Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/359

] with part of the little islands which surround them.

This morning we lost a young sailor of the name of Pichot, who died in a state of marasmus, the consequence of a dysentery, under which he had laboured for six months.

26th. This day the position of Canary Island was found to be in 1° 51′ 36″ S. lat., and 127° 35′ E. longitude.

27th. Our ship was this day surrounded with a kind of whales, which were from twenty to twenty-five feet in length. They were sufficiently numerous to afford fishers, by their oil, an ample compensation for their labour and expence.

29th. Very early this morning we came in sight of the lofty mountains of Ceram, which extending from the S.E. to the S.S.W., presented us with a very fine landscape.

Such high mountains afford effectual protection to the independence of their inhabitants. Hence it is, that only a small number of the natives settled on low parts of the island, near the sea, endure the tyranny of the Dutch.

1st. The clouds having been entirely dissipated from the land of Ceram, we enjoyed the magnificent prospect of several chains of mountains running parallel to each other, in the