January was, that they had not been twenty-four hours on board»
< 1 before they became the tamed o f all creatures. I kept two
o f them, a male and female, for a confiderable time, which
became great favourites w ith the failors, and, thinking that
a breed o f animals o f fuch ftrength and fize, fome o f them
weigh ing , when drefled, feven hundred pounds weight,
would be a valuable acquifition, I was inclined to have
brought them with me to England ; but my intention was
fruftrated by an incurable hurt that one o f them received
at fea.
P r id a y 28. It was not till the 28th, that the buffaloes were all got on
b o a rd ; however, there was no reafon to regret the time
taken up by this fervice, fince, in the interim, two wells o f
excellent water had been difcovered, o f which, as alfo o f
wood, part o f the ihips companies had been employed in
la y in g in a good fu p p ly ; fo that a fhorter flop would be ne-
ceflary, for replenilhing our flock o f thefe articles, in the
Strait o f Sunda. A party had likewife been occupied in
drawing the feine, at the head o f the harbour, where they
took a great many good fiffi; and another party, in cutting
down the cabbage-palm, which was boiled and ferved out
w ith the meat. Befides this, having been able to procure
only a fcanty fupply o f cordage at Macao, the repairing o f
our rig ging, was become an objedt o f conflant attention,,
and demanded all our fpare time.
Pulo-Condore is high and mountainous, and furrounded
by feveral fmaller iflands,. fome o f which are lefs than one,
and others two miles diftant. It takes its name from two
Malay words, Pulo fignifying an iiland, and C'ondore- a cala-
bafh, o f which it produces great quantities. It is o f the
form o f a crefcent, extending near eight miles from the
4 Southernmoft
Southernmofl point, in a North Eaft dire&ion; but its
breadth no where exceeds two miles. From the Weftern-
moft extremity, the land trends to the South Eaft for about
four miles ; and oppofite to this part o f the coaft there is
an iiland, called, by Monfieur D’Après *, Little Condore, which
runs two miles in the fame direction. This pofition o f the
two iflands affords a fafe and commodious harbour, the entrance
into which is from the North Weft. The diftance
between the two oppofite coafts is three quarters o f a 'mile,
exclufive o f a border o f coral rock, which runs down along
each fide, extending about one hundred yards from the
fhore. The anchorage is very good, from eleven to five fa thoms
water, but the bottom is fo foft and clayey, that we
found great difficulty in w e igh in g our anchors. Toward
the bottom o f the harbour there is fhallow water for about
h a lf a mile, beyond which the two iflands approach fo near
each other, as to leave only a paffage at high water for
boats. T he moffi convenient place for watering is at a
beach or» the Eaftern fide, where there is a fmall ftream
which furnifhed us with fourteen or fifteen tons o f water
a day.
This iiland, both with refpeet ter animal and vegetable
productions, is confiderably improved fince the time when
Dampier vifited it. Neither that writer, nor the compiler
o f the Eaft India Directory, make mention o f any other
quadrupeds than hogs, which are faid to be very fcarce,.
lizards, and the guanoes , and the latter, on the atuhority
o f Monfieur Dedier, a French engineer, who furveyed the
iiland about the year 1720, fays, that none o f the fruits
and efculent plants, fo common in the other parts o f India»
* Neptune. Oriental.-