As It Was Very Dark, And We Knew
Nothing Of Our Position, We Could Only Guess How To Get Off
Again, And Had There Been A Little More Wind We Might Have Been
Knocked To Pieces.
However, in about half an hour we did get off,
and then thought it best to anchor on the edge of the reef till
morning.
Soon after daylight on the 7th, finding our prau had
received no damage, we sailed on with uncertain winds and
squalls, threading our way among islands and reefs, and guided
only by a small map, which was very incorrect and quite useless,
and by a general notion of the direction we ought to take. In the
afternoon we found a tolerable anchorage under a small island and
stayed for the night, and I shot a large fruit-pigeon new to me,
which I have since named Carpophaga tumida. I also saw and shot
at the rare white-headed kingfisher (Halcyon saurophaga), but did
not kill it. The next morning we sailed on, and having a fair
wind reached the shores of the large island of Waigiou. On
rounding a point we again ran full on to a coral reef with our
mainsail up, but luckily the wind had almost died away, and with
a good deal of exertion we managed get safely off.
We now had to search for the narrow channel among islands, which
we knew was somewhere hereabouts, and which leads to the villages
on the south side ofWaigiou. Entering a deep bay which looked
promising, we got to the end of it, but it was then dusk, so we
anchored for the night, and having just finished all our water
could cook no rice for supper. Next morning early (29th) we went
on shore among the mangroves, and a little way inland found some
water, which relieved our anxiety considerably, and left us free
to go along the coast in search of the opening, or of some one
who could direct us to it. During the three days we had now been
among the reefs and islands, we had only seen a single small
canoe, which had approached pretty near to us, and then,
notwithstanding our signals, went off in another direction. The
shores seemed all desert; not a house, or boat, or human being,
or a puff of smoke was to be seen; and as we could only go on the
course that the ever-changing wind would allow us (our hands
being too few to row any distance), our prospects of getting to
our destination seemed rather remote and precarious. Having gone
to the eastward extremity of the deep bay we had entered, without
finding any sign of an opening, we turned westward; and towards
evening were so fortunate as to find a small village of seven
miserable houses built on piles in the water. Luckily the Orang-
kaya, or head man, could speak a little. Malay, and informed us
that the entrance to the strait was really in the bay we had
examined, but that it was not to be seen except when- close
inshore.
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