In the afternoon we passed by the cape and stood over for the islands.  Before it was dark we were got within a league of the westernmost, but had no ground with fifty fathom of line:  however, fearing to stand nearer in the dark, we tacked and stood to the east and plied all night.  The next morning we were got five or six leagues to the eastward of that island, and, having the wind easterly, we stood in to the northward among the islands, sounded, and had no ground; then I sent in my boat to sound, and they had ground with fifty fathom near a mile from the shore.  We tacked before the boat came aboard again, for fear of a shoal that was about a mile to the east of that island the boat went to, from whence also a shoal-point stretched out itself till it met the other:  they brought with them such a cockle as I have mentioned in my “Voyage Round the World” found near Celebes, and they saw many more, some bigger than that which they brought aboard, as they said, and for this reason I named it Cockle Island.  I sent them to sound again, ordering them to fire a musket if they found good anchoring; we were then standing to the southward, with a fine breeze.  As soon as they fired, I tacked and stood in; they told me they had fifty fathom when they fired.  I tacked again, and made all the sail I could to get out, being near some rocky islands and shoals to leeward of us.  The breeze increased, and I thought we were out of danger, but having a shoal just by us, and the wind failing again, I ordered the boat to tow us, and by their help we got clear from it.  We had a strong tide setting to the westward.

At one o’clock, being past the shoal, and finding the tide setting to the westward, I anchored in thirty-five fathom coarse sand, with small coral and shells.  Being nearest to Cockle Island, I immediately sent both the boats thither, one to cut wood, and the other to fish.  At four in the afternoon, having a small breeze at south-south-west, I made a sign for my boats to come on board.  They brought some wood, and a few small cockles, none of them exceeding ten pounds’ weight, whereas the shell of the great one weighed seventy-eight pounds; but it was now high water, and therefore they could get no bigger.  They also brought on board some pigeons, of which we found plenty on all the islands where we touched in these seas:  also in many places we saw many large bats, but killed none, except those I mentioned at Pub Sabuda.  As our boats came aboard, we weighed and made sail, steering east-south-east as long as the wind held.  In the morning we found we had got four or five leagues to the east of the place where we weighed.  We stood to and fro till eleven; and finding that we lost ground, anchored in forty-two fathom coarse gravelly sand, with some coral.  This morning we thought we saw a sail.