re doing there. They answered, they were
from Amsterdam; were cruising in search of two East Indiamen which the
Chamber of Amsterdam[446] had missed, and they wanted to know whether
we had seen anything of them. We informed them we had seen no ships
since we were on the banks of Newfoundland, and we were from New
England, bound to London. We asked if there were any danger from the
Turks. None at all, they said, which gave courage to our captain and
others, as well as the minister, who had emerged from the powder room,
where he had hidden himself. We also inquired how affairs stood with
England, Holland, and France. They answered, well, as far as they
knew. Having obtained this information, I told our captain such good
news was worth a salute, and he fired a six-pounder shotted. The Dutch
captain asked for a little tobacco in exchange for pickled herrings;
but many excuses were offered, and he got none. He said the other
vessel was a Hollander from Iceland, and we had nothing to fear; that
almost all the ships which we might see in the North Sea were ships
from Holland; a remark which annoyed our captain and the others very
much; and not being able to stand it, they tacked about ship and wore
off, leaving the cruiser and passing outside, or between Fairhill and
the Orkneys.

[Footnote 445: Fair Isle is a lonely island midway between the Orkney
and Shetland islands. Sailing between these groups, the voyagers saw
first Orkney, then Foula Island (here Falo), then Fair Isle. The
manuscript contains at this point profile sketches of the islands of
Fairhill and Foula.]

[Footnote 446: The Chamber of Amsterdam was one of the local component
boards of the Dutch East India Company.]

_30th, Friday._ We had lain over again at midnight, with a
south-southwest wind. At daybreak it was entirely calm. I was called
out of my berth to go to the captain, in order to discriminate the
land, distinguishing Fairhill and the Orkneys. He exhibited great
ignorance and fear, for we had seen the land well the day before, and
the cruiser had fully informed us; he knew well enough how we had
sailed during the night, and with what progress, and that we all
agreed with the foregoing height of the pole. We took several crayon
sketches of Fairhill and the other lands, the more because they are
not shown from that side in the _Zeespiegel of Lichtende Colom_.[447]
We found the latitude to-day to be 59 deg. 40'. Many birds came round the
ship, and som