J. E. Heeres - The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606 1765

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At foot:

Your obedient Servant
(signed)
SAMUEL VOLCKERSEN.

H.

_Daily Journal kept by Skipper AUCKE PIETERS JONCK, skipper of the galiot
Emeloordt, on her voyage from Battavia to the South-land, A.D. 1658 [*]_

[* See preceding note.]

{Page 80}

I.

_Chart of Eendrachisland, 1658_

[Map No. 10. Kaart van (Chart of) Eendrachtsland, 1658]

* * * * *

{Page 81}

XXX.

(1658). THE SHIP ELBURG, COMMANDED BY JACOB PIETERSZOON PEEREBOOM,
TOUCHES AT THE SOUTH-WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA AND AT CAPE LEEUWIN, ON HER
VOYAGE FROM THE NETHERLANDS TO BATAVIA [*].

[* The ship Elburg arrived at Batavia on July 16, 1658.]

_Letter of the G.-G. and Counc. to the Managers of the E.I.C., December
14, 1658._

...The flute Elburgh, Jacob Pietersz. Peereboom master, in coming hither
struck the South-land in 311/2 degrees S.L., and the estimated longitude of
117 deg., where, at about 21/2 miles' distance from the land, she was by the
strong wind and the hollow sea forced to come to anchor in 22 fathom, not
without great peril of being lost; but after 12 days' hard trying they at
length got off again and into the open, for which God's name be praised.
Meanwhile, in 33 deg. 14' S.L., round a projecting point, they have found a
good anchoring-place, where they have been at anchor in 20 fathom, and
where the skipper, together with one of the steersmen, the sergeant and 6
soldiers landed round Leeuwinnen cape, finding there three black men,
hung with skins like those at Cape de Bonne Esperance, with whom,
however, they could not come to parley.

On the spot where the blacks had been sitting, our men found a burning
fire, near which there lay a number of assagays, together with three
small hammers, consisting of a wooden handle to one end of which a hard
pebble was fastened by means of a kind of wax or gum, the whole strong
and heavy enough to knock out a man's brains.

A little farther inward they came upon a number of huts, without any
persons in them, and in various spots they found rills of fresh water,
and here and there large quantities of the wax or gum aforesaid, of which
we beg leave to hand you a small sample herewith, together with one of
the said hammers, the wax or gum being of a red colour, and emitting an
agreeable smell after being rubbed for some time...

* * * * *

XXXI.

(1678). FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY THE
VLIEGENDE ZWAAN, COMMANDER VAN DER WALL, ON HER VOYAGE TERNATE TO
BATAVIA, IN FEBRUARY 1678.[*]

[* The ship sailed from Ternate in December, 1677, and arrived at Batavia
"by way of Timor and thus along Nova Guinea, without passing through
Sunda Strait" (_Letter of the G.-G. and Counc. to the Managers of the
E.I.C. May 8, 1678_).]

_Chart of "the north side of the Southland and surveyed with the flute de
Vliegende Zwaan in the month of February, by Jan Van Der Wall," A.D.
1678_ [*].

[* This chart is the only evidence of this voyage known to me. LEUPE,
Zuidland, also, has not found anything else concerning it.]

{Page 82}

[Map No. 11. Kaart van de Noordzijde van 't Zuidland (Chart of the North
side of the Southland), 1678]

* * * * *

{Page 83}

XXXII.

(1696-1697). FURTHER SURVEYINGS OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY
THE SHIP GEELVINK, COMMANDED BY THE SKIPPER-COMMANDER OF THE EXPEDITION,
WILLEM DE VLAMINGH, THE SHIP NIJPTANG UNDER GERRIT COLLAERT, AND THE SHIP
HET WESELTJE, COMMANDED BY CORNELIS DE VLAMINGH. [*]

[* In November and December 1695 the Managers of the E.I. Company
(_Resolutions of the Heeren XVII of November 10, December 8 and 10, 1695_)
resolved to dispatch a flotilla to the South-land or the land of
d'Eendracht, this time starting from the Cape of Good Hope. Willem De
Vlamingh was appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition. He was also
instructed to inquire into the fate of the ship de Ridderschap van
Holland, which had miscarried on her voyage from the Cape to Batavia in
1694.]

