Friday 7.
land; we however few nothing, and therefore they muft
have been placed erroneoufty; nor can this be thought
ftrange, when it is confidered that not only thefe iflands,
but the cöaft which bounds this fea, have been difcovered
and explored by different people, and at different times, and
the charts upon which they aTe delineated, put together by
others, perhaps at the diftance of more than a century after
the difcoveries had been made; nottomention that thedifco-
verers themfelves had not all the requifites for keeping an accurate
journal, o f which rhofe of the prefent age are pofTefTed.
We continued our courfe, fleering W. till the evening of
Saturdays, the 8th, when the variation of the compafs, by feveral azimuths,
was -12' W. and by the amplitude 5' W. At noon, on
Sunday 9. the 9th, our latitude, by obfervation, was 90 46' S., longitude
232° 7 'W. For the laft two days we had fleered due W. yet,
by obfervation, we made fifteen miles fouthing, -fix miles
from noon on the 6th to noon on the yth, and ten milesfrom
noon on the 7th to noon on the'8th, b y which it appeared
that there was -a current fet-ting to the-fouthward. Atfun-
fet, we found the variation to be ? W. and -atthe fame rtime,
faw an appearance of very high land bearing N. W.
Monday 10. In the morniing of the iöth,'we faw Clearly‘that what had
appeared to be land the night before, Was-Timor. At noon,
our latitude, by obfervation, was io° i' S. which was fifteen
miles to the fouthward of that given by the log-; our longitude,
by obfervation, was 233° 27' W. We fleered N. W. in
order to obtain a mdre diftimdt view of the land in fight, till
four o’clock in the morning of the nth, when the wind
came to the N. W. and W. with which we flood to the fouthward
till nine, when we tacked and flood N. W. having the
wind now at W. S. W. At fun-rife, the land had appeared to
extend from W, N. W. to N. E. and at noon, we could fee it
S B - - I j A extend
Tuefday u.
extend to the weftward as far as W. by 8. i S, b u tno farther
to the eaflward than N. by E. We were now Well allured,
that as the firft land we had feen was Timor, the laft ifland
we had paffed was Timor Laoet, or Laut. Laoet, is a word
in the language o f Malaca, fignifying Sea, and this ifland
was named by the inhabitants of that country. The fourh
part o f it lies in latitude 8° 15' S. longitude 228° 10' W. but
in the charts the fouth point is laid down in various lati-
tudes, from 8° 30' to 9° 30'; it is indeed poflible that the
land we faw might be fome other ifland, but the prefumption
to the contrary is very ftrong, for if Timor Laut had lain
where it is placed in the charts, we muft have feen it there.
We were now in latitude <j° 37' S .; longitude, by an obfervation
of the fun and moon, 233° 54' W. we were .the day before
in .233° 27'; the difference is 27', exactly the lame that was
given by the log: this, however, is a degree of accuracy in
■ obfervation that is feldom to be expedled. In the afternoon,
we Road in Qiore till eight in the evening, when we tacked
and flood off, being at the diftance of about three leagues
from the land, which at fun-fet extended from S. W. 7 W. to
M. E.: at this time we founded, and had no ground with 140
fathom. At midnight, having but little wind, we tacked Wednef. 12.
and flood in, and at noon the next day, our latitude, by ob-
fervation, was 9° 36' S. This day, we faw fmoke on fhore
in feveral places, and had feen many fires during the night.
The land appeared to be very high, riling in gradual Hopes
one above another: the hills were in general covered with
thick woods, but among them we, could diftinguilh naked
fpots of a confiderable extent, which had the appearance of
having been’cleared by art. At five o’clock in the afternoon,
we were within a mile and a half of the fhore, in fixteen fa-
thorn water, and afereaft of a fmall inlet into the low land, .
w h i c h lies in latitude.-g^JH-S* and-probably is the fame that
Dam pier