To The Eastwards, On Coming
In From The Ledge Of Rocks, There Is A Great Shoal, The Outermost End Of
Which is N.E. or N.E. by E. from the small island five or six miles, and
no ground
Between that we could find with forty or fifty fathoms line.
In fine, all the north side of Mal-Ilha is very dangerous, but the
above-mentioned channel is quite safe. I would have come to anchor here,
as there is a town about a mile east from the before-mentioned bay, the
people being very good, and having abundance of refreshments, as beeves,
goats, hens, lemons, cocoa-nuts in great plenty, and excellent water,
but could not get in, owing to the wind being directly south.
[Footnote 77: Mohilla, the Mal-ilha of the text, is in lat. 16 deg. 44 deg. S.
and long. 44 deg. E. from Greenwich. Its difference of long. from the Cape
of Good Hope is 23 deg. 45' E. Thus, in every instance hitherto, the
observations of lat. and long. by Captain Best, at least as printed by
Purchas, are grossly erroneous. - E.]
[Footnote 78: This description seems rather to refer to the island of
Mayotto, about thirty leagues E. of S. from Mohilla; the small island to
the north, or N. by W. being called Saddle Isle. - E.]
Two of my men had belonged to a Dutch fleet, that year when they
assaulted Mosambique, on which occasion they put in here, and recovered
the healths of 400 or 500 men in five weeks. Yet it is well named
Mal-Ilha, or the bad island, for it is the most dangerous of any place I
ever saw. It is next to Comoro, from which it is distant some twelve or
fourteen leagues S.S.E.
At dawn on the 1st September we got sight of land to the eastwards, four
or five leagues distant, my reckoning being then eighty or ninety
leagues short, owing, I suppose, to some current setting east from the
coast of Melinda; neither from the latitude of Socotoro to Damaun could
we see the sun, to know our variation. The 3d at seven a.m. we spoke two
country boats, which informed us that the town, church, and castle in
sight was Damaun. From these boats I got two men, who engaged to carry
the Dragon to the bar of Surat, promising not to bring us into less than
seven fathoms. On the 5th a Surat boat came on board with Jaddow the
broker, who had served Captain William Hawkins three years, and Sir
Henry Middleton all the time he was here. There were likewise in this
boat the brother of the customer of Surat, and three or four others. All
these remained with us till the 7th, when we came to anchor at the bar
of Surat, in eight 1/4 fathoms at high water, and six 1/2 at neap tides.
At spring tides, however, I have found the tide to rise in the offing
three fathoms, and even three 1/2.
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