e
full sum, at a time when bills upon England could obtain cash with
difficulty at a discount of thirty per cent. It was the chevalier
Pelgrom, who filled the offices of Danish and Imperial consul, that had
acted thus liberally; and he caused me to be informed, that the fear of
incurring the general's displeasure had alone prevented him from offering
his assistance sooner.

Although Mr. Aken and myself were strictly confined and closely watched,
my servant was left at liberty to go upon my commissions; and once a week
I sent him on board the prison ship, to take Mr. Charrington and the
seamen a basket of fruit and vegetables from the market. They had always
been permitted to walk upon deck in the day time, and latterly been
sometimes allowed to go into the town, accompanied by a soldier; and
since from all we could learn, the final decision of the captain-general
was yet in suspense, I augured favourably of the result from this
relaxation towards the men. My hopes became strengthened on the 14th, by
learning from M. Bonnefoy that it was believed we should be permitted to
walk out, and perhaps depart altogether, so soon as three Dutch ships
commanded by rear-admiral Dekker should have sailed. These ships were
loaded with pepper from Batavia, and bound to Europe; and it seemed
possible that one reason of our detention might be to prevent English
ships gaining intelligence of them by our means; but this could be no
excuse for close imprisonment and taking away my charts and journals,
whatever it might be made for delaying our departure.

Finding it impossible to obtain the third volume of my log book, the
charts of Torres' Strait and the Gulph of Carpentaria were finished
without it; fortunately the journal kept by Mr. Aken in the Cumberland
had not been taken away, and it proved of great assistance. Our time
passed on in this manner, hoping that the Dutch ships would sail, and
that general De Caen would then suffer us to depart, either in the
Cumberland or some other way; the surgeon came almost daily, on account
of my scorbutic sores, and the interpreter called frequently. I was
careful not to send out my servant often, for it appeared that he was
dogged by spies, and that people were afraid of speaking to him; the
surgeon and interpreter were almost equally cautious with me, so that
although in the midst of a town where news arrived continually from some
part of the world, every thing to us was wrapped in mystery; and