im of our
distressed situation; and requested that care might be taken of those who
were with me without delay. On which he gave directions for their
immediate reception at his own house, and went himself to the governor to
know at what time I could be permitted to see him, which was fixed to be
at eleven o'clock.

I now desired my people to come on shore which was as much as some of
them could do, being scarce able to walk: they however were helped to the
house and found tea with bread and butter provided for their breakfast.

The abilities of a painter, perhaps, could seldom have been displayed to
more advantage than in the delineation of the two groups of figures which
at this time presented themselves to each other. An indifferent spectator
would have been at a loss which most to admire, the eyes of famine
sparkling at immediate relief, or the horror of their preservers at the
sight of so many spectres, whose ghastly countenances, if the cause had
been unknown, would rather have excited terror than pity. Our bodies were
nothing but skin and bones, our limbs were full of sores, and we were
clothed in rags: in this condition, with the tears of joy and gratitude
flowing down our cheeks, the people of Timor beheld us with a mixture of
horror, surprise, and pity.

The governor, Mr. William Adrian van Este, notwithstanding extreme
ill-health, became so anxious about us that I saw him before the
appointed time. He received me with great affection and gave me the
fullest proofs that he was possessed of every feeling of a humane and
good man. Sorry as he was, he said, that such a calamity could ever have
happened to us, yet he considered it as the greatest blessing of his life
that we had fallen under his protection and, though his infirmity was so
great that he could not do the office of a friend himself, he would give
such orders as I might be certain would procure us every supply we
wanted. A house should be immediately prepared for me, and with respect
to my people he said that I might have room for them either at the
hospital or on board of captain Spikerman's ship which lay in the road;
and he expressed much uneasiness that Coupang could not afford them
better accommodations, the house assigned to me being the only one
uninhabited and the situation of the few families that lived at this
place such that they could not conveniently receive strangers. For the
present till matters could be properly regulated he gave dire