846 
A VOYAGE TO 
[North Coast. 
1803. A distance of two miles between the islands seems to present 
Saturday's 9- a fair opening; but there is a reef of low rocks on the west side, 
and the ripplings and whirlpools caused by the meeting of the tides 
take away the command of a vessel in light winds ; so that, although 
I went through safely in the Cumberland, the passage can be re- 
commended to a ship only in a case of necessity. The latitude of our 
anchorage under the northern island, from a supplement of the 
moon’s meridian altitude, was if 24^ sout h; ant ^ longitude by 
time keeper, from altitudes of the star Altair, 136 28^- east, but it 
is placed in 1 ' less, conformably to the positions fixed in the Investi- 
gator. A head land seen in latitude 1 i® 18', was probably the northern 
extremity of this island, and of the whole chain; at least nothing 
beyond it could be perceived. 
In steering out of the channel we were carried near the west- 
ern rocks by the tide ; but the water was deep, and a breeze soon 
took the schooner out of its influence. At noon our observed latitude 
was i l® 21/, the northern island bore N. 67® to S. 48° E., and the fur- 
thest part of the southern land S. 5 0 W. ; the wind was light at north- 
(Atias, east, and until midnight we steered north-west to get off the coast; 
Plate L) our course was then more westward towards Timor, where I pro- 
posed to stop for a supply of water and provisions. 
A moderate trade wind, coming generally from S. E. in the 
first part, and E. N. E. in the latter part of the day, carried us to the 
November, longitude of the northern Cape Van Diemen; beyond that, the winds 
were light and variable, and frequently at south-west, which alarmed 
me lest the unfavourable monsoon should set in before we could get 
Sunday 6. far enough to be out of its influence. Nov. 6 at noon, our latitude 
(?i. XVI.) was gO a8 , southj longitude 127° 12' east, and I was surprised to see 
already the high land of Timor extending f rorn N.iW.to W.N.W,; 
the first was probably the north-east extremity of the island, and dis- 
tant about twenty-three leagues, but the high land in the latter bear- 
ing could scarcely be nearer than thirty-five leagues. This distance, 
with ten .feet elevation of the eye on the schooner’s deck, would give 