A.

_Letter of the Governor-General and Councillors to the Managers of the
E.I.C. at the Amsterdam Chamber, November 30, 1697._

...As regards the results of the voyage of the three...vessels aforesaid
[de Geelvink, de Nijptang and het Wezeltje], which, pursuant to the
letters of the "Heeren XVII" of November 10, 1695, and March 16, 1696,
and in accordance with Your Worships' Instructions of April 23 of the
same year, have successfully accomplished their voyage by way of the
Tristan de Cunha Islands and the Cape of Good Hope, furthermore via the
islands of Amsterdam and St. Paulo, and along the land of d'Eendragt or
the South-land, and have arrived here in good condition as regards ships
and crews, we shall in the main beg leave to refer you to the journals
kept on board the said ships, and to their annotations, together with the
charts and a number of drawings of the said places, all which will be
handed to Your Worships by the bearer of the same, Almoner Victor
Victorszoon, who is now homeward bound in the ship Slants Welvaren. The
drawings are packed in a case to the number of 11, to wit:

7 of divers places in the South-land,
1 of the island of Tristan de Cunha,
1 of the island of Amsterdam,
1 of the island of St. Paulo, and
1 of the island of Mony [*].

[* I have not found these drawings.--In the seventeenth-century charts
Mony is South-west of Java.]

{Page 84}

We besides beg to forward to you a number of larger and smaller disks of
wood, brought over from the said South-land by skipper Willem de
Vlamingh, concerning which wood he had noted in his journal at the dates
December 30 and 31, 1696, and January 2, 1697, that it was odoriferous, a
point which we have not been able to verify here, although we have
directly ordered a small portion of it to be distilled, and beg to hand
you with the rest a small bottle of the oil thus gained for Your
Worships' examination...together with a box containing shells collected
on the beach, fruits, plants, etc., the whole, however, of little value
and decidedly inferior to what elsewhere in India may be found of the
same description; so that in general in this part of the South-land,
which in conformity with their instructions they have diligently skirted,
surveyed and observed, they have found little beyond an arid, barren and
wild land, both near the shore and so far as they have been inland,
without meeting with any human beings, though now and then they have seen
fires from afar, some of the men fancying that two or three times they
have seen a number of naked blacks, whom however they have never been
able to come near to, or to come to parley with; nor have they found
there any peculiar animals or birds, excepting that especially in the
Swaene-revier [*] they have seen a species of black swans, three of which
they have brought to Batavia alive, which we should have been glad to
send over to Your Worships, but that shortly after their arrival here
they all of them died one after another. Nor, so far as we know, have
they met with any vestiges of the lost ship de Ridderschap van Hollant or
of any other bottoms, either in those parts or near the islands of
Amsterdam and St. Paulo, so that in sum nothing of any importance has
been discovered in this exploratory voyage. Only, we must not omit to
mention that in an island situated in 25 deg. S.L. near or before the
South-land, they have found fastened to a pole, which though half-rotten
stood still erect, a common pewter dish of medium size, which had been
flattened and nailed to the pole aforesaid, where they found it still
hanging; the said dish bearing the following words engraved on it, still
distinctly legible:

[* Opposite to the Rottenest island.]

"A.D. 1616, on the 25th of October there arrived here the ship den
Eendragt, of Amsterdam; supercargo Gillis Miebais, of Liege; skipper
Dirck Hartog, of Amsterdam; she set sail again for Bantam, on the 27th
do.; subcargo Jan Steyn, upper-steersman Pieter Ledocker van Bil."

This old dish which skipper Willem de Vlaming brought us, has now
likewise been handed to the Commander [*] in order to be delivered to
Your Worships, who with us will no doubt stand amazed that the same has
for so long a series of years been preserved in spite of its being
exposed to the influence of sky, rain and sun [**].

[* Viz. of the fleet with which this letter was sent to the Netherlands.]

[* The dish would seem to be no longer extant.]

