A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xii Part 20

The next day, we made some islands which lie not far from that place, and saw, what sometimes we took for shoals, and sometimes for boats with men on board, but what afterwards appeared to be trees, and other drift, floating about, with birds sitting upon them; we suddenly found ourselves twenty miles farther to the southward than we expected, for the current, which had for some time set us to the northward, had set us to the southward during the night. We now hauled up east, and E. 1/2 N.

intending to have gone to the northward of a shoal, which has no name in our East India Pilot, but which the Dutch call the Thumb: By noon, however, we found ourselves upon it, our water shallowing at once to four fathom, with rocky ground. We now hauled off to the south-west, and keeping the boat a-head to sound, ran round the west side of the shoal in ten and twelve fathom; our water deepening when we hauled off to the west, and shallowing when we hauled off east. Our lat.i.tude, by observation, when we were upon the shoal, was 5 20' S. and the northernmost of the islands, called the Three Brothers, then, bore S. 81 E. at the distance of five or six leagues. This island is, in the English Pilot, called Don Dinanga, but by the Dutch the North Brother.

Between the Three Brothers, and the main of Celebes, there is another island, much larger than either of them, called the island of Tonikiky; but none of them are inhabited, though there are a few huts belonging to fishermen upon them all. The pa.s.sage between the shoal and this island is clear and good, with from ten to thirteen fathom and a sandy bottom; but the soundings are to be kept on the side of the island in twelve fathom, and never under ten: It is, however, very difficult and dangerous for ships to fall in with the land this way without a pilot on board, for there are many shoals and rocks under water. I ran in by a chart in the English East India Pilot, which upon the whole I round a good one, though the names of the islands, points, and bays, differ very much from those by which they are now known. When we got near to the Celebes sh.o.r.e, we had land and sea-breezes, which obliged us to edge along the coast, though our strength was so much reduced, that it was with the utmost difficulty we could work the stream anchor.

In the evening of Tuesday the 15th, we anch.o.r.ed at about the distance of four miles from the town of Maca.s.sar, which, according to my account, lies in lat.i.tude 5 10' or 5 12' S., longitude 117 28'E. having spent no less than five and thirty weeks in out pa.s.sage from the Streight of Magellan.

I have been the more particular in my description of as much as I saw of this streight, because all the charts, both English and French, that I consulted, are extremely deficient and erroneous, and because an exact knowledge of it may be of great service to our China trade: The ships by which that trade is carried on, may pa.s.s this way with as little danger as by the common one, which lies along the Pra.s.sel shoals; and when they miss their pa.s.sage to China, in the south-east monsoon, and lose the season, they may be sure of a clear channel here, and fair winds at W.S.W., W. and round to W.N.W., in November, December, and the four following months: I am also of opinion, that it is a better and shorter way to go to the N.E. and eastward of the Philippine Islands, than to thread the Moluccas, or coast New Guinea, where there are shoals, currents, and innumerable other dangers, as they were forced to do when the French were cruising for them in the common pa.s.sage during the last war.

SECTION X.

_Transactions off Maca.s.sar, and the Pa.s.sage thence to Bonthain._

The same night that we came to an anchor, at about eleven o'clock, a Dutchman came on board, who had been dispatched by the governor, to learn who we were. When I made him understand that the ship was an English man-of-war, he seemed to be greatly alarmed, no man-of-war belonging to the King of Great Britain having ever been there before, and I could not by any means persuade him to leave the deck, and go down into the cabin; we parted, however, to all appearance, good friends.

The next morning, at break of day, I sent the lieutenant to the town, with a letter to the governor, in which I acquainted him with the reason of my coming thither, and requested the liberty of the port to procure refreshments for my ship's company, who were in a dying condition, and shelter for the vessel against the approaching storms, till the return of a fit season for sailing to the westward. I ordered that this letter should, without good reason to the contrary, be delivered into the governor's own hand; but when my officer got to the wharf of the town, neither he nor any other person in the boat was suffered to land. Upon his refusal to deliver the letter to a messenger, the governor was made acquainted with it, and two officers, called the shebander and the fiscal, were sent down to him, who, as a reason why he could not deliver the letter to the governor himself, pretended that he was sick, and said, that they came by his express order to fetch it; upon this the letter was at length delivered to them, and they went away. While they were gone, the officer and men were kept on board their boat, exposed to the burning heat of the sun, which was almost vertical at noon, and none of the country boats were suffered to come near enough to sell them any refreshment. In the mean time, our people observed a great hurry and bustle on sh.o.r.e, and all the sloops and vessels that were proper for war were fitted out with the utmost expedition: We should, however, I believe, have been an overmatch for their whole sea force, if all our people had been well. In the mean time I intended to have gone and anch.o.r.ed close to the town; but now the boat was absent, our united strength was not sufficient to weigh the anchor though a small one.

