The portion of the tail next the comet appeared three or four tunes as bright as the most luminous portion of the milky way, and what struck me as a singular feature was that its upper margin, from the nucleus to very near the extremity, was clearly and almost sharply defined, while the lower side gradually shaded off into obscurity.

Directly it rose above the ridge of the hill, I said to my men, "See, it's not a fire, it's a bintang ber-ekor" ("tailed-star," the Malay idiom for a comet).

"So it is," said they; and all declared that they had often heard tell of such, but had never seen one till now.

I had no telescope with me, nor any instrument at hand, but I estimated the length of the tail at about 20 deg., and the width, towards the extremity, about 4 deg.

or 5 deg..
The whole of the next day we were obliged to stop near the village of Tidore, owing to a strong wind right in our teeth.