You have kindly permitted me to dedicate to you this result of my investigations respecting the early explorations of Australia. To none can a book on such a subject be more appropriately offered than to yourself. To you geographers are pre-eminently indebted for the promotion of Australian exploration in recent times, while your ever-memorable scientific anticipation of the discovery of the Australian gold fields must connect your name inseparably with the history of a country, whose future greatness can be foreseen, but cannot be estimated.

When, at a period comparatively recent in the world’s history, the discovery was made that, on the face of the as yet unmeasured ocean, there existed a western continent which rivalled in extent the world already known, it became a subject of natural enquiry whether a fact of such momentous importance could for so many thousands of years have remained a secret. Nor was the enquiry entirely without response. Amid the obscurity of the past some faint foreshadowings of the great reality appeared to be traceable. The poet with his prophecy, the sage with his mythic lore, and the unlettered seaman who, with curious eye, had peered into the mysteries of the far-stretching Atlantic, had each, as it now appeared, enunciated a problem which at length had met with its solution.^[1]

In these later days, when the enquiry has assumed gigantic proportions, and the facilities of investigation iihave been simultaneously increased, much has been done towards bringing to light the evidence of various ascertained or possible visitations from the Old World to the New, which had previously remained unknown. A summary of them has already been laid before the members of the Hakluyt Society by the editor of the present volume, in his introduction to the “Select Letters of Columbus”, and requires no repetition here.

Of the future results of that momentous discovery, what human intelligence can foresee the climax? Already the northern half of that vast portion of the iiiglobe is mainly occupied by a section of the Anglo-Saxon family, earnest and active in the development of its native energies; and among these, again, are many who look back with eager curiosity to every yet minuter particular respecting the early history of their adopted country.

A new field of colonization, second only to that of America, and constituting, as far as is at present known, the largest island in our globe, has in far more recent times been opened up by a slow and ivgradual progress to a branch of the same expansive family. A future but little inferior in importance may, without much imaginative speculation, be assigned to them, and from them likewise may be reasonably expected the most curious inquiry as to the earliest discoveries by their predecessors of a land so vast in its dimensions, so important in its characteristics, and yet so little known or reasoned upon by the numerous generations of mankind that had passed away before them.

In endeavouring to meet this demand it must be premised, that while the main object proposed in this volume is to treat of the early indications of the island now recognized as Australia, anterior to the time of Captain Cook, it is impossible to deal with the real or supposed discoveries which may have taken place prior to that date, without referring at the same time to the discovery of the adjacent island of New Guinea and of the great southern continent, of both of which what we now call Australia was in those times regarded as forming a part. The investigation is one of the most interesting character in all its stages, but beset with doubts and difficulties arising from a variety of causes.

The entire period up to the time of Dampier, ranging over two centuries, presents these two phases of obscurity; that in the sixteenth century (the period of the Portuguese and Spanish discoveries) there are indications on maps of the great probability of Australia having been already discovered, but with no written documents to confirm them; while in the vseventeenth century there is documentary evidence that its coasts were touched upon or explored by a considerable number of Dutch voyagers, but the documents immediately describing these voyages have not been found.

That, in so far as regards the Portuguese, this obscurity is mainly due to a jealous apprehension lest lands of large extent and great importance in the southern seas might fall into the hands of rival powers to their own displacement or prejudice, may not only be suspected, but seems to be affirmable from historical evidence.

It is stated by Humboldt (Histoire de la Géographie du Nouveau Continent, tom. iv, p. 70), upon the authority of the letters of Angelo Trevigiano, secretary to Domenico Pisani, ambassador from Venice to Spain, that the kings of Portugal forbad upon pain of death the exportation of any marine chart which showed the course to Calicut. We find also in Ramusio (Discorso sopra el libro di Odoardo Barbosa, and the Sommario delle Indie Orientali, tom. i, p. 287.b) a similar prohibition implied. He says that these books “were for many years concealed and not allowed to be published, for convenient reasons that I must not now describe.” He also speaks of the great difficulty he himself had in procuring a copy, and even that an imperfect one, from Lisbon. “Tanto possono,” he says, “gli interessi del principe.” Again, in tom. iii of the same collection, in the account of the “Discorso d’un gran Capitano del Mare Francese del luogo di Dieppa,” etc., now known to be the voyage of Jean viParmentier to Sumatra in 1529, and in all probability written by his companion and eulogist the poet Pierre Crignon, the covetousness and exclusiveness of the Portuguese are inveighed against. “They seem,” he says, “to have drunk of the dust of the heart of king Alexander, for that they seem to think that God made the sea and the land only for them, and that if they could have locked up the sea from Finisterre to Ireland it would have been done long ago,” etc.