In the same spot they have again erected a new pole with a flattened
pewter dish nailed to it in commemoration of their visit, having first
had the following inscription engraved on the dish, as is more amply set
forth in the Journals:

"A.D. 1697, on the 4th of Febr. there arrived here the ship de Geelvinck,
skipper Willem de Vlaming, of Vlieland; assistant Joannes van Bremen, of
Copenhaguen; upper-steersman Michiel Blom, of Bremen; the hooker de
Nijptang, skipper Gerrit Collart, of Amsterdam; assistant Theodorus
Heermans, of do.; upper-steersman Gerrit Gerrits, of Bremen; the galiot
't Weseltje, master Cornelis de Vlaming, of Vlieland; steersman Coert
Gerrits, of Bremen; the whole of our flotilla sailed from here on the
12th do., in order to explore the South-land with destination for
Batavia" [*]

[* This dish was afterwards brought to Paris by the French expedition,
with the ships l'Uranie and la Physicienne (1817-1820), (see L. DE
FREYCINET, _Voyage autour du monde, sur les corvettus l'Uranie et la
Physicienne_, Historique, Paris, 1825. pp. 449, 482-486) and would seem
to be no longer extant there. An evidently inaccurate copy of the
inscription engraved on the dish, is here reproduced on a reduced scale
from _Planche 14_ of the _Atlas Historique_ accompanying De Freycinet's
work.]

[Map No. 12. Opschrift op den schotel, door Willem De Vlamingh op het
Zuidland achtergelaten (Inscription on the dish, left by Willem De
Vlamingh at the Southland), 1697.]

{Page 85}

And since it is our intention, in order to let Your Worships have the
more information and satisfaction touching this voyage, to dispatch to
the Netherlands again in the last return-ships sailing from here, the
ex-leader of the expedition, Skipper Willem de Vlaming Senior, together
with his upper-steersman Michiel Blom, they having not yet returned from
Bengal with their ships Geelvinck and Nijptang, but being expected every
day, therefore we shall not trouble Your Worships with further
particulars, but would beg leave to refer you to their verbal reports for
ampler information touching their experiences in the said expedition...

In the Castle of Batavia, on the last day of November, 1697.

B.

_Journal kept by Skipper WILLEM DE VLAMINGH on his voyage with the ships
de Geelvinck, Nijptang and T'Weseltje via Trestan da Cunha, the Cape, the
islands of Peter and Paul, and the South-land to Batavia, begun on May 3,
1696, and ended March 20, 1697. [*]_

[* This is the only journal of this voyage that I have found in the Old
Colonial Archives at the Hague. I have not printed it here--so far as the
South-land is concerned, it wil be found printed in LEUPE, Zuidland, pp.
153-184--for two reasons: 1st because it differs only slightly from a
journal of the voyage printed in 1701, of which MAJOR, Terra Australis,
pp 120-133 gives a translation; and 2nd, because the two charts
immediately following in the text (Nos. 13 and 14) give an excellent
survey of the results of this voyage of discovery.]

{Page 86}

C.

_Chart of the South-land, made and surveyed by Willem De Vlamingh in
1696-1697. [*]_

[* This chart was not made on the voyage, but is the work of ISAAC DE
GRAAFF, cartographer to the E.I.C. from 1690 to 1714.]

[Map No. 13. Kaart van het Zuidland, bezeild door Willem De Vlamingh in
1696-1697 door ISAAC DE GRAAFF (Chart of the South-land, made and
surveyed by Willem De Vlamingh in 1696-1697)]

{Page 87}

D.

_Chart of the Malay Archipelago, the north- and west-coasts of Australia,
etc. [*]_

[* This chart is likewise the work of ISAAC DE GRAAFF (1690-1714). It
gives a survey of the results of De Vlamingh's voyage, and may also do
duty as a general record of the Dutch discoveries on the north- and
west-coast of Australia in the 17th century. The dotted (uncertain) line
on the N.W. coast is supplemented by the chart of Van der Wall's
discovery in 1678 (No. 11).]

