2 5 r
The former objection was fcarcely lefs abfurd, as it appears undeniably that the fea,eaftward of the pafs, is not at all more elevated than the water in the bay of Amboyna,as the intelligent engineer Von Wagner, who has accurately furveyed both fhores, hasfound, and aflured me. There was thus not the lead; probability that the currents couldhave fallen through this opening, and have had the evil effedt which was fo ground-lefsly apprehended. This work of public utility, and of particular advantage to theCompany, was therefore flopped, and no one has fince thought of undertaking itanew; although Mr. Von Wagner has even told me, that he has frequently demon-ifrated how eafy the cut could be completed, there being now no more than aboutninety roods of land to cut through, yet always to no purpofe.
The arm of the fea which is now included between thefe two peninfulas, bearsthe appellation of the bay of Amboyna. I do not believe that there is any harbour inthe world which is naturally fo ftrong as this. From the point of Alang to the Pafs ofBaguewala it is about five leagues, but from the point of Nouffanivel to the fame fpot,fcarcely three and a half leagues, deep: the breadth is unequal; it is narrowed be-tween the point of the Laha and the oppofite Galghoek or Gallows Point, where itts about one Dutch mile over, and between the Kaaimans or Alligators Point, andthat which projects eaft of the land of little Hativa, where, at low water, by means°f a rocky fhoal on the Leytimor, and a fand on the Hitoe fide, the palfage is fo con-tracted that adventurous perfons have more than once eroded it on horfeback, althoughthe water between them is full eighty fathoms deep.
The direction of the bay, according to that in which the two peninfulas lie, whichbend round and meet each other at the pafs, is north-eaft and fouth-weft.
The point of Alang, or the weft point, on Hitoe, and that of Nouffanivel, corruptlycalled Nofanipe by our feamen, or the eaft point of the bay, lie about two leaguescaft-half-fouth, and weft half-north from each other.
From the point of Alang, or pall; Lillibooi, to the point of the Laha, there is noanchoring-ground at all, except clofe to the rocks which border the whole length ofthe fhore, and upon which, efpecially in the eaft monfoon, a tremendous high furf5 °ntinually breaks; but juft paft the point of the Laha, there is an inlet, or bay (Lahaln the Amboynefe language dignifying a bay), in which a fleet of five-and-twenty fhipscan anchor in fafety, particularly in the weft monfoon, in twenty-five and thirty.athoins, good fand ground; the anchorage is about a piftol-fhot from the fhore, where,ttt cafe of neceflity, fhips may likewife be careened. This was the place where theutch fleet, under command of their admiral Stephen Van der Hagen, lay at anchor,^t^n the day afterwards they crofled the bay and took the Portuguefe fort.
this inlet to the Kaaimans Point, there is again no anchorage, except upon® ec *g e of the before-mentioned fand, yet, in cafe of need, one might anchor near theP a s, clofe to the Matta-pafio.
l e - n 0 PP 0 fite fhore, along Leytimor, there is, withoutfide the bay, about half a?§ ue beyond the point of Nouffanivel, a reef of about One league in length, onlc “ ° ne may likewife eaft anchor, in cafes of neceflity, when apprehenfions arete er , ta ’ ne d of being driven paft the bay by the current, in twenty, eighteen and fif-C at h°ms, fand ground. This anchoring place, which is of great importance to theperh ° 0l ? nc * to Amboyna, is not laid down in the Company’s charts of thefe parts,1 alf^r * nt . ent * ona hy; but it is inferted in that which is found in Valentyn’s work:bov ° aW ^ P°* n ted out in the laft map which has been made in the bay of Am-Ve £ a : . When I was at Amboyna, in the month of April 1775, I faw a Chinefee fymg at anchor upon it. Between the reef, however, and the land which forms
the
k k 2