December. harbour, where they may wood and water, and take ia fu c h
'— —‘ other refrefhments as the place may afford. Toward the
end o f June, they w ill ihape their courfe for the Shum-
magins, and from thence to Cook’s River, purchafing, as
they proceed, as many Ikins as they are able, without
loling too much time, Cnee they ought to fleer again to the
Southward, and trace the coaft with great accuracy from
the latitude o f 56 to 5 ° , the fpace from which we were
driven out o f fight o f land by contrary winds. It fhould
here be remarked, that I conCder the purchafe o f ikins, in
this expedition, merely as afecondary objedt, for defraying
the expence ; and it cannot be doubted, from our experience
in the prefent voyage, that two hundred and Cfty Ikins,
worth one hundred dollars each, may be procured without
any lofs o f tim e ; efpecially as it is probable they w ill be
met with along the coaft to the Southward o f Cook’s River.
Having fpent three months on the coaft o f America, they
w ill fet out on their return to China early in the month o f
October, avoiding in their route, as much as poffible, the
tracks o f former navigators. I have now only to add, that
i f the fu r trade fhould become a Cxed object o f Indian commerce,
frequent opportunities w ill occur o f completing
whatever may be left unftnifhed, in the voyage o f which I
have here ventured to delineate the outlines.
The barter which had been carrying on with the Chinefe
for our fea-otter Ikins, had produced a very whimfical
change in the drefs o f all our crew. On our arrival in the
Typa, nothing could exceed the ragged appearance both o f
the younger officers and feamen ; for, as our voyage had
already exceeded, by near a twelvemonth, the time it was
at firft imagined we fhould remain at fea, almoft the whole
o f
o f our original ftock o f European clothes had been long '779-
worn put, or patched up w ith ikins, and the various manufac- 1 '.r
tures we had met with in the courfe o f our difcoveries.
Thefe were npyv again mixed and eked out with the gaudieft
filks and cottojis o f China.
On the 30th) Mr. Lannyon arrived with the ftores and F r id a y 30.
provifions, which were immediately flowed in due proportion
on board the two fhips. T h e next day, agreeably to a
bargain made b y Captain Gore, I fent our fheet anchor to
the country fhip, and received in return the guns, which
ihe before rode by.
Whilft we lay in the Typa, I was ihewn, in a garden belong
ing to an Englifh gentleman at Macao, the rock, under
which, as the tradition there goes, the poet Camoens ufed
to fit and compofe his Lufiad. It is a lo fty arch, o f one
folid ftone', and forms the entrance o f a grotto dug out o f
the riling ground behind it. T he rock is overfhadowed by
large fpreading trees, and commands an extenfive and
magnificent view o f the fea, and the interfperfed iflands.
On the n th o f January, two feamen belonging to the ' 78o;
Refolution found means to run off with a fix-oared cutter, WeS.Ti.
and notwithftanding diligent fearch was made, both that
and the following day, we were never able to learn any
tidings o f her. It was fuppofed, that thefe people had been
feduced by the prevailing notion o f making a fortune, by
returning to the fur iflands.
As w e heard nothing, during our flay in the Typa, o f the
meafurement o f the fhips, it may be concluded, that the
point fo ftrongly contefted by the Chinefe, in Lord Anfon’s
time, has, in confequence o f his firmnefs and refolution,
never fince been infilled on.