Imputations of a similar nature are thrown on the Dutch East India Company by so well informed a man as Sir William Temple, ambassador at the Hague in the reign of Charles II, and who is a very high authority on all matters concerning the republic of the United Provinces. In his “Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning,” he makes the following curious statement, which we give in extenso as otherwise bearing upon the subject of which we treat. See vol. iii of Sir William Temple’s Works, p. 457.

“But the defect or negligence [in the progress of discovery since the invention of the compass] seems yet to have been greater towards the south, where we know little beyond thirty-five degrees, and that only by the necessity of doubling the Cape of Good Hope in our East India voyages: yet a continent has been long since found out within fifteen degrees to the south, about the length of Java, which is marked by the name of New Holland in the maps, and to what extent none knows, either to the south, the east, or viithe west; yet the learned have been of opinion, that there must be a balance of earth on that side of the line in some proportion to what there is on the other; and that it cannot be all sea from thirty degrees to the south pole, since we have found land to above sixty-five degrees towards the north. But our navigators that way have been confined to the roads of trade, and our discoveries bounded by what we can manage to a certain degree of gain. And I have heard it said among the Dutch, that their East India Company have long since forbidden, and under the greatest penalties, any further attempts of discovering that continent, having already more trade in those parts than they can turn to account, and fearing some more populous nation of Europe might make great establishments of trade in some of those unknown regions, which might ruin or impair what they have already in the Indies.”

Although the statement of so well informed and so impartial a man as Sir William might almost be considered as conclusive, the Dutch have very naturally been unwilling to abide by this severe judgment. An indignant remonstrance against the imputation that they secreted and suppressed the accounts of their early voyages, was published in August 1824, in vol. ii of the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, by Mr. J. van Wijck Roelandszoon, who attributed the origin of this charge to ignorance of the Dutch language on the part of those who made it. In vindication of his assertions he referred to the publication, in 1618, of Linschoten’s voyages both to the North viiiand to the East Indies, also of Schouten and Lemaire’s Circumnavigation of the Globe in 1615–18, which was published in 1646. He referred to the fact that the voyages of Van Noort, l’Hermite, and Spilbergen had also been published, and stated that, generally speaking, such had been the case with all the voyages of the Dutch as early as the year 1646, and that their discoveries were exactly laid down in the 1660 edition of the maps of P. Goos.

He furthermore announced (in reply to an invitation which had been given to the learned men of Holland, to fill up the gaps in their history which had been complained of), that one of the learned societies of Holland had offered a prize for a careful essay on the discoveries of the Dutch mariners.^[2]

In publishing this remonstrance, the editor of the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages judiciously observed, that if the reproach of jealousy which applied to the Portuguese, did not apply to the Dutch, it was at least true that some sort of carelessness had prevented either the preservation or the publication of a great number of Dutch narratives, amongst which he quoted those of De Nuyts, Van Vlaming, etc., to the coasts of New Holland. We must not, however, lose sight of the fact, that Sir William Temple’s charge of want ixof liberality is directed, not against the Dutch in general, but only against the East India Company; and further, that it contains two different imputations; first, that the Company forbade exploration; and secondly, that they prohibited the publication of those already made.

As to the first of these two charges it may have been just. The commercial spirit of the seventeenth century had a general character of narrowness, from which the East India Company was not exempt. The conduct here imputed to them was in accordance with the regular and wholesale destruction of spices, by which they tried to keep up the value of this commodity. Too much importance, however, ought not to be attached even to Sir William’s testimony, when, as in the present case, it stands entirely alone. Every hostile statement with regard to the East India Company made in Sir William’s time, may be regarded as at least likely to have been dictated by party spirit. The directors of the East India Company were so closely connected with the ruling but unpopular party presided over by the De Witts, that the enemies of the one were also the enemies of the others, and among these enemies there were a number of the most eminent men, many of them distinguished geographers.