After waiting five hours in the boat, the lieutenant was told that the governor had ordered two gentlemen to wait upon me with an answer to my letter. Soon after he had returned, and made this report, the two gentlemen came on board, and we afterwards learned that one of them was an ensign of the garrison, named Le Cerf, and-the other Mr Douglas, a writer of the Dutch East India company: They delivered me the governor's letter, but it proved to be written in Dutch, a language which not a single person on board could understand: The two gentlemen who brought it, however, both spoke French, and one of them interpreted the contents to me in that language. The purport of it was, "that I should instantly depart from the port, without coming any nearer to the town; that I should not anchor on any part of the coast, or permit any of my people to land in any place that was under his jurisdiction." Before I made any reply to this letter, I shewed the gentlemen who brought it the number of my sick: At the sight of so many unhappy wretches, who were dying of languor and disease, they seemed to be much affected; and I then urged again the pressing necessity I was under of procuring refreshment, to which they had been witnesses, the cruelty and injustice of refusing to supply me, which was not only contrary to treaty, as we were in a king's ship, but to the laws of nature, as we were human beings: They seemed to admit the force of this reasoning, but they had a short and final answer ready, "that they had absolute and indispensable orders from their masters, not to suffer any ship, of whatever nation, to stay at this port, and that these orders they must implicitly obey." To this I replied, that persons in our situation had nothing worse to fear than what they suffered, and that therefore, if they did not immediately allow me the liberty of the port, to purchase refreshments, and procure shelter, I would, as soon as the wind would permit, in defiance of all their menaces, and all their force, go and anchor close to the town; that if at last I should find myself unable to compel them to comply with requisitions, the reasonableness of which could not be controverted, I would run the ship a-ground under their walls, and, after selling our lives as dearly as we could, bring upon, them the disgrace of having reduced a friend and ally to so dreadful an extremity. At this they seemed to be alarmed, as our situation alone was sufficient to convince them that I was in earnest, and urged me with great emotion to remain where I was, at least till I had heard again from the governor: To this, after some altercation, I consented, upon condition that I heard from the governor before the sea-breeze set in the next day.

We pa.s.sed all the remainder of this day, and all the night, in a state of anxiety, not unmixed with indignation, that greatly aggravated our distress; and very early the next morning, we had the mortification to see a sloop that mounted eight carriage guns, and one of the vessels of the country, fitted out for war, with a great number of soldiers on board, come from the town, and anchor under each of our bows. I immediately sent my boat to speak with them, but they would make no reply to any thing that was said. About noon, the sea-breeze set in, and not having then heard again from the governor, I got under sail, and proceeded towards the town, according to my declaration, resolving, if the vessels that had anch.o.r.ed under our bows should oppose us, to repress force with force as far as we were able: These two vessels, however, happily both for us and for them, contented themselves with weighing anchor, and attending our motions.

