In The Morning Of The 9th, We Descried Lucepara, N.N.W. Seven Leagues
Off, And Steered Towards It, Till We Had It N. Two Leagues.
In this
course we passed over a spit, where we had only 4-1/2 f. and 4-3/4.
But
on nearing Lucepara, we had 5-1/4 f. all ooze. We then steered N.W. by
N. till Lucepara was N.E. of us, having 5 f. and the same ground. We
then, went W.N.W. having always ooze, till we were within two leagues of
the Sumatra shore in 6 f. The isle of Lucepara bore then E.S.E. 3-1/2
leagues off; and a hill on Banka with a deep swamp, N. by W. being about
a sail's breadth open of the point of Sumatra, which bore N. by W. 1/2
W. from us, about three leagues off. We steered thence away with the
said point N. by W. Having 6-1/2 and 7 f. soft ground, till we came
within a league of the point, where edging too near we had but 5-1/2,
and only 4-1/2 in the boat hard by us: But, if we had kept a little
farther from the point, we might have gone in 7, 8, 9, and 10 f. all
through the strait, borrowing carefully with the lead upon the Sumatra
shore; whereas by keeping nearer to Banka than Sumatra, the soundings
are very variable, sometimes deep, and sometimes shallow, and mostly
foul ground. On the Sumatra shore, even if coming into shoal water, the
ground is mostly soft ooze, and the soundings far more regular and
certain.
In the evening of the 12th May, having brought the N.W. point of Banka
to bear N.E. we opened two smooth hills with a little hummock between
them; one of these hills being the northermost land of Banka, and
bearing N.E. nine leagues, from the N.W. point of that island. This
night we steered N.N.E. to get through the channel between Lingan and
the N. end of Banka, having 23, 22, 20, 18, and 16 f. all ooze, till we
came near the entrance, and afterwards 15, 14, 13 f. in going through
the passage. Lingan rises at first in three islands, the northermost
being larger than both the other two, being near two leagues long and
full of hummocks. Among these three islands there are certain fragments
of isles intermixed, like so many hay-cocks, which is a good mark
whereby to know these islands. From the smooth hill which is the north
end of Banka, to the south-westermost isle of Lingan, it is N. by W. ten
leagues. From the middle of the largest isle of Lingan, which is the
north-eastermost, there is another smooth island nine leagues off,
E.N.E. 1/2 N. From that there is another flat island, and off the north
point of the round smooth island, there is a little fragment like a
rock. In the fair way between this island and Lingan, there are 14 and
13 f. the course being midway between, and to the N. to pass along by
the E. side of Bintang. This day at noon, being the 12th May, our
latitude was 1 deg. S.[278] the greatest isle of the Lingan group being S.W.
from us five leagues, whence we estimated its latitude to be 1 deg. 10'
nearly.
[Footnote 278: This is an evident error, as the northern side of the
largest island of the Lingan group is exactly on the equator, and
Bintam, or Bintang, is in lat. 1 deg. N. - E.]
At noon of the 14th, having made way twenty-four leagues to the
northward, by aid of the wind and a current setting to the north, we had
sight of the high land of Bintang, rising with two hills and a deep
swamp or hollow between, and, as we judged, twelve leagues from us. At
this time, likewise, we had sight of three or four hummocks, S.W. by W.
eight leagues off, which seemed separate islands. We had here 20 f. our
soundings from Lingan being 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20 f. From noon of
the 14th till noon of the 15th, we made twenty-seven leagues N. 1/3 W.
our soundings in these twenty-four hours being 21, 22, 23, and 24 f.
From noon till three p.m. of the 15th we made 3 1/2 leagues, and then
had sight of Pulo Laor, N.W. 1/2 N. about twelve leagues off, having
then 27 f. the ground resembling fuller's earth. At night, Pulo Laor
being N.W. by W. eight leagues off, we had 39 f. on ooze. From noon of
the 15th till eight a.m. of the 16th, we made our course N.N.W. 1/2 W.
fifteen leagues. At night of the 16th, Pulo Laor bore S.W. by S. five
leagues; the body of the island of Hermano de Layo W.S.W. 1/2 W. seven
leagues; and the S. end of Pulo Timon W. 1/2 N. ten leagues, its N.E.
end being W.N.W. 1/2 W. ten leagues. We anchored this evening within
four leagues of the N. point of Pulo Timon, in 24 f. streamy ground,
that point bearing W. by S. 1/2 S. In the evening I sent my boat round
the point, where they observed a town, with a junk riding close by the
shore, and several proas fishing. One of these came to enquire what
nation our people were of, and told them there was good fresh water at
the town, with plenty of buffaloes, goats, and poultry.
In the morning of the 17th, we sent the Unicorn's longboat along with
ours to the town, whence they came back in the evening with four butts
of water each, not willing to fill more, as it was brackish.
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