ls that lie between them and Hammock Point. This part of the shore
appeared to be foul, and I think should not be approached without great
caution. In this place I found the currents various and uncertain,
sometimes setting to the southward, and sometimes to the northward, and
sometimes there was no current at all; the weather also was very
unsettled, and so was the wind; it blew, however, chiefly to the south
and south-west quarter, but we had sometimes sudden and violent gusts,
and tornadoes from the N.W. with thunder, lightning, and rain: These
generally lasted about an hour, when they were succeeded by a dead calm,
and the wind would afterwards spring up fresh from the S.W. or S.S.W.
which was right against us, and blow strong. From these appearances I
conjectured that the shifting season had commenced, and that the west
monsoon would soon set in. The ship sailed so ill that we made very
little way; we frequently sounded in this passage, but could get no
ground.

On the 21st of November, as we were standing towards Borneo, we made two
small islands, which I judged to be the same that in the French chart
are called Taba Islands: They are very small, and covered with trees. By
my account, they lie in latitude 1 deg. 44' N., longitude 7 deg. 32 W. off the
south end of Mindanao, and are distant from Hummock, or Stroomen Point,
about fifty-eight leagues. The weather was now hazy, but happening
suddenly to clear up, we saw a shoal, with breakers, at the distance of
about five or six miles, from the south to the north-west. Off the north
end of this shoal we saw four hummocks close together, which we took for
small islands, and seven more from the S. 1/2 W. to the W. 1/2 S.:
Whether these are really islands, or some hills on the island of Borneo,
I could not determine. This shoal is certainly very dangerous, but may
be avoided by going to the westward of Taba Islands, where the passage
is clear and broad. In the French chart of Monsieur D'Apres de
Mandevillette, published in 1745, two shoals are laid down, to the
eastward, and a little to the north of these islands: One of them is
called Vanloorif, and the other, on which are placed two islands,
Harigs; but these shoals and islands have certainly no existence, as I
turned through this part of the passage from side to side, and sailed
over the very spot where they are supposed to lie. In the same chart
seven small islands are also laid down within half a degree to the
north