248 COCHINCHINA. ' 
he pointed out the entrance into the bay, which does not 
readily discover itself to those who are strangers to it. The 
weather being squally, we did not succeed in getting in till 
the latter part of the following day. 
The deplorable state to which our sick were now reduced 
by the typhous fever and dysentery, which had l^een caught 
at Batavia, and had spread nearly through the whole of 
the ship's company, was the principal reason of our going 
to Turon, after the disappointment we met with at Pulo 
Condore. It may be imagined then how great and grievous 
was the mortification we all felt on being told, by the Cap- 
tain of a Portugueze vessel which was lying in the bay, that 
an existing rebellion, having plunged the whole of Cochin- 
china into a state of civil war, had reduced the country to 
such a wretched situation as to preclude every hope of our 
procuring the refreshments of which we stood so much in 
need ; and that it would be more advisable for us to proceed 
to Macao without a moment's delay, than to wait there in 
fruitless expectation of getting those supplies, which might 
perhaps be promised, but which, he knew very well, could 
not be provided. The miserable condition of our old fisher- 
man, and the general appearance of the place, and every 
thing we saw, seemed to confirm the unwelcome intelligence 
of Manuel Duome. Few natives came near the ships ; those 
that did come were shy and suspicious in their conduct, and 
when we went on shore they seemed to avoid us. No provi- 
sions nor any kind of refreshments were brought off to the 
ships, and it was not without difficulty we could procure on 
shore a few fowls and a trifling quantity of fruit and roots. 
