1803.
April.
examinations and discoveries upon the East and North Coasts, for the Admiralty; with the report of the master and carpenter upon the state of the ship, and the information I had obtained of the trepang fishery.
Our supplies for the ship, procured at Coepang, were rice, arrack, sugar, and the palm sirup called gulah; with fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables during our stay, and for ten days afterwards. The animal food consisted of young karabow, a species of buffalo, and of small pigs and kids; the karabow being charged at eight, the pigs at five, and kids at two rix dollars each. Vegetables were dear and not good, and for many of the fruits we were too early in the season; but cocoa-nuts, oranges, limes, bananas, and shaddocks were tolerably plentiful. Tea, sugar candy, and some other articles for our messes, were purchased at the little shops kept by the Chinese-Malays; and poultry was obtained along-side by barter.
To judge from the appearance of those who had resided any length of time at Coepang, the climate is not good; for even in comparison with us, who had suffered considerably, they were sickly looking people. Yet they did not themselves consider the colony as unhealthy, probably from making their comparison with Batavia; but they spoke of Diely, the Portuguese settlement, as very bad in this respect. Captain Baudin had lost twelve men from dysentery, during his stay at Coepang, and I found a monument which he had erected to his principal gardener; but it was even then beginning to decay.
The latitude of our anchorage, three-fifths of a mile to the north of Fort Concordia, was 10° 8′ 2″ from seven meridian altitudes of the sun; but these being all taken to the north, I consider it to be more correctly, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
10° 8½′ S. |
Longitude of the anchorage and fort, from fifty four sets of lunar distances, of which the particulars are given in Table VII. of the Appendix No. I., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
123° 35′ 46″ E. |
