icult
matter for us to procure a friendly communication with a people who
cannot, of course, discriminate between us and the Malays. I regretted to
hear this, for our force was so small that I feared we should, in our
future visits to the coast, be frequently attacked, and perhaps be under
the necessity of convincing them of the destructive power of our weapons,
which they must first experience before they can dread their fatal
effects.

During our stay at Coepang the thermometer ranged between 75 and 91
degrees. The latitude of the flag-staff was observed by several
observations to be 10 degrees 9 minutes 40 seconds. No observations were
taken for the longitude, on account of my being confined to my bed with
an attack of ague, the effects of which remained upon me for some time
afterwards; but the result of those made by Captain Flinders and
Commodore Baudin were so satisfactory that I had no hesitation in taking
the mean of the two, 123 degrees 35 minutes 46 seconds, for the
correction of my chronometers, and for the purpose of comparing with the
longitudes I had assigned to several parts of the coast that we had just
left.

Before we sailed from Coepang the departure of a vessel for Batavia
furnished me with the opportunity of acquainting the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty of my progress; and the letter fortunately arrived in
time to contradict a report that had reached England of our "having been
wrecked on the South Coast at Cape Northumberland, and that all hands had
perished." This report could never be satisfactorily traced to its
author, but it was supposed to have been spread by the man who commanded
the Mermaid before she was purchased by the government, in revenge for
his having lost his employment.

On the 13th we completed everything, and embarked our stock.

June 14.

And the next morning at daylight we left the bay, and, passing round the
islands of Samow and Rottee, steered South-West by South (which was as
close to the wind as we could steer to make a direct course) across the
sea, which might, with some degree of propriety, be called the Great
Australian Strait; but this course was too westerly to admit of our
reaching the coast so far to the westward as was wished.

June 19.

On the 19th we passed over a coral bank with twenty-six fathoms in
latitude 19 degrees 30 minutes and longitude 116 degrees 15 minutes 30
seconds.

The thermometer now ranged no higher than 76 1/2 degrees and ob