Very soon after we had got under sail, a handsome vessel, with a band of music, and several gentlemen on board, made up to us, and told us that they were sent by the governor, but could not come on board if we did not drop our anchor again; our anchor therefore was immediately dropped, and the gentlemen came on board: They proved to be Mr Blydenbourg the fiscal, Mr Voll the shebander, an officer called the licence-master, or master of the port, and Mr Douglas the writer, who has been mentioned already. They expressed some surprise at my having got under sail, and asked me what I intended to have done; I told them that I intended neither more nor less than to fulfil the declarations I had made the day before; that, justified by the common rights of mankind, which were superior to every other law, I would, rather than have put again to sea, where our destruction, either by shipwreck, sickness, or famine, was inevitable, have come up to their walls, and either have compelled them to furnish the necessaries we wanted, or have run the ship on sh.o.r.e, since it was better to perish at once in a just contest, than to suffer the lingering misery of antic.i.p.ating the perdition that we could not avoid. I observed also, that no civilized people had ever suffered even the captives of war to perish for want of the necessaries of life, much less the subjects of an ally, who asked nothing but permission to purchase food with their money. They readily allowed the truth of all I had said, but seemed to think I had been too hasty: I then observed that I had waited the full time of my stipulation, and they in return made some excuse for their not having come sooner, telling me, that as a proof of their having admitted my claim, they had brought me such provisions as their country would afford. These were immediately taken on board, and consisted of two sheep, an elk ready hilled, and a few fowls, with some vegetables and fruit. This most welcome supply was divided among the people; and that most salutary, and to us exquisite dainty, broth, made for the sick. Another letter from the governor was then produced, in which, to my great disappointment, I was again ordered to leave the port, and to justify the order, it was alleged, that to suffer a ship of any nation to stay and trade, either at this port, or any other part of the island, was contrary to the agreement which had been made by the East India Company with the native kings and governors of the country, who had already expressed some displeasure on our account; and for farther particulars I was referred to the gentlemen that brought the letter, whom the governor styled his commissaries. To these gentlemen I immediately observed, that no stipulation concerning trade could affect us, as we were a king's ship; at the same time I produced my commission, it not being possible to bring under the article of trade the selling us food and refreshments for our money, without the utmost violence to language and common sense. After this they made me several propositions, which I rejected, because my departure from this place, before the return of the season, was included in them all. I then recurred to my former declaration, and to enforce it, shewed them the corpse of a man who had died that morning, and whose life would probably have been saved, if they had afforded us refreshments when we first came to an anchor upon their coast. This put them to a stand, but, after a short pause, they enquired very particularly whether I had been among the spice islands; I answered them in the negative, and they appeared to be convinced that I spoke truth. After this, we came to a better understanding, and they told me, that though they could not, without disobedience to the most direct and positive orders of the Company, suffer us to remain here, yet that I was welcome to go to a little bay not far distant, where I should find effectual shelter from the bad monsoon, and might erect an hospital for my sick, a.s.suring me at the same time that provision and refreshments were more plenty there than at Maca.s.sar, from whence, whatever else I wanted should be sent me, and offering me a good pilot to carry me to my station. To this I gladly consented, upon condition that what they had offered should be confirmed to me by the governor and council of Maca.s.sar, that I might be considered as under the protection of the Dutch nation, and that no violence should be offered to my people: For all this they engaged their honour on behalf of the governor and council, promising me the a.s.surance I had required on the next day, and requesting that in the mean time I would remain where I was. I then enquired why the two vessels which were at anchor under our bows were allotted to that station; and they told me, for no other reason than to prevent the people of the country from offering us any violence. When matters were thus far settled between us, I expressed my concern that, except a gla.s.s of wine, I could present them with nothing better than bad salt meat, and bread full of weevils; upon which they very politely desired that I would permit their servants to bring in the victuals which had been dressing in their own vessel; I readily consented, and a very genteel dinner was soon served up, consisting of fish, flesh, vegetables, and fruit. It is with the greatest pleasure that I take this opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to these gentlemen for the politeness and humanity of their behaviour in their private capacity, and particularly to Mr Douglas, who, being qualified by his knowledge of the French language to interpret between us, undertook that office, with a courtesy and politeness which very much increased the value of the favour. After this we parted, and at their leaving the ship, I saluted them with nine guns.

The next morning the shebander was sent to acquaint me, that the governor and council had confirmed the engagement which had been made with me on their behalf. Every thing was now settled much to my satisfaction, except the procuring money for my bills upon the government of Great Britain, which the shebander said he would solicit.

At eight o'clock in the evening, he came on board again, to let me know that there was not any person in the town who had money to remit to Europe, and that there was not a dollar in the Company's chest. I answered, that as I was not permitted to go on sh.o.r.e to negociate my bills myself, I hoped they would give me credit, offering him bills for any debt I should contract, or to pay it at Batavia. To this the shebander replied, that the resident at Bonthain, the place to which I was going, would receive orders to supply me with whatever I should want, and would be glad to take my bills in return, as he had money to remit, and was himself to go to Europe the next season. He told me also, that he had considerable property in England, being a denizen of that country; "and," said the shebander, "he has also money in my hands, with which I will purchase such things as you want from Maca.s.sar, and see that they are sent after you." Having specified what these articles were to be, and agreed with him for the quant.i.ty and the price, we parted.

The next day, in the afternoon, I received a letter, signed by the governor and council of Maca.s.sar, containing the reasons why I was sent to Bonthain, and confirming the verbal agreement which subsisted between us.

Soon after, the ensign M. le Cerf, the secretary of the council, and a pilot, came on board to attend us to Bonthain. Le Cerf was to command the soldiers who were on board the guard boats; and the secretary, as we afterwards discovered, was to be a check upon the resident whose name was Swellingrabel. This gentleman's father died second governor at the Cape of Good Hope, where he married an English lady of the name of Fothergill. Mr Swellingrabel, the resident here, married the daughter of Cornelius Sinklaar, who had been governor of Maca.s.sar, and died some time ago in England, having come hither to see some of his mother's relations.

