252 ACCOUNT OF CELEBES , AMBOYNA, &C. ,

the point of Nouffanivel, the depth is again fathomlefs, and the fhore is bold androcky.

Pali this point, on the infide of Leytimor, there is a bend, the deepeft part ofwhich affords good anchorage, in the eaft monfoon, but it is only quite clofe to thefhore. This is called the Portuguefe-bay, but I am ignorant why this name has beengiven to if.

Thence, till part the Galghoek, or Gallows Point, there is no tolerable anchorage;but you then come to the Vrymans, or free merchant’s road, which is juft pall thatpoint, whence a fmall rocky reef projects out into the channel; you mud be particularlycareful not to anchor too near to the point, for worms are ib abundant at and near it,that in lefs than a month’s time not only the fheathing, but likewife the planks of theveffel’s bottom are completely eat through.

Upon this follows the road of Fort New Victoria, but here the anchoring-ground isequally clofe in fhore ; for dire&ly before the fort, and at one and a half cable’s lengthoff, there is no bottom with a line of feventy fathoms.

From this place to the point of little Hativa the fhore is guarded by an uninter-rupted range of funken rocks, which prevent all approach, and from thefe to thepafs, there is likewife no riling bottom, except clofe to the fhore. In the middle ofthe bay there are no foundings with a line of eighty, or one hundred fathoms.

The nature of this bay conflitutes the flrength of the ifland. It is only in a fewparts of it that there is any anchorage, and then always quite clofe to the fhore ; and itwould be a difficult matter for an enemy’s fleet to enter it, and much more fo to blockit up. The Laha is the only place where fhips can affemble, and this may be madefo ftrong that all fear of its being availed of might be difmiffed ; this has, indeed, nowbeen determined upon, as I fhall have occafion to notice farther on.

No rocks, or fands, are to be met with in this bay, fave thofe which have beenmentioned, and which lie near the fhore.

As there is nothing of this kind to avoid, the whole art, therefore, of failing into, orout of the bay, or of working into it, confifts herein, namely, always to keep well inwith the windward fhore, and never to fall farther off from it than midchannel. Thewindward fhore is Hitoe, in the good or weft monfoon, and Leytimor in the bad oreaft monfoon.

The currents here are not regular j neither has the moon any conftant or equalinfluence upon the tides ; high and low water fometimes occur once, and fometimestwice, in four-and-twenty hours; the difference is from fix to nine feet: one ortwo days before the full moon, the water is found to rife the higheft, and fall theloweft.

It is a natural confequence of this deep bay, although at Amboyna it is thought fome-thing very fmgular, that when the current fets into it along Hitoe, it muft run out, inan oppofite direftion, along Leytimor, and vice verfa in the contrary cafe.

Both the peninfulas, as well Leytimor as Hitoe, are very mountainous: on theformer, the fummits of Soya , and on the latter, thofe of Capaha, tower above thereft : they are almoft entirely overgrown with trees and underwood, between which,at intervals, foine clove-trees are planted and cultivated by the Amboynefe. Thefemountains, like moft others, are in general rocky, and covered with a ftratum ofearth, the depth of which is very various; in fome places it is no more than three feet,or lefs; in others, it is twenty, or more, feet in depth : the foil is moftly a reddilhclay, and in the valleys, where there are no rocks, it is a little more blackifh, andmixed with more particles of fand.

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