convinced me that he was wholly a stranger to any such design as I had been made to apprehend; and he was clearly of opinion that no such design had been formed. He said, indeed, that one Tomilaly, a counsellor or minister of the king of Bony, had lately paid him a visit, and had not well accounted for his being in this part of the country; and, at my request, he very readily undertook to make farther enquiries concerning him and his people. The resident and his attendants took notice that the ship was put into a state of defence, and that every thing was ready for immediate action; and he told us, that the people on shore bad acquainted him, before he came on board, with our vi gilance and activity, and in particular, with our having exercised the ship's company at small arms every day. I informed him, that we should, at all events, continue upon our guard, which he seemed to approve, and we parted with mutual protestations of friendship and good faith. After a few days, he sent me word that having made a very strict enquiry, whether any other persons belonging to the king of Bony had been at Bonthain, he had been credibly informed that one of the princes of that kingdom had been there in disguise; but that of the eight hundred men who were said in my intelligence to be with him, he could find no traces; so that, except they too, like the troops of the king of Brentford, were an army in disguise, I knew that no such people could be in that country.

On the 16th, in the morning, the resident sent me word, that M. Le Cerf was returned from Macassar with another officer, and that they would come on board and dine with me. When dinner was over, I asked Le Cerf, among other conversation, while we were taking our wine, what was become of his expedition to Bally; to which he answered dryly, that it was laid aside, without saying any thing more upon the subject. On the 23d, he returned to Macassar by sea, and the other officer, who was also an ensign, remained to take the command of the soldiers that were still left at this place.

The season now approached in which navigation to the westward would be again practicable, which gave us all great pleasure; especially as putrid diseases had begun to make their appearance among us, and a putrid fever had carried off one of our people.

On the 7th of May, the resident gave me a long letter

from

from the governor of Macassar, which was written in Dutch, and of which he gave me the best interpretation he was able. The general purport of it was, that he had heard a letter had been sent to me, charging him, in conjunction with the king of Bony, with a design to cut us off: That the letter was altogether false, exculpating himself with the most solemn protestations, and requiring the letter to be delivered up, that the writer might be brought to such punishment as he deserved. It is scarcely necessary to say, that I did not deliver up the letter, because the writer would certainly have been punished with equal severity whether it was true or false; but I returned the governor a polite answer, in which I justified the measures I had taken, without imputing any evil design to him or his allies; and indeed there is the greatest reason to believe, that there was not sufficient ground for the charge contained in the letter, though it is not equally probable that the writer believed it to be false.

At day-break on Sunday the 22d of May, we sailed from this place, of which, and of the town of Macassar, and the adjacent country, I shall say but little, there being many accounts of the island of Celebes and its inhabitants already extant. The town is built upon a kind of point or neck of land, and is watered by a river or two, which either run through, or very near it. It seems to be large, and there is water for a ship to come within half cannon-shot of the walls: The country about it is level, and has a most beautiful appearance; it abounds with plantations, and groves of cocoa-nut trees, with a great number of houses interspersed, by which it appears to abound with people. At a distance inland, the country rises into hills of a great height, and becomes rude and mountainous. The town lies in latitude 5° 10′ or 5° 12′ S. and longitude, by account, 117° 28′ E. of London.

Bonthain is a large bay, where ships may lie in perfect security during both the monsoons: The soundings are good and regular, and the bottom soft mud; nor is there any danger coming in, but a ledge of rocks which are above water, and are a good mark for anchoring. The highest land in sight here is called Bonthain hill, and when a ship is in the offing at the distance of two or three miles from the land, she should bring this hill north, or N. § W., and then run in with it and anchor. We lay right under it, at

the

the distance of about a mile from the shore. In this bay there are several small towns; that which is called Bonthain lies in the north-east part of the bay, and here is the small pallisadoed fort that has been mentioned already, on which there are mounted eight guns that carry a ball of about eight pounds weight: It is just sufficient to keep the country people in subjection, and is intended for no other purpose: It lies on the south side of a small river, and there is water for a ship to come close to it. The Dutch resident has the command of the place, and of Bullocomba, another town which lies about twenty miles farther to the eastward, where there is such another fort, and a few soldiers, who at the proper season are employed in gathering the rice, which the people pay as a tax to the Dutch.

Wood and water are to be procured here in great plenty; we cut our wood near the river, under Bonthain hill: Our water was procured partly from that river, and partly from another; when from the other, our boat went above the fort with the casks that were to be filled, where there is a good rolling way; but as the river is small, and has a bar, the boat, after it is loaded, can come out only at high water. There are several other small rivers in the bay, from which water may be got upon occasion.

