7 deg. N.[17] We ran from Cape
Comorin to the meridian of these islands in six days, having a very
large wind, though with foul weather, excessive rain, and gusts of wind.
[Footnote 16: Perhaps the Maldives are here meant; but the northern
extremity of that group is in lat. 7 deg. N., and the latitude of 10 deg., which
reaches to the southernmost of the Lakedives, is very far out of the way
for doubling Cape Comorin. - E.]
[Footnote 17: The Nicobar Islands are in 8 deg. N.; but Great Sambelong is
in the latitude mentioned in the text, and may have been considered as
belonging to the Nicobar group. - E.]
Through the negligence of our master, by not taking due observation of
the south star, we missed these islands, falling to the southward of
them, within sight of the islands of Gomes Polo,[18] immediately off
the great island of Sumatra, it being then the 1st of June; and we lay
two or three days becalmed at the north-east side of these islands,
hoping to have procured a pilot from the island of Sumatra, which was in
sight, within two leagues of us.
