bourhood of the Philippine
Islands, I suspected that she had gone to cruise among the Spanish
settlements in the northern part of the Archipelago.

On leaving Amboyna, we accordingly shaped our course in that direction.
Some months had now passed away since Prior had been my companion. His
presence supported me much; and whenever I began to despond, he raised
my spirits and encouraged me to persevere. He reminded me that often
when, from want of trust in Providence, we fancy ourselves furthest from
the consummation of our just hopes, God has arranged, by some
inscrutable means, to bring about their fulfilment.

"He has given you health, and strength, and courage, and means, to
follow up the pursuit thus far," Prior used to observe. "Why, then,
fancy that success is never to occur."

Although now recovered sufficiently to find his way to Manilla, he
refused to quit me till I had succeeded in my enterprise. The last
shore we had seen was that of Jilolo, after passing through the Molucca
passage, when one forenoon, we not expecting to fall in with any land,
the look-out hailed that an island was in sight on the starboard bow.
As we drew near, we found that though small, it was of considerable
elevation, and apparently surrounded with coral reefs. We were about to
pass it at some distance, when Fairburn, who had been examining it with
his glass, said that he saw something which looked like a flag flying at
the highest point. It instantly occurred to us that it must be a signal
of distress, made by some shipwrecked seamen, probably; and we therefore
steered nearer to the island, to examine it more minutely.

We were now convinced that we were right in our conjectures, when, on
getting close in, we saw that it was a piece of striped linen--a shirt,
apparently--fastened to two spars lashed together, and stuck in a heap
of stones. The rock, which seemed about a couple of miles in
circumference, was surrounded by coral reefs, outside of which we hove
the schooner to. A boat was then lowered, in which Prior, Fairburn and
I, with a crew of four hands, pulled towards the shore.

We had some little difficulty in finding our way through the reefs; but
a passage at last being discovered, we landed on a soft sandy beach. We
met with a spring of fresh water, and there were cocoa-nut trees, and
several other tropical fruits growing in the lower part of the island;
but the summit of the hill was totally bare of vegetation. A