SEPT. 1770 REMARKABLE LIGHTS ARRIVE AT SAVU 331 



plainly saw ; they appeared narrow. Anabao itself looked 

 much like Timor, but was not quite so high. We saw on it 

 no signs of cultivation, but as it was misty, and we were 

 well on the other side of the straits, which we judged to 

 be five leagues across, we saw it but very indifferently. 



About ten o'clock a phenomenon appeared in the heavens, 

 in many things resembling the aurora borealis, but differing 

 materially in others. It consisted of a dull reddish light, 

 reaching in height about twenty degrees above the horizon. 

 Its extent varied much at different times, but was never 

 less than eight or ten points of the compass. Through and 

 out of this passed rays of a brighter-coloured light, tending 

 directly upwards. These appeared and vanished nearly in 

 the same time as those of the aurora borealis, but were 

 entirely without the trembling or vibratory motion observed 

 in that phenomenon. The body of it bore from the ship 

 S.S.E. It lasted as bright as ever till nearly midnight, 

 when I went down to sleep, and how much longer I cannot 

 tell. 



Vlih. In the morning an island 1 was in sight, very im- 

 perfectly, if at all, laid down in the charts. By ten we were 

 very near the east end of it. It was not high, but composed 

 of gently sloping hills and vales almost entirely cleared and 

 covered with innumerable palm trees. Near the beach were 

 many houses, but no people were seen stirring. Soon after 

 we passed the N.E. point, we saw on the beach a large flock 

 of sheep, but still no people. The north side of the isle 

 appeared scarcely at all cultivated, but, like that of Eotte, 

 was covered with thick brushwood, almost or quite destitute 

 of leaves. Among these, as we passed, we saw numerous 

 flocks of sheep, but no houses or plantations. At last, how- 

 ever, one was discovered in a grove of cocoanut trees, and it 

 was resolved to send a boat in charge of a lieutenant to 

 attempt to establish a commerce with people who seemed so 

 well able to supply our many necessities. "We saw on the 

 hills two men on horseback, who seemed to ride for their 

 amusement, looking often at the ship, a circumstance which 



1 Savu Island, belonging to the Dutch. 



