two boats for hire, one much
larger than I required, and the other far smaller than I wished. I chose
the smaller one, chiefly because it would not cost me one-third as much
as the larger one, and also because in a coasting voyage a small vessel
can be more easily managed, and more readily got into a place of safety
during violent gales, than a large one. I took with me my Bornean lad
Ali, who was now very useful to me; Lahagi, a native of Ternate, a very
good steady man, and a fair shooter, who had been with me to New Guinea;
Lahi, a native of Gilolo, who could speak Malay, as woodcutter and
general assistant; and Garo, a boy who was to act as cook. As the boat
was so small that we had hardly room to stow ourselves away when all my
stores were on board, I only took one other man named Latchi, as pilot.
He was a Papuan slave, a tall, strong black fellow, but very civil and
careful. The boat I had hired from a Chinaman named Lau Keng Tong, for
five guilders a month.

We started on the morning of October 9th, but had not got a hundred
yards from land, when a strong head wind sprung up, against which we
could not row, so we crept along shore to below the town, and waited
till the turn of the tide should enable us to cross over to the coast of
Tidore. About three in the afternoon we got off, and found that our boat
sailed well, and would keep pretty close to the wind. We got on a good
way before the wind fell and we had to take to our oars again. We landed
on a nice sandy beach to cook our suppers, just as the sun set behind
the rugged volcanic hills, to the south of the great cone of Tidore,
and soon after beheld the planet Venus shining in the twilight with the
brilliancy of a new moon, and casting a very distinct shadow. We left
again a little before seven, and as we got out from the shadow of the
mountain I observed a bright light over one part of the edge, and soon
after, what seemed a fire of remarkable whiteness on the very summit of
the hill. I called the attention of my men to it, and they too thought
it merely a fire; but a few minutes afterwards, as we got farther off
shore, the light rose clear up above the ridge of the hill, and some
faint clouds clearing away from it, discovered the magnificent comet
which was at the same time, astonishing all Europe. The nucleus
presented to the naked eye a distinct disc of brilliant white light,
from which the tail rose at an angle of about 30 deg. or 35 deg. with the
horizo