520 Voyage feom Ceram 



fort to have a night of quiet and comparative safety. My old 

 pilot had never left the helm for more than an hour at a time, 

 when one of the others would relieve him for a little sleep ; 

 so I determined the next morning to look out for a secure and 

 convenient harbor, and rest on shore for a day. 



In the morning, finding it would be necessary for us to get 

 round a rocky point, I wanted my men to go on shore and cut 

 jungle-rope, by which to secure us from being again drifted 

 away, as the wind was directly off shore. I unfortunately, 

 however, allowed myself to be overruled by the pilot and crew, 

 who all declared that it was the easiest thing possible, and 

 that they would row the boat round the point in a few min- 

 utes. They accordingly got up the anchor, set the jib, and 

 began rowing; but, just as I had feared, we drifted rapidly 

 off shore, and had to drop anchor again in deeper water, and 

 much farther off. The two best men, a Pajjuan and a Malay, 

 now swam on shore, each carrying a hatchet, and went into 

 the j ungle to seek creejDers for rope. After about an hour our 

 anchor loosed hold, and began to drag. This alarmed me 

 greatly, and we let go our spare anchor, and, by running out 

 all our cable, appeared tolerably secure again. We were now 

 most anxious for the return of the men, and were going to fire 

 our muskets to recall them, when we observed them on the 

 beach, some way off, and almost immediately our anchors again 

 slipped, and we drifted slowly away into deep water. We in- 

 stantly seized the oars, but found we could not counteract the 

 wind and cui-rent, and our frantic cries to the men were not 

 heard till we had got a long way off, as they seemed to be 

 hunting for shell-fish on the beach. Very soon, however, they 

 stared at us, and in a few minutes seemed to comprehend their 

 situation ; for they rushed down into the water, as if to swim 

 off, but again returned on shoi'e, as if afi-aid to make the at- 

 tempt. We had drawn up our anchors at first not to check 

 our rowing ; but now, finding we could do nothing, we let 

 them both hang down by the full length of the cables. This 

 stopped our way very much, and we drifted from shore very 

 slowly, and hoped the men would hastily form a raft, or cut 

 down a soft-wood tree, and paddle out to us, as we were still 

 not more than a third of a mile from shore. They seemed, 

 however, to have half lost their senses, gesticulating wildly to 