SECTION XI

_Transactions at Bonthain, while the Vessel was waiting for a Wind to carry her to Batavia, with some Account of the Place, the Town of Maca.s.sar, and the adjacent Country._

The next morning at day-break we sailed, and the day following in the afternoon we anch.o.r.ed in Bonthain road with our two guard-boats, which were immediately moored close in to the sh.o.r.e, to prevent the country boats from coming near us, and our boats from going near them. As soon as I arrived at this place, I altered our reckoning. I had lost about eighteen hours, in coming by the west, and the Europeans that we found here having come by the east had gained about six, so that the difference was just a day.

I immediately waited upon the resident, Mr Swellingrabel, who spoke English but very imperfectly, and having settled with him all matters relating to money and provisions, a house was allotted me near the sea-side, and close to a little pallisadoed fort of eight guns, the only one in this place, which I converted into an hospital, under the direction of the surgeon; to this place I immediately sent all the people who were thought incapable of recovering on board, and reserved the rest as a security against accidents. As soon as our people were on sh.o.r.e, a guard of thirty-six private men, two serjeants, and two corporals, all under the command of Ensign Le Cerf, was set over them; and none of them were suffered to go more than thirty yards from the hospital, nor were any of the country people allowed to come near enough to sell them any thing; so that our men got nothing of them, but through the hands of the Dutch soldiers, who abused their power very shamefully.

When they saw any of the country people carrying what they thought our invalids would purchase, they first took it away, and then asked the price: What was demanded signified little, the soldier gave what he thought proper, which was seldom one-fourth of the value; and if the countryman ventured to express any discontent, he gave him immediately an earnest of perfect satisfaction, by flourishing his broad-sword over his head: This was always sufficient to silence complaint, and send the sufferer quietly away; after which the soldier sold what he had thus acquired for profit of sometimes more than a thousand per cent. This behaviour was so cruel to the natives, and so injurious to us, that I ventured to complain of it to the resident, and the other two gentlemen, Le Cerf and the secretary. The resident, with becoming spirit, reprimanded the soldiers; but it produced so little effect that I could not help entertaining suspicions that Le Cerf connived at these practices, and shared the advantages which they produced. I suspected him also of selling arrack to my people, of which I complained, but without redress; and I know that his slaves were employed to buy things at the market which his wife afterwards sold to us for more than twice as much as they cost. The soldiers were indeed guilty of many other irregularities: It was the duty of one of them by rotation to procure the day's provision for the whole guard, a service which he constantly performed by going into the country with his musket and a bag; nor was the honest proveditor always content with what the bag would contain; for one of them, without any ceremony, drove down a young buffalo that belonged to some of the country people, and his comrades not having wood at hand to dress it when it was killed, supplied themselves by pulling down some of the pallisadoes of the fort. When this was reported to me, I thought it so extraordinary that I went on sh.o.r.e to see the breach, and found the poor black people repairing it.

On the 26th, a sloop laden with rice was sent out from this place in order to land her cargo at Maca.s.sar; but after having attempted it three days she was forced to return. The weather was now exceedingly tempestuous, and all navigation at an end from east to west till the return of the eastern monsoon. On the same day two large sloops that were bound to the eastward anch.o.r.ed here, and the next morning also a large ship from Batavia, with troops on board for the Banda Islands; but none of the crew of any of these vessels were suffered to speak to any of our people, our boats being restrained from going on board them, and theirs from coming on board us. As this was a mortifying restriction, we requested Mr Swellingrabel to buy us some salt meat from the large ship; and he was so obliging as to procure us four casks of very good European meat, two of pork, and two of beef.

On the 28th a fleet of more than an hundred sail of the small country vessels, called proas, anch.o.r.ed here; their burden is from twelve to eighteen and twenty tons, and they carry from sixteen to twenty men. I was told that they carried on a fishery round the island, going out with one monsoon, and coming back with the other, so as always to keep under the lee of the land: The fish was sent to the China market, and I observed that all these vessels carried Dutch colours.

No event worthy of notice happened till the 18th of January, and then I learnt by a letter from Maca.s.sar that the Dolphin had been at Batavia.

On the 28th, the secretary of the council, who had been sent hither with Le Cerf, as we supposed to be a check upon the resident, was called to Maca.s.sar. By this time our carpenter, having in a great degree recovered his health, examined the state of our vessel, and to our great regret she appeared to be very leaky: Our main yard also was found not only to be sprung, but to be rotten and unserviceable. We got it down and patched it up as well as we could, without either iron or a forge, so that we hoped it would serve us till we got to Batavia, for no wood was to be procured here of which a new one could be made. To our leaks very little could be done, and we were therefore reduced to an entire dependence upon our pumps.

