In the morning of the 23rd we set sail, course held S.E. with a S.W. wind and violent rains; when we had run a mile, the heavy swells forced us to drop anchor; in the afternoon we lifted anchor with great difficulty and peril owing to the violent rolling of the yacht, and set sail, but shortly after, the yacht Aernem making a sign with her flag that she could not manage to heave her anchor, we cast anchor again.
In the morning of the 24th the weather was unruly, with a W. wind and a very hollow sea; in the afternoon the weather getting slightly better, both the yachts set sail again with the wind as before, holding a S. by E. course; in the evening we dropped anchor in 14 fathom, having sailed 4 miles S.S.E., and found the land to extend E.S.E. ever since the 20th instant.
In the morning of the 25th we set sail with a N.N.W. wind, sailing 4 miles on an E.S.E. course, and then 5 miles on a S. by E. and S.S.E. course, after which the foretop-mast of the Aernem broke, so that we were both compelled to drop anchor in 10 fathom about 4 miles from the land.
In the morning of the 26th we set sail to get near the Aernem and speak to her crew, who were engaged in repairing the rigging and replacing the foremast; we both drifted with the current in the teeth of the wind, and thus ran 3 miles, when the Aernem cast anchor 1½ mile from us on the weather-side; in the evening there was a strong current from the W.S.W. with rain, which lasted the whole night.
NOTE.
(Here end the mountains of the western extremity of Nova Guinea.)
The high-lying interior of Ceram ends here, without showing any opening or passage (through which we might run north according to our plan), and passes into low-lying half-submerged land, bearing E.S.E. and S.E. by E., extending in all likelihood as far as Nova Guinea, a point which with God's help we mean to make sure of at any cost; on coming from Aru to the island of Ceram, the latter is found to have a low-lying foreland dangerous to touch at, since at 6, 8 and 9 miles' distance from the same, the lofty mountains of the interior become visible, the low foreland remaining invisible until one has got within 3 or 4 miles from the land; the high mountains are seen to extend fully thirty miles to eastward, when you are north of Aru; as seen from afar, the land seems to have numerous pleasant valleys and running fresh-water rivers; here and there it is overgrown with brushwood and in other places covered with high trees; but we are unable to give any information as to what fruits, metals and animals it contains, and as to the manner of its cultivation since the natives whom {Page 27} we found to be savages and man-eaters, refused to hold parley with us, and fell upon our men who suffered grievous damage; after the report, however, of some of the men of the yacht Aernem, who being wounded on the 11th aforementioned, succeeded in making their escape, the natives are tall black men with curly heads of hair and two large holes through their noses, stark naked, not covering even their privities; their arms are arrows, bows, assagays, callaways and the like. They have no vessels either large or small, nor has the coast any capes or bights that might afford shelter from west- and south-winds, the whole shore being clear and unencumbered, with a clayey bottom, forming a good anchoring-ground, the sea being not above 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 fathom in depth at 1,2 and more miles' distance from the land, the rise and fall of the water with the tides we found to be between 1½ and 2 fathom.
In the morning of the 27th the wind was W.N.W. with dirty weather and a very high sea, so that the Aernem was unable so heave her anchor in order to get near us, on which account we both of us remained at anchor the whole day; towards the evening the weather became much worse with pouring rains, so that we dropped another anchor; in the day-watch the cable of our large anchor broke without our perceiving it, and the other anchor getting loose, we drifted slowly to eastward; the land here extended E.S.E. and W.S.W.