A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10: Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time.Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10: Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time.
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The 31st, continuing a northern course, they passed to the north of the
equator, and being encompassed almost all round by land, they anchored
in twelve fathoms on good ground, near a desolate island which lay close
by the main land. The 1st of August they were in lat. 0° 15' N. The 2d
and 3d being calm, they were carried by the current W. and W. by N. This
day at noon their latitude was 0° 35' N. when they saw several whales
and sea-tortoises, with two islands to the westwards. They now reckoned
themselves at the western extremity of the land of New Guinea, along
which they had sailed 280 leagues. Several canoes came off to them in
the morning of the 5th, bringing Indian beans, rice, tobacco, and two
beautiful birds of paradise, all white and yellow. These Indians spoke
the language of Ternate, and some of them could speak a little Spanish
and Malayan, in which last language Clawson the merchant was well
skilled. All the people in these canoes were finely clothed from the
waist downwards, some with loose silken robes, and others with breeches,
and several had silken turbans on their head, being Mahometans. All of
them had jet black hair, and wore many gold and silver rings on their
fingers. They bartered their provisions with the Dutch for beads and
other toys, but seemed more desirous of having linen. They appeared so
fearful and suspicious of the Dutch, that they would not tell the name
of their country, which however was suspected to be one of the three
eastern points of Gilolo, and that the people were natives of Tidore,
which was afterwards found to be the case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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