28 rOYAGE TO BATCHIAN. [chap, xxiii. 



I stayed some time at a place where I saw a new 

 clearing on a very steep part of the mountain, and ob- 

 tained a few interesting insects. In the evening we went 

 on to thf> extreme southern point, to be ready to pass across 

 the fifteen-mile strait to the island of Kaioa. At five 

 the next morning we started, but the wind, which had 

 hitherto been westerly, now got to the south and south- 

 west, and we had to row almost all the way with a burn- 

 ing sun overhead. As we approached land a fine breeze 

 sprang up, and we went along at a great pace ; yet after an 

 hour we were no nearer, and found we were in a violent 

 current carrying us out to sea. At length we over- 

 came it, and got on shore just as the sun set, having been 

 exactly thirteen hours coming fifteen miles. We landed 

 on a beach of hard coralline rock, "wdth rugged cliffs of the 

 same, resembling those of the K(^ Islands (Chap. XXIX.) 

 It was accompanied by a brilliancy and luxuriance of the 

 vegetation, very like what I had observed at those islands, 

 M'hich so much pleased me that I resolved to stay a few 

 days at the chief village, and see if their animal produc- 

 tions were correspondingly interesting. While searching 

 for a secure anchorage for the night we again saw the 



stroyeil, and numbers of the inhabitants killed. The sand and ashes fell 

 so thick that the crops were partially destroyed fifty miles off, at Ternate, 

 where it was so dark the fol]o\ving day that lamps had to be lighted at 

 noon. For the position of this and the adjacent islands, see the map in 

 Chapter XXXVII. 



