In the morning of the 10th, we saw clearly that what had appeared to be land the night before, was Timor. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 10 1’ S. which was fifteen miles to the southward of that given by the log; our longitude, by observation, was 233° 27’ W. We steered N.W. in order to obtain a more distinct view of the land in sight, till four o’clock in the morning of the 11th, when the wind came to the N.W. and W. with which we stood to the southward till nine, when we tacked and stood N.W. having the wind now at W.S.W. At sun-rise, the land had appeared to extend from W.N.W. to N.E. and at noon, we could see it extend to the westward as far as W. by S. ½ S. but no farther to the eastward than N. by E. We were now well assured, that as the first land we had seen was Timor, the last island we had passed was Timor Laoet, or Laut. Laoet, is a word in the language of Malaca, signifying Sea, and this island was named by the inhabitants of that country. The south part of it lies in latitude 8° 15’ S. longitude 228° 10’ W. but in the charts the south point is laid down in various latitudes, from 8° 30’ to 9° 30’: it is indeed possible that the land we saw might be some other island, but the presumption to the contrary is very strong, for if Timor Laut had lain where it is placed in the charts, we must have seen it there. We were now in latitude 9° 37’ S.; longitude, by an observation of the sun and moon, 233° 54’ W. we were the day before in 233° 27’; the difference is 27’, exactly the same that was given by the log: this, however, is a degree of accuracy in observation that is seldom to be expected. In the afternoon, we stood in shore till eight in the evening, when we tacked and stood off, being at the distance of about three leagues from the land, which at sun-set extended from S.W. ½ W. to N.E.: at this time we sounded, and had no ground with 140 fathom. At midnight, having but little wind, we tacked and stood in, and at noon the next day, our latitude, by observation, was 9° 36’ S. This day, we saw smoke on shore in several places, and had seen many fires during the night. The land appeared to be very high, rising in gradual slopes one above another: the hills were in general covered with thick woods, but among them we could distinguish naked spots of a considerable extent, which had the appearance of having been cleared by art. At five o’clock in the afternoon, we were within a mile and a half of the shore, in sixteen fathom water, and abreast of a small inlet into the low land, which lies in latitude 9° 34’ S. and probably is the same that Dampier entered with his boat, for it did not seem to have sufficient depth of water for a ship. The land here answered well to the description that he has given of it: close to the beach it was covered with high spiry trees, which be mentions as having the appearance of pines; behind these there seemed to be salt water creeks, and many mangroves, interspersed however with cocoa-nut trees: the flat land at the beach appeared in some places to extend inward two or three miles before the rise of the first hill; in this part, however, we saw no appearance of plantations or houses, but great fertility, and from the number of fires, we judged that the place must be well peopled.

Voyaging Accounts