As to the second charge, it must be allowed in justice to the Company that such secrecy as is here imputed to them is not to be traced in their general conduct. Commelyn, the compiler of the celebrated Begin ende Voortgangh, published in 1646, had undoubtedly xaccess to the Company’s archives, and he discloses many facts which the Company would seem much more interested to hide than what meagre knowledge they possessed of Australia; Godfried, Udemans, Dr. O. Dapper, Witsen, Valentyn, and besides these a host of map-makers and geographers, were largely indebted to the Company for geographical materials. If we may form any judgment from the dedications we find in books of the period, we must consider their encouragement of the study of their dominions as almost on a par with that afforded at the present day by the English East India Company.

The fact that many accounts of Australian voyages which the Company possessed were never published, may be accounted for in a much simpler and more honourable manner. The Dutch voyages and travels that were published were plainly intended for a large circle of readers, and were got up as cheaply as possible. Thus, though thousands and thousands of copies were sold, they have all now become scarce. A voyage which did not contain strange adventures or striking scenes, had no chance of popularity and remained unpublished. Thus, among other instances, a picturesque account of Japan was published in the Begin ende Voortgangh, whilst the extremely important account of De Vries’s voyage to the same part of the world, which is far richer in geographical materials than in interesting incidents, has remained in manuscript till recently edited by Captain Leupe, of the Dutch navy.

xiIt is with pleasure that we indulge the hope that the veil which has thus hung over these valuable materials is likely, before very long, to be entirely removed. The archives of the Dutch East India Company, a yet unsifted mass of thousands of volumes, and myriads of loose papers, have a short time since been handed over to the State Archives at the Hague, where the greatest liberality is shown in allowing access to the treasures they possess. Meanwhile the editor of the present volume need hardly plead any excuse for not having attempted what no foreigner, be his stay in Holland ever so long, could possibly accomplish; and he must leave to those who will take up this matter after him, the satisfaction of availing themselves of materials the importance of which he knows, and the want of which he deeply deplores.

As has been already stated, in the earlier and more indistinct periods of Australian discovery, even when some portions of the vast island had been already lighted on, it remained a doubt whether New Guinea and the newly seen lands did not form part of a great southern continent, in which tradition in the first place, and subsequent discoveries, had already established a belief.

The very existence of the belief in an extensive southern continent at those early periods presents a twofold cause of doubt. It engendered at the time the supposition that every island to the south of what was previously known, and of which the north part only had been seen, formed a portion of that continent; xiiwhile to us who, from this distance of time, look back for evidence, the inaccurate representation of such discoveries on maps, especially in or near the longitude of Australia (for longitude could be but laxly noticed in those days) leaves the doubt whether that continent may not have been visited at the period thus represented. Hence, manifestly, it will be requisite to bear well in mind this broadly accepted belief in the existence of a great southern continent, if we would form a right judgment respecting those supposed indications of Australia which are presented on maps of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries.

Among the very early writers, the most striking quotation that the editor has lighted upon in connection with the southern continent, is that which occurs in the Astronomicon of Manilius, lib. i, lin. 234 et seq., where, after a lengthy dissertation, he says:

The latter clause of this sentence, so strikingly applying to the lands in question, has been quoted as a motto for the title-page of this volume. The date at which Manilius wrote, though not exactly ascertained, is supposed, upon the best conclusions to be drawn from the internal evidence supplied by his poem, to be of the time of Tiberius.

Aristotle also, in his Meteorologica, lib. ii, cap. 5, has xiiia passage which, though by no means so distinct as the preceding, speaks of two segments of the habitable globe, one towards the north, the other towards the south pole, and which have the form of a drum. Aratus, Strabo, and Geminus have also handed down a similar opinion, that the torrid zone was occupied throughout its length by the ocean, and that the band of sea divided our continent from another, situated, as they suppose, in the southern hemisphere.^[3]

To come down, however, to a later period, the editor is enabled, through the researches of his lamented friend, the late learned and laborious Vicomte de Santarem, to show from early manuscript maps and other geographical monuments, how this belief in the existence of a great southern continent was entertained anterior to the discoveries of the Portuguese in the Pacific Ocean. In his Essai sur l’Histoire de la Cosmographie et de la Cartographie du Moyen Age, vol. i, p. 229, the Vicomte informs us that “Certain cartographers of the middle ages, still continue to represent the Antichthone in their maps of the world in accordance with their belief that, beyond the ocean of Homer, there was an inhabited country, another temperate region, called the “opposite earth,” which it was impossible to reach, principally on account of the torrid zone.

