[Footnote 5: Capt. Edward Acton, R.N.] [Footnote 6: Tullear, near St. Augustine's Bay, on the southwest coast of Madagascar.] [Footnote 7: Supercargo.] [Footnote 8: See document no. 63, note 11.] [Footnote 9: Mohelli, another of the Comoro group.] [Footnote 10: "Matta in the Red Sea," says William Jinkins of Bow, in his deposition in _Commons Journal_, XIII. 24.] [Footnote 11: Chick-peas.] [Footnote 12: The straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.] [Footnote 13: Mocha; see document no. 63, note 16a. Carwar is on the west coast of Hindustan, some 350 miles south of Bombay.] [Footnote 14: See document no. 33, note 15.] [Footnote 15: Probably Diu, in northwest India.] _72. The President and Council of the Leeward Islands to Secretary Vernon. May 18, 1699._[1] [Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 152:3, no. 21. This letter conveyed to the British government its first knowledge of the return of Captain Kidd to the western hemisphere. The Leeward Islands--Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Christopher, the most important being Nevis--constituted at this time one government, though with subordinate administration in the several islands. The governor having died, the council, of which William Burt was president, was acting as governor till a new governor should arrive. Burt and the other signers of this letter were all of Nevis. James Vernon, to whom the letter is addressed, was secretary of state; he was the father of Admiral Vernon, for whom Mount Vernon was named.] _Right Honourable Sir_