_(See folding Chart, marked No. 14.)_

[Map No. 14. Uitslaande kaart van den Maleischen Archipel, de Noord- en
West-kusten van Australie door ISAAC DE GRAAFF (Folding chart of the
Malay Archipelago, the North- and West-coast of Australia) 1690-1714]

* * * * *

XXXIII.

(1705). FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY THE
SHIPS VOSSENBOSCH, COMMANDED BY MAARTEN VAN DELFT, DE WAIJER UNDER
ANDRIES ROOSEBOOM, OF HAMBURG, AND NIEUW-HOLLAND OR NOVA-HOLLANDIA,
COMMANDED BY PIETER HENDRIKSZOON, OF HAMBURG.

A.

_Instructions_ (by the G.-G. and Counc., dated January 20, 1705) _for the
officers of the Frigate de Geelvink, along with the Pinnace de Kraanvogel
and the Patchiallang Nova Guinea, destined to set out for the outside
coast of the said Nova Guinea; as also for the Flute Vossenbos, together
with the Pinnace de Doradus [*] and the Patchiallang Nieuw Holland,
having destination for the bay of Hollandia Nova._

[* Afterwards replaced by the pinnace de Waijer.]

[Various] considerations have determined us to dispatch you from here on
a cruise, in such fashion that the frigate Geelvinck together with the
pinnace Craanvogel and the patchiallang Nova Guinea, mentioned in the
heading of the present, will first run from here directly for Banda...and
from Banda continue their voyage to the coast of Nova Guinea.

In the same manner we annex sailing instructions for the officers of the
ship Vossenbosch, which together with the pinnace de Doratus and the
patchiallang Nieuw Holland, likewise above mentioned, will first run for
our Castle of Concordia in Timor, and then continue her voyage to
Hollandia Nova, in such fashion as you will for your guidance find
further amplified below...

You will in the first place have diligently to observe, whether there is
anywhere a passage from the outside to the inside, and this not only as
regards Nova Guinea, but also as concerns Hollandia Nova, so that these
orders...will have to be acted up to not only by the officers of the
Geelvinck, but also by those of the Vossenbosch; and you should take
special care, in case you should find such real or seeming passage, not
to run too far into it, lest you should be carried away by currents in
the same, and run the risk of accidents; on which account the examination
of such passages should nowise be undertaken by the frigate or by the
flute, but only by a pinnace or patchiallang; never to any farther
distance than the experienced sailors in the same shall deem advisable to
enable a safe return out of the said passages, and in no case so far as
to get out of anchoring depth...

{Page 88}

And furthermore, as sailing instructions for the officers of the flute
[Vossenbosch], over and above that which should be applicable to them in
the instructions given up to now, it has been resolved to enjoin them
that having reached Timor...they will thence set sail from the
north-eastern extremity of the said island, and shape their course
south-eastward as far as 11 deg. S. Lat. and 1481/2 deg. Longitude, whence on an
eastward course they will run in sight of Van Diemensland in Hollandia
Nova, which point is said to consist altogether of islands, a matter that
will thus be cleared up. From there this coast will have to be further
followed to eastward as far as Aarnemsland and the Drooge eyland, which
will have to be skirted and surveyed both on the inside and outside;
next, the coast aforesaid will have to be followed as far as Van der
Lijns eiland, which you will examine in the same way as you have done the
Drooge eyland. You will then continue your voyage as far as Lemmens bogt
and Abel Tasmans baay and Waterplaats, and from there run for Cape Van
Diemen, which having rounded you will follow the coast of Carpentaria in
a northward direction along Sweeris, Van der Ljns, Van Diemens and Staten
rivers, until you have passed the Nassauw river, which according to the
chart has its mouth beset with numerous sand-banks and shallows. Next,
running past Cape Keerweer, the Carpentier river, the Hooge eyland and
the Groote vuyle imbocht, together with the Oranjen river, and having
rounded the great projecting point of the Meeuen river, you will run
along the bay of Keerweer then following, always along the coast in a
westerly direction, past the Doodslagers revier, de Waterplaets, until
you have got beyond Goening Apy, Moordenaers revier and the Wesels
eyland, and also beyond Speelmans river and Rijkloffs bays, after which
you will make the point of Ony, whence you will cross over along Keffing
in Banda, as has already been noted in passing...

