tnjAP. xxxvit.] 



TO mRNATE. 



wind abated a little, and in two more we were able lo 

 hoist onr mainsail, reefed and half-mast high. Towards 

 evening it cleared up and fell calm, and the sea, which 

 had been rather high, soon went down. Not being 

 much of a seaman myself I had been considerably 

 alarmed, and even the old steersman assured me he bad 

 never been in a worse squall all his life. He was now 

 more than ever confirmed in his opiiuon of the tmluckiness 

 of the boat, and in the efficiency of the holy oil which all 

 Bngis prans had poured throngh their bottoms. As it 

 was, be imputed our safet}' and the quick termination of 

 the squall entirely to hia own prayers, saying with, a laugh, 

 Yes, that's the way we fdways do on board our praus ; 

 when things are at the worst we stand up and sbont out 

 our prayers as loud as %ve can, and then Tuwan Allah 

 helps us." 



After this it took us two days more to reach Temate, 

 having our usual calms, squalls, and head-winds to the 

 very last ; and once having to return back to our anchorage 

 o\ving to violent gusts of wind just as we were close to the 

 town. Looking at my whole voyage in this vessel from 

 the time when I left Goram in May, it will appear that 

 my experiences of travel in a native pran have not been 

 encouraging. My fii'st crew ran away ; two men were lost 

 for a raouth on a desert island ; we were ten times aground 

 on coral reefs; we lost four anchors; the sails were de- 

 voured by rats ; the small boat was lost astern ; we were 

 thirty-eight days on the voyage home, which should not 

 have taken twelve ; we were many times short of food and 

 \\'ater ; w^e had no conipass-lamp, owing to there not being 

 a drop of oil in Waigiou when we left ; and to crown all, 

 during the whole of our voyages from Goram by Ceram to 

 Waigion, and from Waigiou to Ternate, occupying in all 

 seventy-eight days, or only twelve days short of three 

 months (ail in what was supposed to be the f:wo arable 

 season), we had not one single day of fair iinTid. We were 

 always close braced up, always struggling against wind, 

 tide, and leeway, and in a vessel that would scarcely sail 

 nearer than eight points from the wind. Every seaman 

 will admit that my first voyage in my own boat was a 

 most unlucky ona 



H K 2 



