It
Will Be Remembered That I Was Travelling In A Small Prau, Which I
Had Purchased And Fitted Up In Goram, And That, Having Been
Deserted By My Crew On The Coast Of Ceram, I Had Obtained Four
Men At Wahai, Who, With My Amboynese Hunter, Constituted My Crew.
Between Ceram and Mysol there are sixty miles of open sea, and
along this wide channel the east monsoon blows strongly; so that
with native praus, which will not lay up to the wind, it requires
some care in crossing.
In order to give ourselves sufficient
leeway, we sailed back from Wahai eastward, along the coast of
Ceram, with the land-breeze; but in the morning (June 18th) had
not gone nearly so far as I expected. My pilot, an old and
experienced sailor, named Gurulampoko, assured me there was a
current setting to the eastward, and that we could easily lay
across to Silinta, in Mysol. As we got out from the land the wind
increased, and there was a considerable sea, which made my short
little vessel plunge and roll about violently. By sunset -we had
not got halfway across, but could see Mysol distinctly. All night
we went along uneasily, and at daybreak, on looking out
anxiously, I found that we had fallen much to the westward during
the night, owing, no doubt, to the pilot being sleepy and not
keeping the boat sufficiently close to the wind. We could see the
mountains distinctly, but it was clear we should not reach
Silinta, and should have some difficulty in getting to the
extreme westward point of the island.
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