leagues upon this coarse, we edged away N.W. and W., and by six, we were
clear of all the islands. At this time, the south part of Semau, which
lies in latitude 10 deg. 15' S., bore N.E. distant four leagues, and the
island of Rotte extended as far to the southward as S. 36 W. The north
end of this island, and the south end of Timor, lie N. 1/2 E. and S. 1/4
W., and are about three or four leagues distant from each other. At the
west end of the passage between Rotte and Semau, are two small islands,
one of which lies near the Rotte shore, and the other off the south-west
point of Semau: There is a good channel between them, about six miles
broad, through which we passed. The isle of Rotte has not so lofty and
mountainous an appearance as Timor, though it is agreeably diversified
by hill and valley: On the north side, there are many sandy beaches,
near which grew some trees of the fan-palm, but the far greater part was
covered with a kind of brushy wood, that was without leaves. The
appearance of Semau was nearly the same with that of Timor, but not
quite so high. About ten o'clock at night, we observed a phaenomenon in
the heavens, which in many particulars resembled the aurora borealis,
and in others, was very different: It consisted of a dull reddish light,
and reached about twenty degrees above the horizon: Its extent was very
different at different times, but it was never less than eight or ten
points of the compass: Through and out of this passed rays of light of a
brighter colour, which vanished, and were renewed nearly in the same
time as those of the aurora borealis, but had no degree of the tremulous
or vibratory motion which is observed in that phaenomenon: The body of it
bore S.S.E. from the ship, and it continued, without any diminution of
its brightness, till twelve o'clock, when we retired to sleep, but how
long afterwards, I cannot tell.

Being clear of all the islands, which are laid down in the maps we had
on board, between Timor and Java, we steered a west course till six
o'clock the next morning, when we unexpectedly saw an island bearing
W.S.W., and at first I thought we had made a new discovery. We steered
directly for it, and by ten o'clock were close in with the north side of
it, where we saw houses, cocoa-nut trees, and to our very agreeable
surprise, numerous flocks of sheep. This was a temptation not to be
resisted by people in our situation, especially as many of us were in a
bad state of hea