17?1 ROUND THE WORLD. 34S 



so that our people, who had a general permission to 

 trade, parted with old shirts and other articles, which 

 they were obliged to substitute for money to great 

 disadvantage. In the morning of the 15th, we weigh- 

 ed, with a light breeze, at N. E. and stood out to sea. 

 Java Head, from which I took my departure, lies in 

 latitude 6 49' S., longitude 253 12' W. 



Prince's Island, where we lay about ten days, is, 

 in the Malay language, called Pulo Selan; and, in the 

 language of the inhabitants, Pulo Paneitan. It is a 

 small island, situated in the western mouth of the 

 Strait of Sunda. It is woody, and a very small 

 part of it only has been cleared: there is no re- 

 markable hill upon it, yet the English call the small 

 eminence, which is just over the landing-place, the 

 Pike. It was formerly much frequented by the India 

 ships of many nations, but especially those of Eng- 

 land, which of late have forsaken it, as it is said, 

 because the water is bad ; and touch either at North 

 Island, a small island that lies on the coast of Su- 

 matra, without the east entrance of the Strait, or 

 at Mew Bay, which lies only a few leagues from 

 Prince's Island, at neither of which places any con- 

 siderable quantity of other refreshments can be pro- 

 cured. Prince's Island is, upon the whole, certain- 

 ly more eligible than either of them; and though 

 the water is brackish, if it is filled at the lower 

 part of the brook, yet higher up it will be found 

 excellent. 



The first and second, and perhaps the third ship 

 that comes in the season, may be tolerably supplied 

 with turtle ; but those that come afterwards must 

 be content with small ones. Those that we bought 

 were of the green kind, and at an average cost us 

 about a half-penny or three farthings a pound. We 

 were much disappointed to find them neither fat nor 

 well flavoured ; and we imputed it to their having 

 been long kept in crawls or pens of brackish water, 

 without food. The fowls are large, and we bought 



z 4 