“The following are the maps of the world which represent this theory:—

xiv“1. The map of the world in a manuscript of Macrobius, of the tenth century; 2. The map of the world, in a manuscript of the eighth century in the Turin library; 3. That of Cecco d’Ascoli, of the thirteenth century; 4. The small map of the world, in one of the manuscripts of the thirteenth century, of l’Image du Monde, by Gauthier de Metz, MS. No. 7791, Bibliothèque Impériale, Paris; 5. That of an Icelandic manuscript of the thirteenth century, taken from the Antiquitates Americanæ; 6. That in a manuscript of Marco Polo, of the fourteenth century (1350), in the Royal Library of Stockholm; 7. That on the reverse of a medal of the fifteenth century, in the Cabinet of M. Crignon de Montigny.

“The cartographers of the middle ages have admitted that as a reality which, even to the geographers of antiquity, was merely a theory.”

The earliest assertion of the discovery of a land bearing a position on early maps analogous to that of Australia has been made in favour of the Chinese, who have been supposed to have been acquainted with its coasts long before the period of European navigation to the east. Thevenot, in his Relations de Divers Voyages Curieux, part i, Preface: Paris, 1663, says: “The southern land, which now forms a fifth part of the world, has been discovered at different periods. The Chinese had knowledge of it long ago, for we see that Marco Polo marks two great islands to the south-east of Java, which it is probable that he learned from the Chinese.” The statements of xvMarco Polo, which we quote from Marsden’s translation, run thus:—

“Upon leaving the island of Java, and steering a course between south and south-west seven hundred miles, you fall in with two islands, the larger of which is named Sondur, and the other Kondur. Both being uninhabited, it is unnecessary to say more respecting them. Having run the distance of fifty miles from these islands, in a south-easterly direction, you reach an extensive and rich province, that forms a part of the main land, and is named Lochac. Its inhabitants are idolaters. They have a language peculiar to themselves, and are governed by their own king, who pays no tribute to any other, the situation of the country being such as to protect it from any hostile attack. Were it assailable, the Grand Khan would not have delayed to bring it under his dominion. In this country sappan or brazil wood is produced in large quantities. Gold is abundant to a degree scarcely credible; elephants are found there; and the objects of the chase, either with dogs or birds, are in plenty. From hence are exported all those porcelain shells, which, being carried to other countries, are there circulated for money, as has been already noticed. Here they cultivate a species of fruit called berchi, in size about that of a lemon, and having a delicious flavour. Besides these circumstances there is nothing further that requires mention, unless it be that the country is wild and mountainous, and is little frequented by strangers, whose visits the king discourages, in order that his treasures and other secret matters of his realm may be as little known to the rest of the world as possible.

“Departing from Lochac and keeping a southerly course for five hundred miles, you reach an island named Pentam, the coast of which is wild and uncultivated, but the woods abound with sweet scented trees. Between the province of xviLochac and this island of Pentam, the sea, for the space of sixty miles, is not more than four fathoms in depth, which obliges those who navigate it to lift the rudders of their ships, in order that they may not touch the bottom. After sailing these sixty miles in a south-easterly direction, and then proceeding thirty miles further, you arrive at an island, in itself a kingdom, named Malaiur, which is likewise the name of its city. The people are governed by a king, and have their own peculiar language. The town is large and well built. A considerable trade is there carried on in spices and drugs, with which the place abounds. Nothing else that requires notice presents itself. Proceeding onwards from thence, we shall now speak of Java Minor.”

That this description does not apply to Australia the reader of the present day may readily conclude. It has received its explanation in the judicious notes of Marsden, who shows how, from the circumstances, it is highly probablye that Lochac is intended for some part of the country of Cambodia, the capital of which was named Loech, according to the authority of Gaspar de Cruz, who visited it during the reign of Sebastian, king of Portugal. See Purchas, vol. iii, p. 169. The country of Cambodia, moreover, produces the gold, the spices, and the elephants which Marco Polo attributes to Lochac. Pentam is reasonably supposed by Marsden to be Bintam, and the island and kingdom of Malaiur (Maletur, in the Basle edition of 1532, included in the Novus Orbis of Grynæus) to be the kingdom of the Malays.

