than, half an hour, all her men, to the number of seventy-three, getting ashore.  Another fought with us all night, but yielded about break of day next morning, our general having joined us in his skiff a little while before she yielded.  They were laden with benzoin, storax, pepper, china dishes, and pitch.  The third praw got away while we were fighting the other.  Our general would not allow any thing to be taken out of them, because they belonged to Java, except two of their men to pilot us to Pulo Timaon.  The people of Java are very resolute in a desperate case.  Their principal weapons are javelins, darts, daggers, and a kind of poisoned arrows which they blow from trunks or tubes.  They have likewise some arquebusses, but are by no means expert in using these; they use also targets, and most of them are Mahometans.  They had been at Palimbangan, and were on their way back to Grist, a port town on the north-east coast of Java, to which place they belonged.

The 12th November we dismissed them, pursuing our course for Patane.  The 26th we saw certain islands to the N.W. of us, which neither we nor our pilots knew; but, having a contrary wind for Patane, we thought it necessary to search these islands for wood and water, hoping to have a better wind by the time we had watered.  The 27th we came to anchor within a mile of the shore, in sixteen fathoms, on good ground, on the south side of these islands.  Sending our boat on shore, we found some of them sunken islands, having nothing above water but the trees or their roots.  All these islands were a mere wilderness of woods, but in one of them we found a tolerably good watering place; otherwise it was a very uncomfortable place, having neither fruits, fowls, or any other refreshment for our men.  We took these islands to be some of the broken lands which are laid down to the south-east of the island of Bantam.  Having taken in wood and water, we weighed anchor and stood for Patane, as well as a bad wind would permit; for we found the winds in these months very contrary, keeping always at N. or N.W. or N.E.

While near Pulo Laor, on the 12th December, we descried three sail, and sent our pinnace and shallop after one of them which was nearest, while we staid with the ship, thinking to intercept the other two; but they stood another course in the night, so that we saw them no more.  In the morning we descried our pinnace and shallop about four leagues to leeward, with the other ship which they had taken; and as both wind and current were against them, they were unable to come up to us, so that we had to go down to them.  On coming up with them, we found the prize was a junk of Pan-Hange,[74] of about 100 tons, laden with rice, pepper, and tin, going for Bantam in Java.  Not caring for such mean luggage, our general took as much rice as was necessary for provisioning our ship, and two small brass guns, paying them liberally for all; and took nothing else, except one man to pilot us to Patane, who came willingly along with us, when he saw our general used them well.  The other two pilots, we had taken before from the three praws, were very unskilful, wherefore our general rewarded them for the time they had been with us, and sent them back to their own country in this junk.