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 deg. 34 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
however with cocoa-nut trees: The flat land at the beach appeared in
some places to extend inward two or three miles before the rise of the
first hill; in this part, however, we saw no appearance of plantations
or houses, but great fertility, and from the number of fires, we judged
that the place most be well peopled.

[Footnote 104: Little is known of this island. Timor is said to have
been discovered by the companions of Magellan in 1522, when it was found
full of white sandal wood. The Portuguese very early settled in it as a
place of refuge from the Dutch, who however soon followed them, and in
1613, drove them from Cupan, their principal town, at the west end of
the island. The possession of this island might be made more valuable
than it seems as yet to have been. With scarcely any help from human
industry, its products in useful articles are considerable. We shall
have to treat of it hereafter.--E.]

When we had approached within a mile and a half of the shore, we tacked
and stood off, and the extremes of the coast then extended from N.E. by
E. to W. by S. 1/2 S. The south-westerly extremity was a low point,
distant from us about three leagues. While we were standing in for the
shore, we sounded several times, but had no ground till we came within
about two miles and a half, and then we had five-and-twenty fathom, with
a soft-bottom. After we had tacked, we stood off till midnight, with the
wind at S.; we then tacked and stood two hours to the westward, when the
wind veered to S.W. and W.S.W., and we then stoo