In despair of finding fresh water in this inhospitable country, Dampier directed his course towards the Island of Timor. On their way thither they saw more sea snakes, some of which were all black, whilst another large one had a red head. At last, "to our great joy", they saw the tops of the high mountains of Timor peeping above the clouds, and came to an anchor on the south side of the island about 200 yards from the shore.[62] The land by the sea was full of tall, straight-bodied trees like pines (Casuarinas), but they were again balked, for the approach to land which might yield fresh water was hindered by a long mangrove creek. Much of the south coast of Timor proved "barricaded with mangroves", though beyond the land appeared pleasant enough to the eye, the sides and tops of lofty mountains covered with large forests and meadows, and obvious plantations in which they could see coconut palms growing. The weary mariners, suffering terribly from scurvy, were obliged to turn the ship about and sail to the west end of the island in order to get on its north coast. [62] An admirable description of the Island of Timor is given by Dampier, much of which might be applicable to this region at the present day. This large island (some 12,500 square miles in area, 300 miles long, and an average 40 miles broad) lies, as he remarks, nearly north-east and south-west, and consequently somewhat out of the general direction of the other Sunda Islands in the long string between Java on the west and Wetar on the east. Of all the islands of the Malay Archipelago (except the New Guinea group) it is the one which approaches nearest to the Australian continent. On its southern side are tremendously high mountains rising to a culminating altitude of more than 12,000 feet close to the seashore. But a great deal of the actual coastline is obstructed for the access of mariners, especially on the south, by an obstinate fringe of mangroves. The mangrove is a tree which grows out of the mud and shallow sea water, supporting itself by innumerable roots. It is practically impossible for anyone to make their way by land through the mangrove swamps. Beyond the mangroves, before the land rises into mountains, is a stretch of sandy country sparsely clothed with a tree which Dampier describes as a pine, which was more probably the Casuarina. The mountains form an almost continuous chain running through the middle of Timor from one extremity to the other, without outlying mountains of great height in the southern districts. The indigenous inhabitants of Timor are mainly of Papuan or Negroid stock, with a considerable intermixture of Mongolian Malay. As in Dampier's time, so at the present day, the island was practically divided between the Portuguese and the Dutch. What first drew the attention of Portuguese navigators to this out-of-the-way island of the Malay Archipelago is not known to us. They found their way