The commander of the flute Vossenbosch aforesaid, in case the whole bight
of Nova Hollandia, owing to adverse weather or defects of the ship,
cannot be made according to these our instructions so as to enable her to
be back in Banda at the end of September, will be empowered with the
advice of the ship's council, from the Drooge eylant aforesaid to cross
over to the Meeuen river, situated nearly N.W. and S.E. of each other,
and thereby to shorten the voyage to that extent, always provided that no
other means can be found...

If in...Nova Hollandia you should happen to come upon unknown Indians, of
whom you might without violence or risk, and of their own free will,
bring two or three with you hither, such men might possibly prove of
great use in subsequent voyages, but this point we leave to your own
judgment and discretion, as you shall find circumstances to shape
themselves.

Victuals and provisions for all your ships for the space of 10 months
have been ordered on board here...

In the Castle of Batavia, January 20, 1705.

{Page 89}

B.

_A Report and account [dated October 6, 1705] of what has been discovered
and found noteworthy in the voyage of the flute Fossenbosch, the pinnace
d'Waijer and the patsjallang Nova Hollandia, dispatched from Batavia to
Hollandia Nova aforesaid by way of Timor, by the Supreme Government
of India, A.D. 1705; as collected and digested from the written
journals [*] and verbal narratives of the officers returned, by the
Councillors-Extraordinary HENRICK SWAARDECROOM and CORNELIS CHASTELIJN,
commissioned for this purpose; the whole to serve as a report to be
delivered to His Worship Governor-General JOAN VAN HOORN and the Lords
Councillors of India. [**]_

[* I have not found these journals.]

[* I have not printed this Report, 1st because it has been edited by
LEUPE in _Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde van
Nederlandsck-Indie_, Nieuwe Volgreeks, I, pp. 193-201; 2nd because an
English translation of it is given in MAJOR, Terra Australis, pp. 165-173;
3rd because chart No. 15 excellently represents the results of this
voyage. The reproduction being on a reduced scale, some names of places
are not so clearly legible as could be wished, but they will be found
referred to in my Introduction.]

C.

_Chart of Hollandia Nova, further discovered A.D. 1705 by the ships
Vossenbosch, de Wajer and Nova Hollandia, which left Timor on March 2
[*]._

[* On July 12 the ships discontinued their voyage of discovery, and
returned to Banda, where they arrived about a fortnight later.]

{Page 90}

[Map No. 15. Kaart van (Chart of) Hollandia Nova, nader ontdekt anno 1705
door (more exactly discovered by) de Vossenbosch, de Waijer en de Nova
Hollandia]

* * * * *

XXXIV.

(1721-1722). EXPLORATORY VOYAGE BY ORDER OF THE WEST-INDIA COMPANY
"TO THE UNKNOWN PART OF THE WORLD, SITUATED IN THE SOUTH SEA TO WESTWARD
OF AMERICA", BY THE SHIPS AREND AND TIENHOVEN, AND THE AFRICAN GALLEY,
COMMANDED BY MR. JACOB ROGGEVEEN, JAN KOSTER (IN THE SHIP AREND),
CORNELIS BOUMAN (IN THE SHIP TIENHOVEN), AND ROELOF ROSENDAAL (IN THE
AFRICAN GALLEY).

Although the history of this voyage, begun from the Texel on August 1,
1721, does not form part of the subject here treated, I mention it in
passing merely to note that among other places the ships touched at
Paasch-eiland, and at the Paumatos and Samoa island-groups, and reached
Java along the north-coast of New Guinea. The journal of this voyage is
preserved in the Hague State Archives and has been edited by the Zealand
Genootschap der Wetenschappen. (Middelburg, 1838).

* * * * *

{Page 91}

XXXV.

(1727).THE SHIP ZEEWIJK, COMMANDED BY JAN STEIJNS, LOST ON THE
TORTELDUIF ROCK.