On Friday the 19th of February, Le Cerf, the military officer who commanded the soldiers on sh.o.r.e, was recalled, as it was said, to fit out an expedition for the island of Bally; on the 7th of March, the largest of our guard-boats, a sloop about forty-five tons, was ordered back to Maca.s.sar with part of the soldiers; and on the 9th, the resident, Mr Swellingrabel, received a letter from the governor of that place, enquiring when I should sail for Batavia. I must confess, that I was surprised at the recal of the officer, and the guard boat; but I was much more surprised at the contents of the governor's letter, because he knew that it was impossible I should sail till May, as the eastern monsoon would not sooner set in. All matters, however, remained in the same situation till near the end of the month, when some of my people took notice, that for a short time past a small canoe had gone round us several times at different hours of the night, and had disappeared as soon as those on board perceived any body stirring in the ship. On the 29th, while these things were the subjects of speculation, one of my officers who came from the sh.o.r.e brought me a letter, which he said had been delivered to him by a black man: It was directed, "To the Commander of the English ship at Bonthyn." That the reader may understand this letter, it is necessary to acquaint him, that the island of Celebes is divided into several districts, which are distinct sovereignties of the native princes. The town of Maca.s.sar is in a district called also Maca.s.sar, or Bony, the king of which is in alliance with the Dutch, who have been many times repulsed in an attempt to reduce other parts of the island, one of which is inhabited by a people called Buggueses, and another is called Waggs or Tosora. The town of Tosora is fortified with cannon, for the natives had been long furnished with fire-arms from Europe, before the Dutch settled themselves at Maca.s.sar in the room of the Portuguese.

The letter acquainted me, that a design had been formed by the Dutch, in conjunction with the king of Bony, to cut us off: That the Dutch, however, were not to appear in it: That the business was to be done by a son of the king of Bony, who was, besides a gratuity from the Dutch, to receive the plunder of the vessel for his reward, and who, with eight hundred men, was then at Bonthain for that purpose: That the motive was jealousy of our forming a connection with the Buggueses, and other people of the country, who were at enmity with the Dutch and their allies, and driving them out of the island; or at least a suspicion that, if we got back to England, some project of that kind might be founded upon the intelligence we should give, no English man-of-war, as I have already observed, having ever been known to have visited the island before.

This letter was a new subject of surprise and speculation. It was extremely ill written with respect to the style and manner, yet it did not therefore the less deserve notice. How far the intelligence which it contained was true or false, I was utterly unable to determine: It was possible that the writer might be deceived himself; it was also possible that he might have some view in wilfully deceiving me: The falsehood might procure some little reward for the kindness and zeal which it placed to his account, or it might give him an importance which would at least be a gratification to his vanity. It behoved me, however, to take the same measures as if I had known it to be true; and I must confess, that I was not perfectly at ease when I recollected the recal of the Secretary and Le Cerf, with the large sloop, and part of the soldiers, who were said to have been sent hither for no other reason than to guard us against the insults of the country people; the a.s.sembling an armed force at Maca.s.sar, as it was said, for an expedition to Bally; and the little canoe that we had seen rowing round us in the night, not to mention the governor's enquiry by letter, when we intended to leave the island. However, whether either our intelligence or conjectures were true or false, we immediately went to work: We rigged the ship, bent the sails, unmoored, got springs upon our cables, loaded all our guns, and barricadoed the deck. At night every body slept under arms, and the next day we warped the vessel farther off from the bottom of the bay, towards the eastern sh.o.r.e, that we might have more room, fixed four swivel guns on the forepart of the quarter-deck, and took every other measure that appeared to be necessary for our defence.

