These anchors when well made, hold exceedingly arm, and, owing to the
expense of iron, are still almost universally used on board the smaller praus. In
the afternoon the head men arrived, and promised me as many rowers as I could
put on the prau, and also brought me a few eggs and a little rice, which were
very acceptable. On the 14th there was a north wind all day, which would have
been invaluable to us a few days earlier, but which was now only tantalizing. On
the 16th, all being ready, we started at daybreak with two new anchors and ten
rowers, who understood their work. By evening we had come more than half-
way to the point, and anchored for the night in a small bay. At three the next
morning I ordered the anchor up, but the rattan cable parted close to the bottom,
having been chafed by rocks, and we then lost our third anchor on this
unfortunate voyage. The day was calm, and by noon we passed the southern
point of Gilolo, which had delayed us eleven days, whereas the whole voyage
during this monsoon should not have occupied more than half that time. Having
got round the point our course was exactly in the opposite direction to what it
had been, and now, as usual, the wind changed accordingly, coming from the
north and north-west,—so that we still had to row every mile up to the village of
Gani, which we did not reach till the evening of the 18th. A Bugis trader who
was residing there, and the Senaji, or chief, were very kind; the former assisting
me with a spare anchor and a cable, and making me a present of some
vegetables, and the latter baking fresh sago cakes for my men; and giving rue a
couple of fowls, a bottle of oil, and some pumpkins. As the weather was still
very uncertain, I got four extra men to accompany me to Ternate, for which
place we started on the afternoon of the 20th.
We had to keep rowing all night, the land breezes being too weak to enable us
to sail against the current. During the afternoon of the 21st we had an hour's fair
wind, which soon changed into a heavy squall with rain, and my clumsy men let
the mainsail get taken aback and nearly upset us, tearing the sail; and, what was
worse, losing an hour's fair wind. The night was calm, and we made little
progress.
On the 22d we had light head-winds. A little before noon we passed, with the
assistance of our oars, the Paciencia Straits, the narrowest part of the channel
between Batchian and Gilolo. These were well named by the early Portuguese
navigators, as the currents are very strong, and there are so many eddies, that
even with a fair wind vessels are often quite unable to pass through them. In the
afternoon a strong north wind (dead ahead) obliged us to anchor twice. At nigh it
was calm, and we crept along slowly with our oars.
On the 23d we still had the wind ahead, or calms. We then crossed over again