ACCOUNT OF CELEBES , AMBOYNA, &C. 287

that the refpective diffances be laid down as exactly as poffible, which has, in thefecharts, been totally neglected j of which glaring defeats I have from time to timemade mention in my journal.

The fecond caufe of the danger and difficulty of the ealtern navigation are thecurrents, which fet with fo much violence between the iflands and along the coafts ofthis archipelago, that if I had not experienced it myfelf, I ffiould fcarcely credit theaccount: in addition to this, they have no regular courfe, and fometimes run contraryto the wind, and at uncertain times.

Add to thefe, as a third caufe, the calms which prevail fo much in thefe climates,and the dangers which furround navigators in this paffage will be very manifeft ; forveffels are driven, in dead calm weather, by the violent currents, upon unknownffioals and rocks, fo that the moft experienced feaman is unable, in fuch cafes, to favethe ffiip and cargo entrufted to him.

It has likewife been obferved, that fuch of the Company’s captains as have per-formed feveral voyages to the eaftern provinces are, for this reafon, continued in thatnavigation, which is not difadvantageous for the interefh of the Company, but unfor-tunate for thofe captains, as thefe voyages afford but little profit, and they do not, in.confequence, feel much attachment for the fervice of the Company.