4;o AVOYAGETO 



>7S©« and the Sifters North, 27 Eaft, diftant four leagues ; our 

 \ ,, 1 latitude was 5 si' South, longitude 105 57' Eaft. 



At four in the afternoon, we faw two fail in the Straits 

 of Sunda ; one lying at anchor near the Mid-channel Ifland; 

 the other nearer the Java fhore. Not knowing to what nation 

 they might belong, we cleared our mips for action ; and at 

 fix came to an anchor in twenty-five fathoms, four miles 

 Eaft by South from North I (land. Here wc lay all night, 

 and had very heavy thunder and lightning to the North 

 Weft ; from which quarter the wind blew in light breezes, 

 accompanied with hard rain. 



Tucfday s. At eight o'clock the next morning, we weighed, and pro- 

 ceeded through the Straits, the tide fetting to the South- 

 ward, as it had done all night; but about ten the breeze 

 failing, we came to again in thirty-five fathoms ; a high 

 ifland, or rather rock, called the Grand Toque, bearing 

 South by Eaft. We were, at this time, not more than two 

 miles from the fhips, which, now hoifting Dutch colours, 

 Captain Gore fent a boat on board for intelligence. The 

 rain ftill continued with thunder and lightning. 



Early in the afternoon, the boat returned with an account 

 that the large fhip was a Dutch Eaft-Indiaman, bound for 

 Europe ; and the other a pacquet from Batavia, with orders 

 for the feveral fhips lying in the Straits. It is the cuftom for 

 the Dutch fhips, as foon as their lading is nearly com- 

 pleted, to leave Batavia, on account of its extreme unwholc- 

 fomenefs, and proceed to fome of the more healthy iflands 

 in the Straits, where they wait for the remainder of their 

 cargo, and their difpatches. Notwitfthanding this precau- 

 tion, the Indiaman had loft, fince her departure from Ba- 

 tavia, 



