Coepang is dependant on Batavia for a variety of articles, and amongst others, for arrack, rice, sugar, etc. Mr. Johnson had arrived not long before with the annual supply, yet I found some difficulty in obtaining from the governor the comparatively small quantities of which we stood in need; and I had no resource but in his kindness, for there were no merchants in Coepang, nor any other who would receive bills in payment. Having made an agreement for the provisions, I requested permission for our botanists and painters to range the country, which was readily granted; with a caution not to extend their walks far from the town, as they might be there liable to insults from the natives, over whom the governor had no power. We were occupied nearly a week in completing our water, which was brought on board in Malay boats, and in obtaining and stowing away the provisions. [SUNDAY 3 APRIL 1803] The governor, with captain Johnson and two other gentlemen were entertained on board the Investigator, and received under a salute; and the day before we proposed to sail [THURSDAY 7 APRIL 1803], I went with some of my principal officers and gentlemen to dine with the governor, the fort firing a salute on our landing; and it is but justice to Mr. Giesler and the orders under which he acted, to say, that he conducted himself throughout with that polite and respectful attention, which the representative of one friendly nation owes to that of another. A part of the ship's company was permitted to go on shore so soon as our work was completed; and two men, my Malay cook and a youth from Port Jackson, being absent in the evening, the town was searched for them, but in vain. We got under way early next morning [FRIDAY 8 APRIL 1803], before the sea breeze set in, and stood off and on until lieutenant Fowler again went after the men. On his return without success, we stretched out of the bay; but the wind being light, and the governor having promised to send off the men, if found before the ship was out of sight, I still entertained a hope of receiving my deserters. Timor is well known to be one of the southernmost and largest of the Molucca Islands. Its extent is more considerable than the charts usually represent it, being little less than 250 miles in a north-eastern direction, by from thirty to sixty in breadth. The interior part is a chain of mountains, some of which nearly equal the peak of Teneriffe in elevation; whilst the shores on the south-east side are represented to be exceedingly low, and over-run with mangroves. Gold is said to be contained in the mountains, and to be washed down the streams; but the natives are so jealous of Europeans gaining any knowledge of it, that at a former period, when forty men were sent by the Dutch to make search, they were cut off. In the vicinity of Coepang, the upper stone is mostly calcareous; but the basis is very different, and appeared to me to be argillaceous.