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great cabin, where I paffed the night with feveral others whom I might confide in, andplaced a trufty centinel at the door; neither did we go to bed, but lay down in ourcloaths by turns, imagining that thofe perfons who could be guilty of fo wicked a defign,would not ftick at any treacherous means to murder us. The next morning I calledtogether all the fhip’s company upon deck ; and the better to difcover the confpirators,I gave all the promifes and affurances imaginable, that if any one would make a dis-covery of the truth, he fhould receive fifty pounds reward, and all the protection Icould give him. I tried them likewife by feparate examination, but all to no purpofe,every man feeming equally furprized : and feeing that my bell endeavours to bringthis affair to light were unfuccefsful, I was obliged to purfue my voyage with thofepeople on board, more dangerous than even the very Indians I was going to, amongwhom the Englilh were fo ill-ufed lately. Accordingly on the 2d of June I fet fail, incompany with the fliip Borneo , Captain Thomas Lewis commander (bound to the fameplace, and on the fame account, in the fervice of the Honourable Eafl India Company),and alfo with the fhip Daulbin, Captain Boadurn commander, belonging to Maderafs,who was bound on a trading voyage. We failed together along the north coaft of Java.
In this time of the year the winds between this coafl and Borneo , as alfo along thecoafl of Sumatra are always eafterly in the offing, and are called the eafterly monfoons ;but near the fhores there are land and fea breezes ; the land breezes come off in themorning about one, two, three, or four o’clock, generally with a fmall fhower, a guffof wind, or fometimes thunder, which gives always a timely warning. Then we weighedanchor and kept the wind, which fometimes would run us a great way along the fhore;but as the day came on, the wind turned always more about to the eaft, and would runus out of fight of land by noon or thereabout, at which time it grew generally calm..Then we anchored in the offing with a flream-anchor in twenty-five or thirty fathomswater to hold our own, left the current fhould carry us to the weflward, till about oneor two in the afternoon, when we had a frefh gale of wind right from the fea, withwhich we made fuch flants in towards the fhore, that we might be fure to get fo nearland as to anchor in about four fathoms water before the fea-breeze was paft, otherwifewe fhould lofe much of the benefit of the next morning land-wind. This method ofturning along the fhore is very pleafant, by reafon of the certainty of the winds andfinenefs of the weather; by which means I had the opportunity of having an exactview of the coafl, which is very agreeable, being always green ; and when the land-winds come firfl off they bring with them a raofl delicious fmell. This coafl aboundsin all forts of provifions, whereof great quantities are carried to Batavia, efpeciallyfrom the north-eaft part, where there is molt plenty. There is no port of note fromBatavia till you come to Charabon, which is fifty-fix leagues to the eaft of it: but youfee Samarang, Japara, and Roombong, places where the Dutch have fettlements : atthe laft they get great quantities of oak for building, but I think it much inferior toour Englifh oak. Thefe parts alfo afford great plenty of rice, fait, fugar, white fugar-candy, tamarinds ; and as for other provifions, there are oxen, goats, eggs, ducks, andalmofl all forts of fowls, &c. Wherever you fee a grove of cocoa-nut trees (whichabound here) as you fail along the fhore, there you are fure to find a fmall town ofthe Javans, who are very civil, and will fupply you with what you pleafe of the produceof their country, at a much cheaper rate, and with much more humanity than the Dutch.
I was informed that the Dutch government reaches no farther than a place calledSooroobaya, which is a fmall pleafant village of the Javans, where I touched andbought fome provifions ; but it is no good place to water at. I will not trouble youwith the defcription of it (nothing here being remarkable) but proceed to a place
called