The resident, Mr Swellingrabel, was at this time absent twenty miles up the country upon the Company's business, but had told me, that he should certainly return on the 1st of April, a day which I now expected with great impatience, especially as an old drunken serjeant was the most respectable person at the fort. In the evening of the 31st, a packet of letters for him arrived here from Maca.s.sar, which I considered as a good omen, and a pledge of his return at the time appointed; but I conceived very different sentiments when I learnt that they were sent to him. I did not suspect that he was privy to any such design as had been intimated to me by the letter; but I could not help doubting, whether he was not kept in the country that he might be out of the way when it should be executed. In this state of anxiety and suspense, I sent a message to the fort, desiring that an express might be dispatched to him, to acquaint him that I wished to see him immediately upon business of great importance, which would admit of no delay. Whether my message was forwarded to him or not, I cannot tell; but having waited till the 4th of April, without having seen him or received any answer, I wrote him a letter, requesting to speak with him, in the most pressing terms, and the next day he came on board. A few minutes convinced me that he was wholly a stranger to any such design as I had been made to apprehend; and he was clearly of opinion that no such design had been formed. He said, indeed, that one Tomilaly, a counsellor or minister of the king of Bony, had lately paid him a visit, and had not well accounted for his being in this part of the country; and, at my request, he very readily undertook to make farther enquiries concerning him and his people. The resident and his attendants took notice that the ship was put into a state of defence, and that every thing was ready for immediate action; and he told us, that the people on sh.o.r.e had acquainted him, before he came on board, with our vigilance and activity, and in particular, with our having exercised the ship's company at small arms every day. I informed him, that we should, at all events, continue upon our guard, which he seemed to approve, and we parted with mutual protestations of friendship and good faith. After a few days, he sent me word that having made a very strict enquiry, whether any other persons belonging to the king of Bony had been at Bonthain, he had been credibly informed that one of the princes of that kingdom had been there in disguise; but that of the eight hundred men who were said in my intelligence to be with him, he could find no traces; so that, except they too, like the troops of the king of Brentford, were an army in disguise, I knew that no such people could be in that country.

On the 16th, in the morning, the resident sent me word, that M. Le Cerf was returned from Maca.s.sar with another officer, and that they would come on board and dine with me. When dinner was over, I asked Le Cerf, among other conversation, while we were taking our wine, what was become of his expedition to Bally; to which he answered dryly, that it was laid aside, without saying any thing more upon the subject. On the 23d, he returned to Maca.s.sar by sea, and the other officer, who was also an ensign, remained to take the command of the soldiers that were still left at this place.

The season now approached in which navigation to the westward would be again practicable, which gave us all great pleasure; especially as putrid diseases had begun to make their appearance among us, and a putrid fever had carried off one of our people.

On the 7th of May, the resident gave me a long letter from the governor of Maca.s.sar, which was written in Dutch, and of which he gave me the best interpretation he was able; The general purport of it was, that he had heard a letter had been sent to me, charging him, in conjunction with the king of Bony, with a design to cut us off: That the letter was altogether false, exculpating himself with the roost solemn protestations, and requiring the letter to be delivered up, that the writer might be brought to such punishment as he deserved. It is scarcely necessary to say, that I did not deliver up the letter, because the writer would certainly have been punished with equal severity whether it was true or false; but I returned the governor a polite answer, in which I justified the measures I had taken, without imputing any evil design to him or his allies; and indeed there is the greatest reason to believe, that there was not sufficient ground for the charge contained in the letter, though it is not equally probable that the writer believed it to be false.

At day-break on Sunday the 22d of May, we sailed from this place, of which, and of the town of Maca.s.sar, and the adjacent country, I shall say but little, there being many accounts of the island of Celebes and its inhabitants already extant. The town is built upon a kind of point or neck of land, and is watered by a river or two, which either run through, or very near it. It seems to be large, and there is water for a ship to come within half cannon-shot of the walls: The country about it is level, and has a most beautiful appearance; it abounds with plantations, and groves of cocoa-nut trees, with a great number of houses interspersed, by which it appears to abound with people. At a distance inland, the country rises into hills of a great height, and becomes rude and mountainous. The town lies in lat.i.tude 5 10' or 5 12'

S. and longitude, by account, 117 28' E. of London.

Bonthain is a large bay, where ships may lie in perfect security during both the monsoons: The soundings are good and regular, and the bottom soft mud; nor is there any danger coming in, but a ledge of rocks which are above water, and are a good mark for anchoring. The highest land in sight here is called Bonthain hill, and when a ship is in the offing at the distance of two or three miles from the land, she should bring this hill north, or N. 1/2 W., and then run in with it and anchor. We lay right under it, at the distance of about a mile from the sh.o.r.e. In this bay there are several small towns; that which is called Bonthain lies in the north-east part of the bay, and here is the small pallisadoed fort that has been mentioned already, on which there are mounted eight guns that carry a ball of about eight pounds weight: It is just sufficient to keep the country people in subjection, and is intended for no other purpose: It lies on the south side of a small river, and there is water for a ship to come close to it. The Dutch resident has the command of the place, and of Bullocomba, another town which lies about twenty miles farther to the eastward, where there is such another fort, and a few soldiers, who at the proper season are employed in gathering the rice, which the people pay as a tax to the Dutch.

Wood and water are to be procured here in great plenty; we cut our wood near the river, under Bonthain hill: Our water was procured partly from that river, and partly from another; when from the other, our boat went above the fort with the casks that were to be filled, where there is a good rolling way; but as the river is small, and has a bar, the boat, after it is loaded, can come out only at high water. There are several other small rivers in the bay, from which water may be got upon occasion.