We procured plenty of fresh provisions all the while we lay here at a reasonable rate: The beef is excellent; but it would be difficult to procure enough of it for a squadron. Rice may be had in any quantity, so may fowls and fruit: There are also abundance of wild hogs in the woods, which may be purchased at a low price, as the natives, being Mahometans, never eat them. Fish may be caught with the seine, and the natives, at times, supplied us with turtle; for this, like pork, is a dainty which they never touch.

Celebes is the key of the Molucca, or Spice Islands, which, whoever is in possession of it must necessarily command: Most of the ships that are bound to them, or to Banda, touch here, and always go between this island and that of Solayer. The bullocks here are the breed that have the bunch on the back, besides which the island produces horses, buffaloes, goats, sheep, and deer. The arrack and sugar that are consumed here are brought from Batavia.

The latitude of Bonthain hill is 5° 30' S., longitude, by account, 117° 53′ E. The variation of the compass while

we

we were here was 1° 16′ W. The tides are very irregular; commonly it is but once high water and once low water in four-and-twenty hours, and there is seldom six feet difference between them.

SECTION XII.

Passage from Bonthain Bay, in the Island of Celebes, to Batavia: Transactions there, and the Voyage round the Cape of Good Hope to England.

WHEN We left Bonthain Bay, we kept along the shore, at the distance of two or three miles, till evening, and then anchored for the night, in the passage between the two islands of Celebes and Tonikaky, in seven fathom and a half, with a bottom of soft mud. The next morning, we got again under sail, and took our departure from Tonikaky, which, according to my account, lies in latitude 5° 31' S., longitude 117° 17′ E.; the variation here was 1° W. We went to the southward of Tonikaky, and stood to the westward. About three o'clock in the afternoon, we were abreast of the eastermost of the islands which in the Dutch charts are called Tonyn's Islands. This island bore from us about N. by W. at the distance of four miles, and the two westermost were in sight. These three islands make a kind of right-angled triangle with each other, the distance between the eastermost and westermost is about eleven miles, and their relative bearings are very nearly east and west. The distance between the two westermost is nearly the same, and they bear to each other S. by E. and N. by W. About six o'clock, having just sounded, and got no ground, we suddenly found ourselves upon a shoal, with not three fathom, and the water being smooth and clear, we could see great crags of coral rocks under our bottom: We immediately threw all the sails aback, and happily got off without damage: We had just passed over the eastermost edge of it, which is as steep as a wall, for we had not gone back two cables' length before we were out of soundings again. At this time, we had the two westermost of the Tonyn Islands in one, bearing N. by W. at the distance of somewhat more than four miles from the nearest. This is a very dangerous shoal, and is not laid down in any chart that

that I have seen: It seemed to extend itself to the southward and westward, all round the two westermost of these three islands, for near six miles, but about the eastermost island there seemed to be no danger; there was also a clear passage between this island and the other two. The latitude of the eastermost and westermost of these islands is 5° 31'S. The eastermost is distant thirty-four miles due west from Tonikaky, and the westermost lies ten miles farther.

In the afternoon of the 25th, we found the water much discoloured; upon which we sounded, and had five-andthirty fathom, with soft mud. Soon after we went over to the northermost part of a shoal, and had no more than ten fathom, with soft mud. In this place, where we found the water shallowest, it was very foul; it seemed to be still shallower to the southward, but to the northward of us it appeared to be clear. We had no observation this day, by which I could ascertain the latitude; but I believe this to be the northermost part of the shoals that lie to the eastward of the island Madura, and in the English East-India Pilot are called Bralleron's Shoals, the same which in the Dutch charts are called Kalcain's Eylandens. By my reckoning, the part that we went over lies in 5° 50' or 5° 52′ S. and 3° 36' to the westward of the island Tonikaky, or S. 84° 27′ W. distance sixty-nine leagues. At eleven o'clock the same night, we saw, to the northward of us, the southermost of the islands Salombo. I make its latitude to be 5° 33′ S. and its longitude west of Tonikaky 4° 4, at the distance of about eighty-two or eighty-three leagues. It bears from the last shoal N.W. by W. W. at the distance of about fourteen leagues. It is to be remarked, that hereabout, off the island of Madura, the winds of the monsoons are commonly a month later in settling than at Celebes. The variation here was not more than half a degree west; and we found the current, which before set to the southward, now setting to the N.W.

In the afternoon of the 26th, we saw from the mast-head the island of Luback, and had soundings from thirty-five to forty fathom, with a bottom of bluish clay. The latitude of this island is 5° 43′ S. and its longitude 5° 36' west of Tonikaky, from which it is distant about one hundred and twelve leagues. Its distance west from the islands of Salombo is thirty-one leagues. We went to the northward of this island, and found a current setting to the W.N.W.