His stay seven weeks at Babao.

We found here, as I said before, plenty of game; so that all the time we lay at this place we spent none or very little of our salt provisions; having fish or fresh buffalo every day.  We lay here 7 weeks; and, although the north-north-west monsoon was every day expected when I was at Laphao, yet it was not come, so that if I had prosecuted my voyage to the eastward without staying here it had been but to little advantage.  For if I had gone out and beaten against the wind a whole month I should not have got far; it may be 40, 50 or 60 leagues; which was but 24 hours run for us with a large wind; besides the trouble and discontent which might have arisen among my men in beating to windward to so little purpose, there being nothing to be got at sea; but here we lived and did eat plentifully every day without trouble.  The greatest inconveniency of this place was want of water; this being the latter part of the dry season, because the monsoon was very late this year.  About 4 days before we came away we had tornadoes with thunder, lightning and rain, and much wind; but of no long continuance; at which time we filled some water.  We saw very black clouds, and heard it thunder every day for near a month before in the mountains; and saw it rain, but none came near us:  and even where we hunted we saw great trees torn up by the roots, and great havoc made among the woods by the wind; yet none touched us.

CHAPTER 2.

A description of Timor.

A particular description of the island Timor.

The island Timor, as I have said in my Voyage round the World, is about seventy leagues long and fourteen or sixteen broad.  It lies nearly north-east and south-west.  The middle of it lies in about 9 degrees south latitude.  It has no navigable rivers nor many harbours; but abundance of bays for ships to ride in at some seasons of the year.  The shore is very bold, free from rocks, shoals or islands, excepting a few which are visible and therefore easily avoided.  On the south side there is a shoal laid down in our charts about thirty leagues from the south-west end; I was fifteen or twenty leagues further to the east than that distance, but saw nothing of the shoal; neither could I find any harbour.  It is a pretty even shore, with sandy bays and low land for about three or four miles up; and then it is mountainous.  There is no anchoring but with half a league or a league at farthest from the shore; and the low land that bounds the sea has nothing but red mangroves, even from the foot of the mountains till you come within a hundred and fifty or two hundred paces of the sea; and then you have sandbanks clothed with a sort of pine; so that there is no getting water on this side because of the mangroves.

The island Anabao.  Fault of the charts.  The channel between Timor and Anabao.