e
boats thither, one to cut wood, and the other to fish. At four in the
afternoon, having a small breeze at south-south-west, I made a sign for
my boats to come on board. They brought some wood, and a few small
cockles, none of them exceeding ten pounds' weight, whereas the shell of
the great one weighed seventy-eight pounds; but it was now high water,
and therefore they could get no bigger. They also brought on board some
pigeons, of which we found plenty on all the islands where we touched in
these seas: also in many places we saw many large bats, but killed none,
except those I mentioned at Pub Sabuda. As our boats came aboard, we
weighed and made sail, steering east-south-east as long as the wind held.
In the morning we found we had got four or five leagues to the east of
the place where we weighed. We stood to and fro till eleven; and finding
that we lost ground, anchored in forty-two fathom coarse gravelly sand,
with some coral. This morning we thought we saw a sail.

In the afternoon I went ashore on a small woody island, about two leagues
from us. Here I found the greatest number of pigeons that ever I saw
either in the East or West Indies, and small cockles in the sea round the
island in such quantities that we might have laden the boat in an hour's
time. These were not above ten or twelve pounds' weight. We cut some
wood, and brought off cockles enough for all the ship's company; but
having no small shot, we could kill no pigeons. I returned about four
o'clock, and then my gunner and both mates went thither, and in less than
three-quarters of an hour they killed and brought off ten pigeons. Here
is a tide: the flood sets west and the ebb east, but the latter is very
faint and but of small continuance, and so we found it ever since we came
from Timer: the winds we found easterly, between north-east and
east-south-east, so that if these continue, it is impossible to beat
farther to the eastward on this coast against wind and current. These
easterly winds increased from the time we were in the latitude of about 2
degrees south, and as we drew nigher the line they hung more easterly:
and now being to the north of the continent of New Guinea, where the
coast lies east and west, I find the trade-wind here at east, which yet
in higher latitudes is usually at north-north-west and north-west; and so
I did expect them here, it being to the south of the line.

The 7th, in the morning, I sent my boat ashore on