a remarkable rocky lump, seen
over the south-west end of Rottee, and in line with the south side of
Pulo Douw, bore South 60 degrees East. During the night we had a fresh
wind from East-South-East and sailed through several ripplings, our first
entering suddenly upon which caused some anxiety, though the lead gave no
bottom with 60 and 70 fathoms. We passed some distance from the western
end of Samow Island in the morning; but the high peaks of Timor were not
seen till near noon. The eager eyes of the native whom we had brought
with us from Swan River were the first to descry them; and he exclaimed
in tones of rapturous astonishment, "Land! big fella! all the same
cloud!" I shall not easily forget the amazement of this savage,
accustomed as he was to behold the level plains of his native land, when
he saw, towering in alpine grandeur to the sky, the pinnacled heights of
Timor. He seemed scarcely able to conceive, even when assured by the
evidence of his own senses, that it was possible for mountains to be so
high and ranges so vast as those that now developed themselves before
him.

REACH TIMOR.

In crossing the mouth of Coepang Bay towards Samow, in the evening, the
appearance was truly grand. A vast heap of vapour was slowly moving
across the mountains, disclosing at intervals their jagged summits
towering towards the sky, and occasionally allowing the eye to penetrate
for a moment into the depths of mysterious valleys that seemed to stretch
for unknown distances into the recesses of the great Timoree Range. Some
wild flying clouds that rapidly traversed the heavens imparted a curious
alternation of light and shadow to the lowlands that presented themselves
to our view--chequering the whole with gloomy patches and light spots,
and revealing or hiding in rapid succession the extensive woods and the
patches of cultivation that lay within the bosom of the Bay. The dazzling
white sand beaches, too, strongly marked by the dark blue sea, heightened
the beauty of the scene; which to us, who had for some months seen
nothing but the monotonous north-west coast of Australia, appeared truly
enchanting.

During the first watch we beat up the bay, and at midnight anchored; the
barking of dogs, the crowing of cocks, and the tolling of bells assuring
us that we were once again in the vicinity of civilization. In the
morning we found ourselves off the town of Coepang, when we shifted our
berth farther in; the flagstaff of Fort Co