ated. This was a
very serious matter to me, as I could not tell how Charles Allen might
act, if, after waiting in vain for me, he should return to Wahai, and
find that I had left there long before, and had not since been heard
of. Such an event as our missing an island forty miles long would hardly
occur to him, and he would conclude either that our boat had foundered,
or that my crew had murdered me and run away with her. However, as it
was physically impossible now for me to reach him, the only thing to be
done was to make the best of my way to Waigiou, and trust to our meeting
some traders, who might convey to him the news of my safety.

Finding on my map a group of three small islands, twenty-five miles
north of Poppa, I resolved, if possible, to rest there a day or two. We
could lay our boat's head N.E. by N.; but a heavy sea from the eastward
so continually beat us off our course, and we made so much leeway,
that I found it would be as much as we could do to reach them. It was a
delicate point to keep our head in the best direction, neither so close
to the wind as to stop our way, or so free as to carry us too far to
leeward. I continually directed the steersman myself, and by incessant
vigilance succeeded, just at sunset, in bringing our boat to an anchor
under the lee of the southern point of one of the islands. The anchorage
was, however, by no means good, there being a fringing coral reef, dry
at low water, beyond which, on a bottom strewn with masses of coral, we
were obliged to anchor. We had now been incessantly tossing about for
four days in our small undecked boat, with constant disappointments
and anxiety, and it was a great comfort to have a night of quiet and
comparative safety. My old pilot had never left the helm for more than
an hour at a time, when one of the others would relieve him for a little
sleep; so I determined the next morning to look out for a secure and
convenient harbour, and rest on shore for a day.

In the morning, finding it would be necessary for us to get round a
rocky point, I wanted my men to go on shore and cut jungle-rope, by
which to secure us from being again drafted away, as the wind was
directly off shore. I unfortunately, however, allowed myself to be
overruled by the pilot and crew, who all declared that it was the
easiest thing possible, and that they would row the boat round the point
in a few minutes. They accordingly got up the anchor, set the jib, and
began rowing;