SINGAPORE OLD STRAITS AND NEW HARBOUR. 29 
of it and along which the course is East and West (the French 
is not clear). They are about eight leagues distant [from the 
Singapore Strait]. You will beware of passing between two of 
them. The sea near here, that is for half a league to the South, 
is quite clear and fair with a sandy bottom in fifteen fathoms. 
Half way between the Straits [of Singapore] and the said 
Islands is the river of Iantana which has a very wide mouth, 
the entrance to which lies on the East side where large vessels 
often enter. On the West side, where there is a hill of red 
earth [Tanah Merah on Singapore Island] just beyond the 
mouth of the river, is a sandbank which stretches to sea for a 
league and a half and has been touched by many ships, you 
should beware of it. At the end of the said islands a reef 
[Rumenia shoals and North Patch] stretches for a full two 
leagues to sea Hast-North-Hast over which in fair weather only 
a little foam can be seen but where a heavy sea breaks in 
rough weather. 
Between this reef and the islands is a large channel with a 
rocky bottom; the greatest [? smallest] depth which I have 
found is five and a half fathoms, from that seven and a half and 
again six and eight and a half are found. The width of the 
channel is a good cannon-shot across. If you wish to use this 
channel you must turn off your course half a league from the 
islands without coming closer to them for fear of coming on 
the banks as happened to Francisco Daginer who nearly lost 
his ship. Two leagues to the South-East of these islands is 
another small island which is a reef or rock of white stone and 
hence called Pedra Branqua {Pedra Branca and Horsburgh 
Light] and near and to the South of it are other rocks and 
reefs. To the South also lies the island of Bintcn”’ | Bintang]. 
_ In the above translation the remarks in square brackets are 
tiy own. These sailing directions are wonderfully clear seeing 
that they are a translation from the French of a translation from 
the Dutch of a translation from the Portuguese and there can be 
no doubt that the route which Linschoten taught to his fellow 
ecountry-men lay through the Sélat Sembilan and Keppel Harbour. 
It may be of value to note that Linschoten never visited the Further 
East; he arrived in India in 1583 and left it in 1589; his account 
of che passage from Malacca fo Macau must therefore have been 
drawn from Portuguese sources and it is evident that some of the 
Portuguese pilots had a competent knowledge of their profession. 
Ae Dik 9 9: 
Viaggi di Carletti vol. 11. 208-9 
quoted in Yule’s  Hobson-Jobson”’ s. v. Singapore. 
In this voyage nothing occurred worth relating...... except 
that after passing the straits of Sincapura...... between the main- 
land and a variety of islands...... with so narrow a channel that 
from the ship you could jump ashore or touch the branches of 
the trees on either side, our vessel stuck on a shoal. 
R. A. Soc., No. 60, 1911. 