We procured plenty of fresh provisions all the while we lay here at a reasonable rate: The beef is excellent; but it would be difficult to procure enough of it for a squadron. Rice may be had in any quant.i.ty, so may fowls and fruit: There are also abundance of wild hogs in the woods, which may be purchased at a low price, as the natives, being Mahometans, never eat them. Fish may be caught with the seine, and the natives, at times, supplied us with turtle; for this, like pork, is a dainty which they ever touch.

Celebes is the key of the Molucca, or Spice Islands, which, whoever is in possession of it must necessarily command: Most of the ships that are bound to them, or to Banda, touch here, and always go between this island and that of Solayer. The bullocks here are the breed that have the bunch on the back, besides which the island produces horses, buffaloes, goats, sheep, and deer. The arrack and sugar that are consumed here are brought from Batavia.

The lat.i.tude of Bonthain hill is 5 30' S., longitude, by account, 117 53' E. The variation of the compa.s.s while we were here was 1 16' W. The tides are very irregular; commonly it is but once high water and once low water in four-and-twenty hours, and there is seldom six feet difference between them.

SECTION XII.

_Pa.s.sage from Bonthain Bay, in the Island of Celebes, to Batavia: Transactions there, and the Voyage round the Cape of Good Hope to England._

When we left Bonthain Bay, we kept along the sh.o.r.e, at the distance of two or three miles, till evening, and then anch.o.r.ed for the night, in the pa.s.sage between the two islands of Celebes and Tonikaky, in seven fathom and a half, with a bottom of soft mud. The next morning, we got again under sail, and took our departure from Tonikaky, which, according to my account, lies in lat.i.tude 5 31' S., longitude 117 17'E.; the variation here was 1 W. We went to the southward of Tonikaky, and stood to the westward. About three o'clock in the afternoon, we were abreast of the easternmost of the islands which in the Dutch charts are called Tonyn's Islands. This island bore from us about N. by W. at the distance of four miles, and the two westernmost were in sight. These three islands make a kind of right-angled triangle with each other, the distance between the eastermost and westermost is about eleven miles, and their relative bearings are very nearly east and west. The distance between the two westermost is nearly the same, and they bear to each other S. by E. and N. by W. About six o'clock, having just sounded, and got no ground, we suddenly found ourselves upon a shoal, with not three fathom, and the water being smooth and clear, we could see great crags of coral rocks under our bottom: We immediately threw all the sails aback, and happily got off without damage: We had just pa.s.sed over the eastermost edge of it, which is as steep as a wall, for we had not gone back two cables' length before we were out of soundings again. At this time, we had the two westermost of the Tonyn Islands in one, bearing N.

by W. at the distance of somewhat more than four miles from the nearest.

This is a very dangerous shoal, and is not laid down in any chart that I have seen: It seemed to extend itself to the southward and westward, all round the two westernmost of these three islands, for near six miles, but about the eastermost island there seemed to be no danger; there was also a clear pa.s.sage between this island and the other two. The lat.i.tude of the eastermost and westermost of these islands is 5 31' S. The eastermost is distant thirty-four miles due west from Tonikaky, and the westermost lies ten miles farther.

In the afternoon of the 25th, we found the water much discoloured; upon which we sounded, and had five-and-thirty fathom, with soft mud. Soon after we went over to the northermost part of a shoal, and had no more than ten fathom, with soft mud. In this place, where we found the water shallowest, it was very foul; it seemed to be still shallower to the southward, but to the northward of us it appeared to be clear. We had no observation this day, by which I could ascertain the lat.i.tude; but I believe this to be the northermost part of the shoals that lie to the eastward of the island Madura, and in the English East-India Pilot are called Bralleron's Shoals, the same which in the Dutch charts are called Kalcain's Eylandens. By my reckoning, the part that we went over lies in 5 50' or 5 52' S. and 3 36' to the westward of the island Tonikaky, or S. 84 27' W. distance sixty-nine leagues. At eleven o'clock the same night, we saw, to the northward of us, the southermost of the islands Salombo. I make its lat.i.tude to be 5 33' S. and its longitude west of Tonikaky 4 4', at the distance of about eighty-two or eighty-three leagues. It bears from the last shoal N.W. by W. 3/4 W. at the distance of about fourteen leagues. It is to be remarked, that hereabout, off the island of Madura, the winds of the monsoons are commonly a month later in settling than at Celebes. The variation here was not more than half a degree west; and we found the current, which before set to the southward, now setting to the N.W.

