CHAPTER XXXVII. 



VOYAGE FEOM WAIGIOU TO TERNATE. 



(SEPTEMBER 29 TO XOVEMBER 5, 1860.) 



T HAD left the old pilot at Waigioxi to take care of mj 

 house and to get the prau into sailing order — to caulk 

 her bottom, and to look after the upper works, thatch, 

 and rigging. "When I returned I found it nearly ready, 

 and immediately began packing up and preparing for the 

 voyage. Our mainsail had formed one side of our house, 

 hut the spanker and jib had been put away in the roof, 

 and on opening them to see if any repairs were wanted, 

 to our horror we found that some rats had made them 

 their nest, and had gnawed through them in twenty places. 

 We had therefore to buy matting and make new sails, 

 and this delayed us till the 29th of September, when 

 we at length left Waigiou. 



It took us four days before we could get clear of the 

 land, having to pass along narrow straits beset with 

 reefs and shoals, and full of strong currents, so that an 



