that he did not know of any water on all that part of the island, but
only at the fort; and that the natives would kill us if they met us
ashore. By the small arms my men carried with them in the boat they took
us to be pirates, and would not easily believe the account my men gave
them of what we were and whence we came. They said that about 2 years
before this there had been a stout ship of French pirates here; and that
after having been suffered to water, and to refresh themselves, and been
kindly used, they had on a sudden gone among the Indians, subjects of the
fort, and plundered them and burnt their houses. And the Portuguese here
told us afterwards that those pirates, whom they also had entertained,
had burnt their houses and had taken the Dutch fort (though the Dutch
cared not to own so much) and had driven the governor and factory among
the wild Indians their enemies. The Dutch told my men further that they
could not but think we had of several nations (as is usual with pirate
vessels) in our ship and particularly some Dutchmen, though all the
discourse was in French (for I had not one who could speak Dutch) or
else, since the common charts make no passage between Timor and Anabao,
but lay down both as one island; they said they suspected we had
plundered some Dutch ship of their particular charts, which they are
forbid to part with.

With these jealousies the sloop returned towards their fort, and my boat
came back with this news to me: but I was not discouraged at this news;
not doubting but I should persuade them better when I should come to talk
with them. So the next morning I weighed and stood towards the fort. The
winds were somewhat against us so that we could not go very fast, being
obliged to tack 2 or 3 times: and, coming near the farther end of the
passage between Timor and Anabao, we saw many houses on each side not far
from the sea, and several boats lying by the shore. The land on both
sides was pretty high, appearing very dry and of a reddish colour, but