the strait we found a strong current against us, and
landed on the south side in a small hay to take our
lunch. Again we rowed and heat until we came to
the narrowest part of the strait, where high, perpendicular
walls of rock rise on either hand. The
tide which sets toward the east, that is before the
wind, now changed, and away we shot between
the overhanging crags with the speed of an arrow.
Outside of these narrows the shores open on both
sides, so that almost at once we were exposed to the
fall strength of the stormy monsoon. The strong tide
running against the wind rolled up a high, irregular
sea; in fact, the ocean seemed to boil. “ Have you
any idea that we can land on that exposed shore
in the midst of such a surf ? ” I asked the controleur.
“Well, it is getting dreadfally rough,” was his indefinite
reply. The old Malay pilot, who had kept
his boat ahead, now stood up, and seeing the combing
waves, into which the strong current was rapidly
driving us, shouted out to the controleur, uDra bisa
Tuan ! ” “ It is impossible, sir! It is impossible, sir! ”
Instantly we tacked and stood over toward the Celebes
side, and, under the guidance of the old whaler, soon
entered a small, well-sheltered bay. ' Near its middle
part the island of Limbi is very narrow, and across
that place had been stretched a series of strong nets
made of rope a quarter of an inch in diameter, the
meshes being about six inches square. Our plan was
to commence driving at the northern end of the island
and force the wild babirusas into this tra p ; but
it was already quite dark, and the place where the
liulmm had landed was a long way to windward, and
we therefore concluded to camp here to-night. For
a tent we cut poles from the neighboring bunches of
bamboo and covered them with the boat’s sail and
an old tarpaulin. Our friend K., who was extremely
careful not to boast of being a good sailor, became
exceedingly frightened while we were in the
midst of the combing waves, and asked me, half a
dozen times during the evening, if the tide would
not rise so high as to wash us off this steep shore
before morning, but I tried to quiet his nerves by
assuring him that such a thing could not happen unless
the earth should sink, a very possible thing now
that I come to think of it, for that very beach was composed
of black volcanic sand, and we were almost
beneath a cone, which rose on the flanks of B atu
angus, and had been formed so recently that even the
luxuriant vegetation of these tropics had not yet had
time to gain a footing on its dark sides. In order
to get a partial shelter from the heavy showers we
expected before morning, we pitched our camp beneath
the sturdy branches of an old tree. There
we slept while the wind, in heavy gusts, sighed
through the dense foliage over our heads, and at our
feet rose the heavy, pulsating roar of the ocean-surf.
December 21st. — After passing a comfortable
night, notwithstanding the fears of our companion
that we should awake before morning, and find ourselves
in the midst of the sea, we again attempted
to reach the northern end of Limbi, but, as soon as
we got out of the bay, we struck into such a heavy
sea that our men could not take us to windward, and
were therefore obliged to put back once more, lh is