To Ternate. 549 



Contrary winds, squalls, and currents drifted us about the 

 rest of the day at their pleasure. The night was equaUy 

 squally and changeable, and kept us hard at work taking in 

 and making sail, and rowing in the intervals. 



Sunrise on the 2d found us in the middle of the ten-mile 

 channel between Kaioa and Makian. Squalls and showers 

 succeeded each other during the morning. At noon there 

 was a dead calm, after which a light westerly breeze enabled 

 us to reach a village on Makian in the evening. Here I 

 bought some pumelos (Citrus decumana), kanary-nuts, and 

 cofiee, and let my men have a night's sleep. 



The morning of the 3d was fine, and we rowed slowly along 

 the coast of Makian. The captain of a small prau at anchor, 

 seeing me on deck and guessing who I was, made signals for 

 us to stoj), and brought me a letter from Charles Allen, Avho 

 informed me he had been at Ternate twenty days, and was 

 anxiously waiting my arrival. This was good news, as I was 

 equally anxious about him, and it cheered up my spirits. A 

 light southerly wind now sprung up, and we thought we 

 were going to have fine weather. It soon changed, however, 

 to its old quartei*, the west; dense clouds gathered over the 

 sky, and in less than half an hour we had the severest squall 

 we had experienced during our whole voyage. Luckily we 

 got our great mainsail down in time, or the consequences 

 might have been serious. It was a regular little hurricane, 

 and my old Bugis steersman began shouting out to " Allah I 

 il Allah !" to preserve us. We could only keep up our jib, 

 which was almost blown to ragS, but by careful handling it 

 kept us before the wind, and the prau behaved very well. 

 Our small boat (purchased at Gani) was towing astern, and 

 soon got full of water, so that it broke away and we saw no 

 more of it. In about an hour the fury of the wind abated a 

 little, and in two more we were able to hoist our mainsail, 

 reefed and half-mast high. Toward evening it cleared up 

 and fell calm, and the sea, which had been rather high, soon 

 went down. Not being much of a seaman myself, I had been 

 considerably alarmed, and even the old steersman assured me 

 he had never been in a worse squall all his life. He was now 

 more than ever confirmed in his opinion of the unluckiness of 

 the boat, and in the efiiciency of the holy oil which all Bugis 



