people being very good, and having abundance of refreshments, as beeves, goats, hens, lemons, cocoa-nuts in great plenty, and excellent water, but could not get in, owing to the wind being directly south. [Footnote 77: Mohilla, the Mal-ilha of the text, is in lat. 16° 44° S. and long. 44° E. from Greenwich. Its difference of long. from the Cape of Good Hope is 23° 45' E. Thus, in every instance hitherto, the observations of lat. and long. by Captain Best, at least as printed by Purchas, are grossly erroneous.--E.] [Footnote 78: This description seems rather to refer to the island of Mayotto, about thirty leagues E. of S. from Mohilla; the small island to the north, or N. by W. being called Saddle Isle.--E.] Two of my men had belonged to a Dutch fleet, that year when they assaulted Mosambique, on which occasion they put in here, and recovered the healths of 400 or 500 men in five weeks. Yet it is well named Mal-Ilha, or the bad island, for it is the most dangerous of any place I ever saw. It is next to Comoro, from which it is distant some twelve or fourteen leagues S.S.E. At dawn on the 1st September we got sight of land to the eastwards, four or five leagues distant, my reckoning being then eighty or ninety leagues short, owing, I suppose, to some current setting east from the coast of Melinda; neither from the latitude of Socotoro to Damaun could we see the sun, to know our variation. The 3d at seven a.m. we spoke two country boats, which informed us that the town, church, and castle in sight was Damaun. From these boats I got two men, who engaged to carry the Dragon to the bar of Surat, promising not to bring us into less than seven fathoms. On the 5th a Surat boat came on board with _Jaddow_ the broker, who had served Captain William Hawkins three years, and Sir Henry Middleton all the time he was here. There were likewise in this boat the brother of the customer of Surat, and three or four others. All these remained with us till the 7th, when we came to anchor at the bar of Surat, in eight 1/4 fathoms at high water, and six 1/2 at neap tides. At spring tides, however, I have found the tide to rise in the offing three fathoms, and even three 1/2. The latitude of our anchorage was 21° 10' N. and the variation 16° 20' or 16° 27'.[79] On the 11th, _Thomas Kerridge_ came aboard, with a certificate or licence under the seals of the justice and governor of Surat, for our quiet and peaceable trade and intercourse, and with kind entreaties to come ashore, where we should be heartily welcomed by the people. They also brought off a letter or narrative, written by Sir, Henry Middleton, which had been left in charge of the _Moccadam_ of Swally. On the same day, I again sent Mr Kerridge ashore, accompanied by Hugh Gettins. [Footnote 79: Sorat bar is in lat. 21° 2' N. and long. 72° 50' E. from Greenwich--E.] §2. _Transactions with the Subjects of the Mogul, Fights with the Portuguese, Settlement of a Factory, and Departure for Acheen_.