A.

_Letter of the G.-G. and Counc. to the Managers of the E.I.C., October
31, 1728._

...On the 26th of April there arrived here quite unexpectedly with the
patchiallang de Veerman a note from the ex-skipper and the subcargo of
the Zealand ship Zeewijk, Jan Steijns and Jan Nebbens, written from Sunda
Strait...informing us that the said ship, after sailing from the Cape of
Good Hope [*] on April 21 [1727], had on June 9 following run aground on
the reef situated before the islands called Fredrik Houtmans Abriolhos
near the South-land in 29 deg. S.L., also known as the Tortelduijf islands;
that favoured by good weather the men had saved from the wreck all kinds
of necessaries, and with the loosened woodwork had constructed a kind of
vessel, with which they had set out from there on the 26th of March, and
arrived in the aforesaid strait on the 21st of April last...

[* The ship had sailed from the Netherlands, November 7, 1726.]

[We] have found...not only that the ex-skipper Jan Steijns has, against
his positive instructions and against the protests of the steersmen, too
recklessly sailed near the South-land, and thereby been the cause of this
disaster, but also that he has attempted to impose upon his superiors by
falsified journals, hoping thereby, if possible, to conceal his grievous
mistake...

The situation of the islands on whose outermost reef the ship Zeewijk has
run aground, is shown by the annexed small chart [*]. They lie out of
sight of the South-land, and are partly overgrown with brushwood, edible
vegetables, etc...here have been discovered not only a number of wells
dug by human hands, but also certain vestiges of a Dutch ship, presumably
also lost on the reef aforesaid...

[* To the Netherlands were sent "two charts of the situation of the Reef,
and of the islands aforementioned" (charts 16 and 17 _below_).]

[Map No. 16. Kaarte betreffende de schipbreuk der Zeewijk (Chart,
concerning the shipwreck of the Zeewijk) 1727.]

[Map No. 17. Kaarte betreffende de schipbreuk der Zeewijk (Chart,
concerning the shipwreck of the Zeewijk) 1727.]

B.

_Journal or daily register, kept [by the second steersman Adriaan (Van)
de Graeff] on board the sho Zeewijk;_ after the miscarriage of the same,
_on the wreck stuck fast on a rocky reef near the unknown Southland;_ and
a few days after, _in the island [*]._

[* This journal is of no interest for our purpose, and I mention it _pro
memoria_ only. The charts sufficiently record the results.]

C.

_Chart drawn by JAN STEIJNS. (No. 16)._

D.

_Chart drawn by ADRIAAN (VAN) DE GRAAF [*]. (No. 17.)_

[* Later in the XVIII century (_inter alia_ in 1755 and 1765) the
West-coast of Australia was again visited by Dutch ships, but what we
know about this point is of no significance.]

* * * * *

{Page 92}

XXXVI.

(1756). EXPLORATORY VOYAGE OF THE SHIPS RIJDER. AND BUIS, COMMANDED
BY LIEUTENANT JEAN ETIENNE GONZAL AND FIRST LAVIENNE LODEWIJK VAN
ASSCHENS, TO THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA.

_Report of the "Master Cartographer" at Batavia, GERRIT DE HAAN, to the
G.-G., and Counc. September 30, 1756._

Pursuant to Your Honourable Worships' highly honoured orders, the
undersigned has the honour to submit to Your Honourable Worships a report
concerning the voyage made by the small bark-ships de Rijder and de Buijs
to the South-land, so far as the same has been touched at by them, as
Your Honourable Worships may be pleased further to gather from the
annexed charts [*].

[* I have not found either these charts or any journals of this
expedition.]

On the 8th of February, 1756 the two ships set sail together from this
roadstead...

