CHAP, xxxvii.] TO TERN ATE. 373 



to prevent drifting. On the morning of the 7th we were 

 however, a good way up the coast, and ^-q now thought 

 our only chance would be to get close in-shore, where there 

 might be a return current, and we could then row. The 

 prau was heavy, and my men very poor creatures for work, 

 so that it took vis six hours to get to the edge of the reef 

 that fringed the shore ; and as the M'ind might at any 

 moment blow on to it, our situation was a very dangerous 

 one. Luckily, a short distance off there was a sandy bay, 

 ^^'here a small stream stopped the growth of the coral ; and 

 by evening we reached this and anchored for the night. 

 Here we found some Galela men shooting deer and pigs ; 

 but they could not or would not speak Malay, and we 

 could get little information from them. We found out that 

 along shore the current changed with the tide, while about 

 a mile out it was always one way, and against us ; and 

 tins gave us some hopes of getting back to the point, from 

 which we were now distant twenty miles. Next morning 

 we found that the Galela men had left before daylight, 

 having perhaps some vague fear of our intentions, and very 

 likely taking me for a pirate. During the morning a boat 

 passed, and the people informed us that, at a short distance 

 further towards the point, there was a much better harbour, 

 where there were plenty of Galela men, from whom we 

 might probably get some assistance. 



At three in the afternoon, when the current turned, we 



