We Took Some Fish Among The Rocks With Much Labour, And Got One Pheasant And Two Wood-Pigeons, Which Last Were As Large In The Body As Ordinary Hens.

Some of our company staid all night ashore to look for the wild-hogs coming into the traps, and some very large ones were seen on the 24th, but none were caught.

This morning, about half past seven, the moon, being at the full, was eclipsed in a more extraordinary manner than any of us had ever seen, being three hours and a half obscured before she recovered her entire light, which was very fearful.

[Footnote 1: Cocoa-nut trees. - E.]

The 25th, our people searching about the woods, brought great store of cokers to the ship, together with some fowls, and the heads of the palmito trees, which we boiled with our beef, and found them to eat like cabbages. The 28th, the company were busily employed in taking in wood and water. The skiff was sent out to sound the shoal, and found ten and twelve fathoms at the northern point of the bar, near the shoal. All this time we had prodigious rain both day and night. The 29th and 30th were employed in bringing wood aboard, which we found as good as our English billets. The skiff was sent on the 1st of May to sound the western point of the bay, where the water was found very deep. On landing at that part of the coast our people found the ruins of several huts, among which were some brass pans, which shewed the place had been lately inhabited, but, as we supposed, the inhabitants had been hunted from their houses by the wars.

We set sail on the 12th May, 1613, from this island of Doy, being the north-eastmost island of Batta-China, or Gilolo, in the Moluccas, in latitude 2 deg. 35' N.[2] The variation here was 5 deg. 20' easterly. By noon of this day we were fourteen leagues N. by E. from the place where we had been at anchor for twenty days.[3] The 1st June, passed the tropic of Cancer. The 2d, being in lat 25 deg. 44' N. we laid our account with seeing the islands of Dos Reys Magos.[4] Accordingly, about four p.m. we had sight of a very low island, and soon afterwards of the high land over the low, there being many little islands, to the number of ten or eleven, connected by broken grounds and ledges, so that we could not discern any passage to the westward. At night we stood off and took in our top-sails, and lay close by in our courses till morning. The islands stretch from S.W. to N.E. The 3d, we stood in for the land, which appeared to us a most pleasant and fertile soil, as much so as any we had seen from leaving England, well peopled, and having great store of cattle.

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