On March 26 they were overtaken by a violent storm off the Banda islands,
so that they got separated, and the ship Buijs, finding it impossible to
stand out to sea, entered the port of Banda on March 28; the ship Rijder
held out with fore- and mizen-sails struck until the weather got better,
and not knowing that the ship Buys had returned to port, continued her
voyage. On April 4 those on board the ship Rijder sighted Cape Falso in
Lat. 7 deg. 54' S., in 5 and 41/2 fathom; they then shaped their course to the
S.E. and afterwards to the S.S.E., until on April 10 they saw the high
land of Carpentaria, known by the name of hoog Eijland, near which they
found an island not known to the chart, to which island they gave the
name of Rijders Eijland. From the hooge Eyland a reef runs out to sea a
distance of nearly three miles coming close to the Rijders Eyland...They
then shaped their course along the land in order to get into the bay, in
depths Of 8, 7, 71/2, 61/2 fathom sandy bottom, at which last depth they came
to anchor on April the 16th, where they estimated themselves to be about
two miles off shore. On the 17th do. they went ashore with the boat for
the first time in order to ascertain the nature of the coast. On landing
they found a number of cabins constructed of the bark of trees; they also
saw a man who fled into the wood at their approach, and a small prow or
species of vessel also made of bark, together with some fishing-tackle
and a kind of assagays made of branches of trees, from 4 to 9 feet long,
tipped at one end with a small piece of bone ground to a sharp point. The
fishing-lines seemed to be twisted out of fibrous bark, and, instead of
hooks, had pointed claws of beasts fastened to them. The land was
overgrown with tall grass, and they saw a number of fine dells or
valleys, through which flowed various small rills of fresh water; the
trees were very tall and straight, of regular growth and of different
kinds, some of which would, as they presumed, furnish excellent timber
for ships' masts, yards, etc. The soil was very rich, and on the whole
the country looked very promising. They remained there, making various
landings, and taking in firewood and water, till the 26th of April, when
they put to sea again...shaping their course E.N.E. close to the wind in
depths Of 5, 6 or 7 fathom, following the trend of the coast till they
had got into 10 deg. 30' S. Lat., where they cast anchor on April 28, in
order to explore the land also in this latitude. They found nothing worth
mentioning, however, {Page 93} except a few more cabins or huts of the
kind before described, the inmates of which took to the wood as soon as
our men appeared. They dragged the boat on the {Page 94} beach here, and
repaired the same, remaining there till the 13th of May, waiting for the
ship de Buys. On that day they resolved to continue their voyage, shaping
their course along the land as high as they could in order to keep the
same alongside; but they lost sight of the land all the same, and became
aware that the said land lay at least one degree more to southward than
the chart had led them to believe. On the 24th of May they again sighted
the land in 12 deg. 18' S. Lat.; it showed as a very low-lying coast, whose
trend they followed close inshore. In Lat. 12 deg. 26' South they cast anchor
in 10 fathom good anchoring-ground. As they were lying at anchor at about
1 or 11/2 mile's distance from the shore, they saw two of the prows above
described paddle up to the ship, each of them containing two men, who,
when they had got near the ship, by signs and cries began to signify to
our men that they wished them to come ashore. The following day, being
the 26th of May, our men went ashore at daybreak, and on landing found
several persons there, who, however, all took to flight directly. They
also saw two dogs, not unlike so-called Bengal jackals. The persons who
had fled, shortly after returned to them, when they found them armed with
the assagays above described. They were accompanied by a number of
females who had their privities covered with a kind of small mats. The
natives then all of them sat down on the beach near our men, who made
signs to them that they were seeking fresh water; upon which the natives
got up and signified to our men their willingness to show them the places
where water was obtainable. Nor were our men deceived, for after walking
on along the beach for some time, they were conducted to a pleasant
valley with fine trees such as those above described. This seemed to be
the dwelling-place of the natives, for our men saw here more women and
children and also a number of primitive dwellings, merely consisting of
sheltered places under the trees partly covered in with bark. The water
which they found here, welled up out of the earth in pits dug by human
hands. After having inspected the whole place, they went back to the
beach, where they found the two prows in which the natives had previously
approached the ship. As our men were seated on the beach, nineteen
natives came up to them, all of them with bodies daubed over with red;
when the said natives were by our men treated to some arrack with sugar,
they began to make merry and even struck up a kind of chant, at the
conclusion of which they retired to the wood again.

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