DAMPIER’s ACCOUNT OF NEW HOLLAND.
495
to have fent her afhore, but having little wind, and feeing fome fhoals, I hoifted her ina gain, and flood off out of danger.
In the afternoon, feeing an ifland bearing north-weft-by-weft, we fleered away north-Weft-by-north, to be to the northward of it. The next morning, being about midwayfrom the iflands we left yefterday, and having this to the weflward of us, the land ofthe main of New Guinea within us to the fouthward, appeared very high. When wecame within four or five leagues of this ifland to the weft of us, four boats came offto view us, one came within call, but returned with the other three without fpeakingto us ; fo we kept on for the ifland, which I named Sir R. Rich’s Ifland. It was prettyhigh, woody, and mixed with favannahs like thofe formerly mentioned. Being to theJtorth of it, we faw an opening between it and another ifland two leagues to the weft oftt, which before appeared all in one. The main feemed to be high land, trending tothe weflward.
, On Tuefday, the 2d of April, about eight in the morning, we difcovered a high-peakedtiland to the weflward, which feemed to fmoak at its top : the next day we paffed bythe north fide of the Burning Ifland, and faw a fmoak again at its top, but the ventTing on the fouth fide of the peak, we could not obferve it diftin&ly, nor fee the fire.We afterwards opened three more iflands, and fome land to the fouthward, which we£°uld not well tell whether it were iflands or part of the main. Thefe iflands are all high,a u of fair trees and fpots of great favannahs, as well the Burning Ifle as the reft; but‘he Burning Ifle was more round and peaked at top, very fine land near the fea, and'.0r two-thirds up it: we alfo faw another ifle fending forth a great fmoak at once,.h u t it foon vanifhed, and we faw it no more; we faw alfo, among thefe iflands, three‘mall veffels with fails, which the people on Nova Britannia feem wholly ignorant of.
The nth, at noon, having a very good obfervation, I found myfelf to the northward°f my reckoning, and thence concluded that we had a current fetting north-weft, orfather more wefterly, as the land lies. From that time to the next morning we hadclear weather, and a fine moderate gale from fouth-eafl to eaft-by-north : but athay-break the clouds began to fly, and it lightened very much in the eaft,. fouth-eafl,a nd north-eaft. At fun-rifing, the fky looked very red in, the eaft near the horizon,a hd there were many black clouds both to the fouth and north of it. About a quarter„ an hour after the fun was up, there was a fquall to the windward of us ; when on ahden one of our men on the fore-caftle called out that he faw fomething a-ftern, buthould not tell what: I looked out for it, and immediately faw a fpout beginning tob f xv .hk' n a quarter of a mile of us,, exactly in: the wind : we prefently put rightore it. It came very fwiftly, whirling the water up in a pillar about fix or fevenan ■ S hi S. h - -^ s y et f could not fee any pendulous cloud, from whence it might come $
. ., y as hi hopes it would foon lofe its force. In four or five minutes time, it camep. mn a cable’s length of us, and paffed away to leeward, and then I faw a long palej. r . e 'j tri coming down to the whirling water. This ftream was about the bignefs of aan l ° W ‘ upper end feemed vaflly high, not defcending from any dark cloud,therefore the more ftrange to me; I never having l'een the like before. It paftn 0ut a mile to leeward of us, and then broke. This was but a fmall fpout, not ftrongt j n r hhthig ; yet I perceived much wind in it as it paffed by us. The current ftill con-ned at north-weft a little wefterly, which I allowed to run a mile per hour..fe ]/ ^ ln °hfervation the 1.3th, at noon, I found myfelf 25' to the northward of myftot r* ’ whether occafioned by bad fteerage, a bad account, or a current, I couldthi 1 . errn ^ ne 5 but was apt to judge it might be a complication of all; for I could notn h it was wholly the current, the land here lying eail-by-fouth, and weft-by-north,
3 or