In the early engraved maps of the sixteenth century, however, we see the effects of this description exhibited in a form calculated to startle the inquirer xviirespecting the early indications of Australia. On these maps we find laid down an extensive development of the great Terra Australis Incognita trending northward to New Guinea; with which, on some of these maps, it is made to be continuous, while on others it is divided from it; and on the northernmost portion of this remarkably delineated land occur the legends: “Beach provincia aurifera.” “Lucach regnum.” “Maletur regnum scatens aromatibus.” “Vastissimas hic esse regiones ex M. Pauli Veneti et Ludovici Vartomanni scriptis peregrinationibus liquido constat.”

We have already explained from Marsden’s notes the reasonable rendering of the name of Lucach or Lochac. The name of Beach, or rather Boeach, is another form of the same name, which crept into the Basle edition of Marco Polo of 1532, and was blunderingly repeated by the cartographers; while for Maletur we have the suggestion of the Burgomaster Witsen, in his Noord en Oost Tartarye, fol. 169, that it is taken from Maleto, on the north side of the island of Timor, a suggestion rendered null by the fact, apparently unknown to Witsen, that Maletur, as already stated, was but a misspelling in the Basle edition for Malaiur. The sea in which, on these early maps, this remarkable land is made to lie, is called Mare Lantchidol, another perplexing piece of misspelling upon which all the cartographers have likewise stumbled, and which finds its explanation in the Malay words Laut Kìdol, or Chìdol, “the South Sea.” As, however, this striking protrusion to the northward of xviiia portion of the Great Terra Australis Incognita on the early maps in a position so nearly corresponding with that of Australia, may not have emanated solely from the description of Marco Polo, the editor proposes to defer further allusion to these maps until they present themselves in their due chronological order among the documents and data of which he will have to speak.

The earliest discovery of Australia to which claim has been laid by any nation is that of a Frenchman, a native of Honfleur, named Binot Paulmier de Gonneville, who sailed from that port in June 1503, on a voyage to the South Seas. After doubling the Cape of Good Hope, he was assailed by a tempest which drove him on an unknown land, in which he received the most hospitable reception, and whence, after a stay of six months, he returned to France, bringing with him the son of the king of the country. The narrative is given in a judicial declaration made by him before the French Admiralty, dated the 19th of June, 1505, and first published in the Mémoires touchant l’Etablissement d’une Mission Chrétienne dans la Terre Australe, printed at Paris by Cramoisy, 1663, and dedicated to Pope Alexander VII, by an “ecclésiastique originaire de cette mesme terre.” The author gives his name in no other way than by these initials, “J. P. D. C., Prêtre Indien.” This priest, as well as his father and grandfather, was born in France; but his great grand-father was one of the Australians, or natives of the southern world, whom Gonneville had brought into France at xixhis return from that country, and whom he afterwards married to one of his own relations there, he having embraced Christianity. The author of the account himself being animated by a strong desire of preaching the gospel in the country of his ancestors, spent his whole life in endeavouring to prevail on those who had the care of foreign missions to send him there, and to fulfil the promise the first French navigator had made, that he should visit that country again. Unfortunately Gonneville’s journals, on his return, fell into the hands of the English, and were lost. The author, however, collected his materials from the traditions and loose papers of his own family, and the judicial declaration above mentioned. This account was to have been presented to the Pope, but it never was printed till it fell into the hands of the bookseller Cramoisy. The narrative is to the effect that some French merchants, being tempted by the success of the Portuguese under Vasco de Gama, determined upon sending a ship to the Indies by the same route which he had sailed. The ship was equipped at Honfleur. “The Sieur de Gonneville, who commanded her, weighed anchor in the month of June, 1503, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope, where he was assailed by a furious tempest, which made him lose his route, and abandoned him to the wearisome calm of an unknown sea.” “Not knowing what course to steer, the sight of some birds coming from the south determined them to sail in that direction in the hope of finding land. They found what they desired, that is to say, a great country, xxwhich, in their relations, was named the Southern India, according to the custom, at that time, of applying indifferently the names of the Indies to every country newly discovered.” They remained six months at this land; after which the crew of the ship refused to proceed further, and Gonneville was obliged to return to France. When near home, he was attacked by an English corsair, and plundered of every thing; so that his journals and descriptions were entirely lost. On arriving in port, he made a declaration of all that had happened in the voyage to the Admiralty, which declaration was dated July the 19th, 1505, and was signed by the principal officers of the ship.

