They Brought With Them Such A Cockle As I Have Mentioned In
My "Voyage Round The World" Found Near Celebes, And They Saw Many
More, Some Bigger Than That Which They Brought Aboard, As They Said,
And For This Reason I Named It Cockle Island.
I sent them to sound
again, ordering them to fire a musket if they found good anchoring;
we were then standing to the southward, with a fine breeze.
As soon
as they fired, I tacked and stood in; they told me they had fifty
fathom when they fired. I tacked again, and made all the sail I
could to get out, being near some rocky islands and shoals to
leeward of us. The breeze increased, and I thought we were out of
danger, but having a shoal just by us, and the wind failing again, I
ordered the boat to tow us, and by their help we got clear from it.
We had a strong tide setting to the westward.
At one o'clock, being past the shoal, and finding the tide setting
to the westward, I anchored in thirty-five fathom coarse sand, with
small coral and shells. Being nearest to Cockle Island, I
immediately sent both the boats thither, one to cut wood, and the
other to fish. At four in the afternoon, having a small breeze at
south-south-west, I made a sign for my boats to come on board. They
brought some wood, and a few small cockles, none of them exceeding
ten pounds' weight, whereas the shell of the great one weighed
seventy-eight pounds; but it was now high water, and therefore they
could get no bigger. They also brought on board some pigeons, of
which we found plenty on all the islands where we touched in these
seas: also in many places we saw many large bats, but killed none,
except those I mentioned at Pub Sabuda. As our boats came aboard,
we weighed and made sail, steering east-south-east as long as the
wind held. In the morning we found we had got four or five leagues
to the east of the place where we weighed. We stood to and fro till
eleven; and finding that we lost ground, anchored in forty-two
fathom coarse gravelly sand, with some coral. This morning we
thought we saw a sail.
In the afternoon I went ashore on a small woody island, about two
leagues from us. Here I found the greatest number of pigeons that
ever I saw either in the East or West Indies, and small cockles in
the sea round the island in such quantities that we might have laden
the boat in an hour's time. These were not above ten or twelve
pounds' weight. We cut some wood, and brought off cockles enough
for all the ship's company; but having no small shot, we could kill
no pigeons. I returned about four o'clock, and then my gunner and
both mates went thither, and in less than three-quarters of an hour
they killed and brought off ten pigeons.
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