The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
In the morning of the 10th, we saw clearly that what had appeared to be
land the night before, was Timor. At noon, our latitude, by observation,
was 10° 1ʹ S., which was fifteen miles to the southward of that given by
the log; our longitude, by observation, was 233° 27ʹ W. We steered N. W.
in order to obtain a more distinct view of the land in sight, till four
o’clock in the morning of the 11th, when the wind came to the N. W. and
W., with which we stood to the southward till nine, when we tacked and
stood N. W., having the wind now at W. S. W. At sun-rise, the land had
appeared to extend from W. N. W. to N. E., and at noon, we could see it
extend to the westward as far as W. by S. ½ S., but no farther to the
eastward than N. by E. We were now well assured, that as the first land
we had seen was Timor, the last island we had passed was Timor Laoet, or
Laut. Laoet is a word, in the language of Malaca, signifying sea, and
this island was named by the inhabitants of that country. The south part
of it lies in latitude 8° 15ʹ S., longitude 228° 10ʹ W., but in the
charts the south point is laid down in various latitudes, from 8° 30ʹ to
9° 30ʹ: it is indeed possible that the land we saw might be some other
island, but the presumption to the contrary is very strong, for if Timor
Laut had lain where it is placed in the charts, we must have seen it
there. We were now in latitude 9° 37ʹ S.; longitude, by an observation
of the sun and moon, 233° 54ʹ W.; we were the day before in 233° 27ʹ;
the difference is 27ʹ, exactly the same that was given by the log: this,
however, is a degree of accuracy in observation that is seldom to be
expected. In the afternoon, we stood in shore till eight in the evening,
when we tacked and stood off, being at the distance of about three
leagues from the land, which at sun-set extended from S. W. ½ W. to N.
E.: at this time we sounded, and had no ground with 140 fathom. At
midnight, having but little wind, we tacked and stood in, and at noon
the next day, our latitude, by observation, was 9° 36ʹ S. This day, we
saw smoke on shore in several places, and had seen many fires during the
night. The land appeared to be very high, rising in gradual slopes one
above another: the hills were in general covered with thick woods, but
among them we could distinguish naked spots of a considerable extent,
which had the appearance of having been cleared by art. At five o’clock
in the afternoon, we were within a mile and a half of the shore, in
sixteen fathom water, and abreast of a small inlet into the low land,
which lies in latitude 9° 34ʹ S., and probably is the same that Dampier
entered with his boat, for it did not seem to have sufficient depth of
water for a ship. The land here answered well to the description that he
has given of it: close to the beach, it was covered with high spiry
trees, which he mentions as having the appearance of pines; behind these
there seemed to be salt-water creeks, and many mangroves, interspersed
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