In one part of the relation, this great southern land is said to be not far out of the direct route to the East Indies. The land of Gonneville has been supposed by some to be in a high southern latitude, and nearly on the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope; and Duval and Nolin placed it on their charts to the south-west from the Cape, in forty-eight degrees south. The President De Brosses, author of Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes, Paris, 1756, 2 vols. conjectured that it was south from the Moluccas, and that it was, in fact, the first discovery of the Terra Australis, since named New Holland.

Gonneville, however, is represented as carrying on during his stay a friendly intercourse with the natives, whom he mentions as having made some advances in civilization. This account is quite incompatible with the character for treachery and barbarous xxicruelty, which we have received of the natives of North Australia from all the more recent voyagers.

Let the whole account, says Burney, be reconsidered without prepossession, and the idea that will immediately and most naturally occur is, that the Southern India discovered by Gonneville was Madagascar. De Gonneville having doubled (passed round) the Cape, was by tempests driven into calm latitudes, and so near to this land, that he was directed thither by the flight of birds. The refusal of the crew to proceed to the Eastern India, would scarcely have happened if they had been so far advanced to the east as New Holland.

A more reasonable claim than the preceding to the discovery of Australia in the early part of the sixteenth century, may be advanced by the Portuguese from the evidence of various MS. maps still extant, although the attempt made recently to attach the credit of this discovery to Magalhaens in the famous voyage of the Victoria round the world in 1520, is, as we shall endeavour to show, perfectly untenable. The claim of this honour for Spain is thus asserted in the “Compendio Geografico Estadistico de Portugal y sus posesiones ultramarinas,” by Aldama Ayala, 8vo, Madrid, 1855, p. 482. “The Dutch lay claim to the discovery of the continent of Australia in the seventeenth century, although it was discovered by Fernando Magalhaens, a Portuguese, by order of the Emperor Charles V, in the year 1520, as is proved by authentic documents, such as the atlas of Fernando Vaz Dourado, made in Goa in 1570, on one of the xxiimaps in which is laid down the coast of Australia. The said magnificent atlas, illuminated to perfection, was formerly preserved in the Carthusian Library at Evora.”

A similar claim was also made for their distinguished countryman, though the voyage was made in the service of Spain, in an almanack published at Angra, in the island of Terceira, by the government press, anno 1832, and composed, it is supposed, by the Viscount Sa’ de Bandeira, the present minister of marine at Lisbon. In the examination of this subject, the editor has had the advantage of the assistance of a friend in Lisbon, who, in his researches among the remaining literary wealth of that city, has exhibited an earnestness and an amount of care and thought but too rarely witnessed in delegated investigations. The reader will not wonder that the zeal of a true lover of literature has been thrown into these researches, when he learns that they have been made by Dr. John Martin, the well-known author (for it would be wrong to call him the editor) in days now long gone by, of that most interesting and important work, “Mariner’s Tonga Islands.” As will be presently seen, the whole question of the possibility of the discovery of Australia having been made by the Portuguese, in the first half of the sixteenth century, is sufficiently enigmatical to call for a great extent of inquiry, and the editor’s venerable and honoured friend, though now grown old in the service of science and literature, has entered into the subject with a cordiality and ardour, commensurate with the puzzling nature of the subject.

xxiiiBut first with respect to the claim on behalf of Magalhaéns, as based upon the map of Vaz Dourado. The following are extracts from Dr. Martin’s reports upon the map.

“On inspecting the map and examining the more southern regions, I found that the island of Timor was the most southern land laid down in lat. 10° S., which is its true situation; while further to the south all was blank, excepting certain ornamental devices as far as about latitude 17° or 18°, which was the lowest margin of the map. To the west and east the map was bordered by a scale of latitude, in single degrees; but this map did not occupy the whole sheet of vellum, for to the right of the eastern scale of latitude something else was laid down, viz., a line of coast running with a little southing from west to east, with many rivers and names of places upon it, and this notice underneath, ‘Esta Costa Descubrió Fernaō de Magalhāes naturall portuges pormandado do emperador Carllos o anno 1520.’

