Soon After We Sent A Respectful Letter To
The Governor, To Which We Next Day Received A Civil Answer, And
A
generous offer of any thing we needed that the island could supply.
Several of our officers went ashore to
Wait upon the governor on the
16th, and were well received and elegantly entertained; making the
governor a present of two negro boys dressed in rich liveries, twenty
yards of scarlet cloth, and six pieces of cambric, with which he seemed
to be much pleased, and promised in return to give us every assistance
in his power.
Next day, accordingly, we had a large supply of provisions, our share in
the Duke being about sixty hogs, ninety-nine fowls, twenty-four baskets
of maize, fourteen bags of rice, forty-two baskets of yams, and 800
cocoa-nuts. We afterwards got some bullocks, fourteen to each ship,
being small lean cattle, yet gladly accepted, to which were afterwards
added two cows and two calves to each ship; and we made a handsome
present to the deputy governor, who was very active in getting our
provisions collected. Leaving Guam, we proposed to go for some way
directly west, to clear some islands that were in the way, and then to
steer for the S.E. part of Min-danao, and from thence the nearest way to
Ternate. In the afternoon of the 14th April we made land, which bore
from us W.N.W. ten leagues, and which we supposed to be the N.E. part of
Celebes. This day we saw three water-spouts, one of which had like to
have fallen on board the Marquis, but the Duchess broke it before it
reached her by firing two guns. On the 18th May, we passed through
between the high land of New Guinea and the island of Gilolo, and on the
20th we made another high island which we took to be Ceram, yet,
notwithstanding the skill and experience of Captain Dampier, we were at
a loss to know whether it were Ceram or Bouro. On the 24th, at noon, we
made our latitude 4 deg. 30' S. and estimated our longitude at 237 deg. 29' W.
from London, and being in the latitude of the southern part of
Bouro,[229] we imputed our not seeing it to the currents setting us to
the westwards. We designed to have touched at Amboina for refreshments,
but the S.E. monsoon was already set in, and we were out of hope of
being able to reach that place. In a consultation on the 25th, we
resolved not to spend time in searching for Bouro, and also to desist
from attempting to go to Amboina, and to make the best of our way for
the Straits of Bouton, where we hoped to get sufficient provisions to
carry us to Batavia. We got into a fine large bay in Bouton, where we
sent our pinnace on shore, which brought off some cocoa nuts, reporting
there were plenty to be had, and that the Malay inhabitants seemed
friendly.
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