I sle o r B a l l y .
iiland in 1621, and that the cloves lay three or four inches thick
on the ground, for want of people to .gather them.
Batcbian rifes to a confiderable height, fwells into waved
eminences, and in fome parts into hills terminating in points,
and well wooded. On the greater part o f its coafts, as o f all the
Moluccas, and other iflands in the various Indian archipelago,
are prodigious rocks or coral reefs, o f infinite variety and
beauty.
T h e Sooloo, and other fleets which fail annually to cruife
among the Philippines, depend folely for their fubfiftence on the
fiih, and ihell fiih, which the reefs afford, and only lay in fome
rice and fago bread. Mr. Forrejl gives a view, in plate 5, o f a
coral rock off Batcbian, uni a man gathering the Gigantic Chama.
Among other ihells there reprefented, is a figure of a turbinated
one o f a great fize.
I a m uncertain o f the number o f parts into which this ifland
is divided. In the map, on the weftern fide is ftreight Labuhat ;
I do not know whether it penetrates quite through. On this is
fort Barnevelt, the fortrefs that awes the Batc.bians. A little
farther to the north is a great bay, with the ifle o f Bally in
the middle, in Lat. o” 30' fouth ; it is about two miles round,
and well fupplied with wood and water. At the bottom of the
hay is a very narrow paffage, that divides Batcbian in two ; the
northern divilion is called the ifle of Mandioly, the refidence of
the fultam The paffage widens confiderably towards the weft,
and opens in the ftreights o f Patientia, which divide this ifland
from the great one o f Gilolo. I think Mandioly to be the ifland
Fitzherbert, in Purcbas, calls old Bachan. The Portuguefe and
Spaniards
Spaniards eftablifhed garrifons here, and formed leagues with
the natives ; but the Dutch in 1610 expelled them, and became
fucceffors to their advantages and oppreflions.
In Bijfory harbor, in Lat. o ' 18' fouth, on the weftern fide of
the ifland, is excellent anchorage, in twelve or fifteen fathoms
water. The entrance is marked by fome elegant little ifles, with
rocky precipitous bafes, and beautiful rounded wooded heads*.
This ifland gave fhelter to Mr. Forrejl for fome time, when the
pilot went on a vifit to his relation, the fultan Juan Hadjee.
O f f the nortb-weftern end o f Mandioly is Pappa, a fmall ifle,.
with three large rocks, hollowed into caves, harboring the fwal-
lows which make the delicious edible nefts; it lies only a few
minutes to the north of the equinoftial line. Between Pappa
and the ifle Lalaletta are the ftreights o f that name, about a
mile and a half long, and fcarcely forty yards wide, with deep
water. A fragrant fmell is wafted from the ihores. Pappa
has alfo that comfort to mariners, a delicious pond of frefh
water. Mr. Forrejl + gives us a view o f thefe iflands and rocks.
On the north-weft part is the little fnug harbor or cove of Ma-
laleo, where a ihip may lie fafe in four fathoms water, with the
cable faftened to trees.
Due north o f Mandioly, in Lat. o° 25' north, are the Giaritcbas,
a clufter o f fmall ifles, confifting o f rocks of a moderate height,
mixed with trees; and about fix leagues more to the north is
the ifland of Matcbian, one of the little kingdoms of the Moluccas,
fubjedt to the king of Pernatey it is of a conic form,
foars above the clouds, and has not in its whole extent a level
* Forreft,, tab. 3. t Plate 3.
place.
B j s s o r y
H a r b o r *
I s l a n d o f
T a p p a .
L a l a l e t t a .
H a r b o r o f
M a l a l e o ,
G i a r i t c h a s .
I s l a n d o f
M a t c h i a n .