kills on the island of Borneo, I could not determine. This shoal is certainly very dangerous, but may be avoided by going to the westward of Taba Islands, where the passage is clear and broad. In the French chart of Monsieur D'Apres de Mandevillette, published in 1745, two shoals are laid down, to the eastward, and a little to the north of these islands: One of them is called Vanloorif, and the other, on which are placed two islands, Harigs; but these shoals and islands have certainly no existence, as I turned through this part of the passage from side to side, and sailed over the very spot where they are supposed to lie. In the same chart seven small islands are also laid down within half a degree to the northward of the Line, and exactly in the middle of the narrowest part of this passage; but neither have these islands any existence, except upon paper, though I believe there may be some small islands close to the main land of Borneo: We thought we had seen two, which we took to be those that are laid down in the charts off Porto Tubo, but of this I am not certain. The southermost and narrowest part of this passage is about eighteen or twenty leagues broad, with high lands on each side. We continued labouring in it till the 27th, before we crossed the Line, so that we were a fortnight in sailing eight-and-twenty leagues, the distance from the north entrance of the streight, which we made on the 14th. After we got to the southward of the Line, we found a slight current setting against us to the northward, which daily increased: The weather was still unsettled, with much wet: The winds were chiefly S.W. and W.S.W. and very seldom farther to the northward than W.N.W. except in the tornadoes, which grew more frequent and violent; and by them we got nothing but hard labour, as they obliged us to hand all our sails, which indeed with our utmost effort we were scarcely able to do, our debility daily increasing by the falling sick of the few that were well, or the death of some among the many that were sick. Under these circumstances we used our utmost endeavours to get hold of the land on the Borneo side, but were not able, and continued to struggle with our misfortunes till the 3d of December, when we fell in with the small islands and shoals called the Little Pater-nosters, the southermost of which, according to my account, lies in latitude 2° 31' S. and the northermost in 2° 15' S. the longitude of the northermost I made 117° 12′ E.: They bear about S.E.

S.

IS. and N.W. N. of each other, distant eight leagues, and between them are the others; the number of the whole is eight. They lie very near the Celebes side of the streight, and being unable either to weather them, or get to the westward of them, we were obliged to go between them and the island. We had here tempestuous weather and contrary winds, with sudden and impetuous gusts, which, as we had not a number of hands sufficient to bend the sails, often endangered our masts and yards, and did great damage to our sails and rigging, especially at this time, as we were obliged to carry all the sail we could to prevent our falling into a deep bight, on the Celebes shore. The ravages of the scurvy were now universal, there not being one individual among us that was free, and the winds and currents being so hard against us, that we could neither get westing nor southing to reach any place of refreshment; the mind participated in the sufferings of the body, and a universal despondency was reflected from one countenance to another, especially among those who were not able to come upon the deck. In this deplorable situation we continued till the 10th, and it is not perhaps very easy for the most fertile imagination to conceive by what our danger and distress could possibly be increased; yet debilitated, sick, and dying as we were, in sight of land that we could not reach, and exposed to tempests which we could not resist, we had the additional misfortune to be attacked by a pirate: That this unexpected mischief might lose none of its force, it happened at midnight, when the darkness that might almost be felt, could not fail to co-operate with whatever tended to produce confusion and terror. This sudden attack, however, rather roused than depressed us, and though our enemy attempted to board us, before we could have the least apprehension that an enemy was near, we defeated his purpose: He then plied us with what we supposed to be swivel guns, and small arms, very briskly; but though he had the start of us, we soon returned his salute with such effect, that shortly after he sunk, and all the unhappy wretches on board perished. It was a small vessel, but of what country, or how manned, it was impossible for us to know. The lieutenant, and one of the men, were wounded, though not dangerously; part of our running rigging was cut, and we received some other slight damage. We knew this pirate to be a vessel which we had seen in the dusk of

the

the evening, and we afterwards learned that she belonged to a freebooter, who had more than thirty such vessels under his command. The smallness of our vessel encouraged the attack, and her strength being so much more than in proportion to her size, supposing her a merchantman, rendered it fatal.

On Saturday the 12th, we fell in with the dangerous shoals called the Spera Mondes, and had the mortification to find that the westerly monsoon was now set in, against which, and the current, it was impossible for any ship to get as far westward as Batavia. As it was now necessary to wait till the return of the eastern monsoon, and the shifting of the current; as we had buried thirteen of our crew, and no less than thirty more were at the point of death; as all the petty officers were among the sick, and the lieutenant and myself, who did all duties, in a feeble condition; it was impossible that we should keep the sea, and we had no chance of preserving those who were still alive, but by get ting on shore at some place, where rest and refreshment might be procured; I therefore determined that I would take advantage of our being so far to the southward, and endeavour to reach Macassar, the principal settlement of the Dutch upon the island of Celebes.

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. 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 latitude, by observation, when we were upon the shoal, was 5° 20 S. and the northermost of the islands, called the Three Brothers, then bore S. 81 E. at the distance of five or six leagues.

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 passage 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 found 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 Ce lebes shore, 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 anchored at about the distance of four miles from the town of Macassar, which, according to my account, lies in latitude 5o 10 or 5° 12′ S., longitude 117° 28′ E. having spent no less than five and thirty weeks in our passage 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 defi cient 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 pass this way with as little danger as by the common one, which lies along the Prassel shoals; and when they miss their passage 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

the French were cruising for them in the common passage during the last war.

SECTION X.

Transactions off Macassar, and the Passage 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 manof-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 shore, and all the sloops and vessels that were proper for war were fitted out with the utmost expedition:

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