In the afternoon of the 26th, we saw from the mast-head the island of Luback, and had soundings from thirty-five to forty fathom, with a bottom of bluish clay. The lat.i.tude of this island is 5 43' S. and its-longitude 5 36' west of Tonikaky, from which it is distant about one hundred and twelve leagues. Its distance west from the islands of Salombo is thirty-one leagues. We went to the northward of this island, and found a current setting to the W.N.W.

In the evening of Sunday the 29th, we saw the cl.u.s.ter of small islands called Carimon-Java. The lat.i.tude of the eastermost, which is also the largest, is 5 48' S. and its longitude, west of Tonikaky, 7 52'. From this island it is distant about one hundred and fifty-eight leagues, and forty-five leagues from Luback.

On Thursday the 2d of June, we hauled in and made the land of Java, which proved to be that part of the island which makes the eastermost point of the Bay of Batavia, called Carawaw.a.n.g Point. When we first got sight of the land, we had gradually decreased our soundings from forty to eight-and-twenty fathom, with a bottom of bluish mud. As we steered along the sh.o.r.e for Batavia, we decreased them gradually, still farther, to thirteen fathom, the depth in which, night coming on, we anch.o.r.ed near the two small islands called Leyden and Alkmar, in sight of Batavia; and in the afternoon of the next day, we anch.o.r.ed in the road, which is so good that it may well be considered as an harbour. We had now great reason to congratulate ourselves upon our situation; for during the whole of our pa.s.sage from Celebes, the ship admitted so much water by her leaks, that it was all we could do to keep her from sinking, with two pumps constantly going.

We found here eleven large Dutch ships, besides several that were less; one Spanish ship, a Portuguese snow, and several Chinese junks. The next morning we saluted the town with eleven guns, and the same number was returned. As this was the birth-day of his Britannic majesty, our sovereign, we afterwards fired one-and-twenty guns more on that occasion. We found the variation here to be less than half a degree to the westward.

In the afternoon, I waited upon the governor, and acquainted him with the condition of the ship, desiring liberty to repair her defects; to which he replied, that I must pet.i.tion the council.

On the 6th, therefore, which was council day, I addressed a letter to the governor and council, setting forth, more particularly, the condition of the ship; and, after requesting leave to repair her, I added, that I _hoped_ they would allow me the use of such wharfs and storehouses as should be necessary. In the afternoon of the next day, the shebander, with Mr Garrison, a merchant of the place, as interpreter, and another person, came to me. After the first compliments, the shebander said, that he was sent by the governor and council for a letter, which they had heard I had received when I was at Bonthain, acquainting me, that a design had been formed to cut off my ship, that the author of it, who had injured both me and their nation in the person of the governor of that place, might be punished. I readily acknowledged that I had received such information, but said, that I had never told any body it was by letter. The shebander then asked me, if I would take an oath that I had received no such letter as he had been directed to demand, to which I answered, that I was surprised at the question; and desired, that if the council had any such uncommon requisition to make of me, it might be in writing; and I would give such reply, as, upon mature consideration, I should think proper. I then desired to know what answer he had been instructed to give to my letter concerning the refitting of the ship? Upon which he told me, that the council had taken offence at my having used the word _hope_, and not written in the style of request, which had been invariably adopted by all merchants upon the like occasion. I replied, that no offence was intended on my part; and that I had used the first words which occurred to me as proper to express my meaning. Thus we parted; and I heard nothing more of them till the afternoon of the 9th, when the shebander, and the same two gentlemen, came to me a second time. The shebander said, that he was then commissioned from the council, to require a writing under my hand, signifying, that I believed the report of an intention formed at the island of Celebes to cut off my ship, was false and malicious; saying, that he hoped I had a better opinion of the Dutch nation than to suppose them capable of suffering so execrable a fact to be perpetrated under their government. Mr Garrison then read me a certificate, which, by order of the council, had been drawn up for me to sign: As, whatever was my opinion, I did not think it advisable to sign such a certificate, especially as it appeared to be made a condition of complying with my request by the delay of an answer during this solicitation, I desired the shebander to shew me his authority for the requisition he had made. He replied, that he had no testimony of authority but the notoriety of his being a public officer, and the evidence of the gentlemen that were with him, confirming his own declaration, that he acted in this particular by the express order of council. I then repeated my request, that whatever the council required of me might be given me in writing, that the sense of it might be fixed and certain, and that I might have time to consider of my reply; but he gave me to understand, that he could not do this without an order from the council, and I then absolutely refused to sign the paper, at the same time desiring an answer to my letter, which they not being prepared to give, we parted, not in very good humour with each other.