Passage to charajetejj,i every^rnart of Gonfiffence and esteem, and
.. i 1 ^tkiioned him to his perfeefc satisfaction.
The fleets,; in steering in a southerly course, met more
Chinese j-unks than any other vessels. Those junks^saii
- • generyiy.with _one monsoon and return withanother.
In the northeast: monsoon they/sail i-tocManilla, Banea,
and B a ta v ia and return to Emouy and Canton, with
that from the southwest. In tj^)pica|latitudes the:height
at which the quieksilver stands in the barometer, is subject
to little variation, except on the approach; of great,
commotions in the atmosphere. • A fall ;of little more
than the tenth ofttan inch towards/die. end of March,
indicated foul w e a th e r from which one of the ships
suffered some damage. And the same. happened again
early in April.!«:
In the straitsof Banoa^SirErasmus Gower rdpiygd xm
telligenee-that the enemy’s fleet h ad had a partial andihder.
-cisiveoction with some armed Indiamen, sent-from Bengal
' to the assistance of the Duteh oflBatavia; that the; enettp
wa&rfter wards reinforced^ h®t on^hfearing oh the, China
ships having theconvoyof a ship of war- and fearing the
union of superior,force against them, had quitted the
station, where they had expected to encounter only unprotected
merchantmen. Three armed ships from Bengal
soon aftervf ards joined the Lion,*and would have been of
considerable use, if the enenSy had waited for thesn^
Near the straits of Banca a squadron was met, of small
iV.e$s'ek?‘consisting ©f a^saaniw, andten Malay proas. The Passage to
"former carried fourteen -six-pounders; and each'.of the ■ ' eena‘
flatter from Jour* to .eighfrAithree-poupders. The. captain
b^|fekes%snow- was a~.Mahometan,5 'apparently of; Arabian
and the icafews o f the snow', as.welbas^of the proas&Iwere
Malays. Thros'e vte$selsfwere full o f men, »with pikes :and
side-armsand the ;deete-were/strewed.,W:ith a kindt. df
^rapeksh®j, composed o f siliceous? pebbles kroteed.inra
gftOHEi bf$8fet!-»work. Th is ^squadron* must diavta been
fitted out fortehostilefpUrpEfges^fggainS'feisome. .particular
enemy or-withwieWs.'Mrgteneral pira©yf .»SiivEpasmus
GQwesj.badff howevertoo impotfcanb &i&harge$teo*hfe
diverted .from it - by5. a^Uy i ooe&fianal ©rsuiCTenee, .or * to
risk .the^deiaydf investigating.- the motives;}’ and,* if ne>
cessacy, of taking measuresfor th'e'rpvfeishment-, of those
people. Iti is among the. advantages!1 of the? ffifaaiopeWr
sea's? that at least, the i subjeetis of the ^feat. powers,. may
feavigatq s»fely~thraugh,:6hem> iWithout- antoother protection
than thatnf ,a pass agairist Barbary coisairs-. In
the!Chinese? seas,- force alone can insure the;-safety of
navigators'; I i
Imtbe straits- of Sonda the fleet ) completed^ts stuck
ofbwQ©d> and water, on the *java side, hs preferable to
thatf of ^Sumatra ? 'for the reasons detailed in the former
volume of this work.
I Here »the Jadkall tender, having on board* the tea,'tab-
low, and varnish plants,» to- carry? to* Behgal^onder the