Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/395

 gOASTS OF AUSTRAI..IA. ' by the whole mob, which had now' increased to forty or fifty people: all the men were armed o. with cresses, and two amongst them had swords 'and spears; but there was no appearance of hos- tility, or of any unfriendly disposition towards us. When they saw our empty barica in the boat, they intimnted by signs that we might fill it, and Mr. Bedwell and Mr. Cunningham accordingly accompanied one of our people to the well to take advantage of their offer; for a few gallons of water were now of great importance to us. We then took a friendly leave of these island- ers, under the full expectat[on on their part of our returning in the morning with rupees and powder to barter with their commodities; whereas I had quite 'determined 'to leave the bay the moment that the day dawned. The two following modes of proceeding were now only left to us; v/z., either to beat back to Coe- !ang, which bore E.b.N." 120 miles, or to bear up and pass through the straits of Lombock or, Alias, and go to Madura or Sourabaya for water, of which, on a reduced allowance, we had enough on board for fifteen days. To do the first would probably take a week or 'ten days, even if favoured by the wind. At Coepang we could procure every thing we wanted; and the only arguments against such a measure

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