his coach and six to the water-side for me. He was an old man, but a favourite with all ranks of people: He received me with the greatest politeness, and not only offered me the company's house in the garden for my residence while I should continue at the Cape, but his coach

whenever

whenever I should think fit to use it. As I was one day at dinner with him, and some other gentlemen, I took occasion to mention the smoke that I had seen upon one of the sandy beaches on a desolate part of the coast, and the surprisewith which it had struck me: They then told me that another ship, some time before, had fallen in with that part of the coast, and had seen large smokes as I had done, although the place was uninhabited, and supposed to be an island: To account for the smokes, however, they told me also, that two Dutch East Indiamen had, about two years before, sailed from Batavia for the Cape, and had never afterwards been heard of; and it was supposed that one or, both of them had been shipwrecked there, and that the smokes which had been seen, were made by some of the unfortunate crew: They added, that they had more than once sent out vessels to look for them, but that there broke so dreadful a sea upon the coast, they were obliged to return without attempting to go on shore. When I heard this melancholy account, I could only regret that I had not known it before, for I would then certainly have made every effort in my power to have found these unhappy wretches, and taken them from a place where, in all probability, they would miserably perish.

The cape is certainly a most excellent place for ships to touch at; it is a healthy climate, a fine country, and abounds with refreshments of every kind. The company's garden is a delightful spot, and at the end of it there is a paddock belonging to the governor, in which are kept a great number of rare and curious animals, and among others, when I was there, there were three fine ostriches, and four zebras of an uncominon size. I gave all the people leave to go on shore by turns, and they always contrived to get very drunk with cape wine before they came back. Many ships came in while we lay here; some were Dutch, some French, some Danes, but all were outward-bound.

Having continued here three weeks, and during that time. refreshed our men, and completed our water, I took leave of the good old governor on the 6th of March, and on the 7th, sailed out of the bay, with a fine breeze at S.E.

On Sunday the 16th, at six in the morning, we saw the island of St Helena, bearing W. by N. at the distance of about sixteen leagues, and about noon, a large ship, which shewed French colours. We pursued our course, and a

few

few days afterwards, as we were sailing with a fine gale, and at a great distance from land, the ship suddenly received a rude shock, as if she had struck the ground: This instantly brought all who were below upon the deck in great consternation, and upon looking out we saw the water to a very large extent, tinged with blood; this put an end to our fears, and we concluded that we must have struck either a whale or a grampus, from which the ship was not likely to receive much damage, nor in fact did she receive any. About this time also we had the misfortune to bury our carpenter's mate, a very ingenious and diligent young man, who had never been well after our leaving Batavia.1

On the 25th, we crossed the equator, in longitude 17° 10′ W. and the next morning, Captain Cumming came on board, and informed me that the Tamar's three lower rudder-braces on the stern were broken off, which rendered the rudder unserviceable. I immediately sent the carpenter on board, who found the condition of the braces even worse than had been reported, so that the rudder could not possibly be new hung; he therefore went to work upon a machine, like that which had been fixed to the Ipswich, and by which she was steered home: This machine in about five days he completed, and with some little alterations of his own, it was an excellent piece of work. The Tamar steered very well with it, but thinking that it might not be sufficient to secure her in bad weather, or upon a lee-shore, I ordered Captain Cumming to run down to Antigua, that he might there heave the ship down, and get the rudder new hung, with a fresh set of braces which he had with him for that purpose; for the braces with which the ship went out, being of iron, were not expected to last as long

"By the tenderness and care of the Honourable Mr Byron, our excellent commodore, in causing the crews to be served with portable soup, and with the greatest humanity distributing provisions to the sick from his own table, that dreadful disease the sea-scurvy was rendered less inveterate and fatal, and we lost a less number of men, than any other ship in such a voyage: For, to the honour of that humane commander, let it be known to posterity, that under him the Dolphin and Tamar encompassed the earth, and in so long a voyage through various seas and climates, and after sailing several thousand leagues under the torrid zone, lost six men only out of each ship, including those that were drowned: A number so inconsiderable, that it is highly probable more of them would have died had they staid on shore."