Contrary Winds, Squalls, And Currents
Drifted Us About The Rest Of The Day At Their Pleasure.
The night
was equally squally and changeable, and kept us hard at work
taking in and making sail, and rowing in the intervals.
Sunrise on the 2d found us in the middle of the ten-mile channel
between Kaiķa and Makian. Squalls and showers succeeded each
other during the morning. At noon there was a dead calm, after
which a light westerly breeze enabled us to reach a village on
Makian in the evening. Here I bought some pumelos (Citrus
decumana), kanary-nuts, and coffee, and let my men have a night's
sleep.
The morning of the 3d was fine, and we rowed slowly along the
coast of Makian. The captain of a small prau at anchor, seeing me
on deck and guessing who I was, made signals for us to stop, and
brought me a letter from Charles Allen, who informed me he had
been at Ternate twenty days, and was anxiously waiting my
arrival. This was good news, as I was equally anxious about him,
and it cheered up my spirits. A light southerly wind now sprung
up, and we thought we were going to have fine weather. It soon
changed, however, to its old quarter, the west; dense clouds
gathered over the sky, and in less than half an hour we had the
severest squall we had experienced during our whole voyage.
Luckily we got our great mainsail down in time, or the
consequences might have been serious.
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