“If the whole sheet is meant to constitute one map and referable to the same scale of latitude, then the coast in question is not where New Holland ought to be, being north of Timor and much too far to the eastward. On turning over to the next sheet (in the atlas) there is a similar line of coast laid down with precisely the same notice (above quoted) at the bottom, and evidently a continuation of the same coast and upon the same scale. I send a list of the names, which I have made out as well as I could, for they are very small and several letters are not very clear.

“The reasons why I cannot consider this coast as part of New Holland, are, 1st. It is at least one thousand five hundred miles in length, and nearly straight as a whole, though indented in its parts; 2ndly. That it is represented to have numerous rivers, which are very rare in New Holland (on the coast); 3rdly. That it is considerably distant from its true xxivplace to the south of Timor, which in the atlas is laid down correctly as to latitude, although, 4thly. There is plenty of room for it on the map. I have thought it might be part of the coast of South America, where Magelhaens was long detained, and that it is put down as a sort of memorandum of the great extent of coast which he discovered in the first circumnavigation of the globe. With indomitable perseverance he pushed his way through the straits that bear his name into the Pacific, and in this vast ocean he sailed about for three months and twenty days (says Pigafetta, who accompanied him and wrote an account of the voyage) without discovering anything excepting two small desert islands, until he arrived at the Phillippines. Had he really discovered so much of the coast of a great southern continent, Spain, in whose service he was, might well have boasted of the feat, and Portugal, whose native he was, might have defended the claims of the man who performed it, and not let so bold and noble a discovery (for those times) remain so long in doubt.

“Now with respect to America: if we examine carefully the list of names upon this line of coast, we shall find some that have a resemblance to those on the coast of America, along which Magelhaens pursued his course. One of these, C. de las Virgines, is found in some maps just at the entrance of the Straits of Magellan, on the eastern side. I do not see any name like Fromose,^[4] but there is the name Gaia Fromosa, in or near the Straits of Magellan (in the same atlas). In the enclosed list of names we have also Terra de Gigätes or Terra de Gigantes, and may not this be the Patagonians?

xxv“On a closer and more minute examination of Dourado’s map, and others, I think it may now be made evident that the coast said to have been discovered by Magalhaéns, in 1520, and mistaken by Sa de Bandeira and others, for part of the coast of New Holland, is no other than the northern coast of New Guinea.

“Now New Guinea, or part of it, as laid down by Dourado, appears under the name of Os Papuos, and extends to the eastward as far as the scale of latitude is marked, but beyond that scale there is about half an inch of space, and there the coast in question commences, and runs a long way towards the east, with a little southing, and has many islands bordering upon it; whether this be either a continuation or a repetition more extended of Papua, it is much in the same latitude, and runs in the same direction. Again, on referring to an old map of Mercator, I found some names upon New Guinea, similar to those on the coast in question; there I found C. de las Virgines; I. de los Cresbos; R. de Bolcados; Buen Puerto, answering to C. de las Virgines; I. de los Crespos: Bullcones Puerto Bueno, as found among the names on the coast in question; but what places the matter still more beyond a doubt is, that the names in both run in the same consecutive order from west to east, upon several of the islands which border the main land.

xxvi“Seeing then that the coast in question, and that of New Guinea are in the same latitude, that they greatly resemble each other in position, that several names upon them are similar, and that the similar names follow each other in both cases in the like consecutive order, and the same direction from west to east, I think we may safely come to the conclusion that the coast in question is identically that of New Guinea, and that the assumption of Viscount Sa de Bandeira and others following him, or whom he has followed, is an error.”

From these observations of Dr. Martin, the editor forms the following conclusions; that the tract laid down on Vaz Dourado’s map as discovered by Magalhaens, is in fact a memorandum or cartographical side-note of the real discovery by Magalhaens of Terra del Fuego, and that from its adopted false position on the vellum it was subsequently applied erroneously to New Guinea by Mercator. But even if this surmise be incorrect, the only alternative that remains is that the tract laid down is New Guinea, and clearly not Australia, as assumed by the claimants to whom we have referred. The editor submits that this claim is alike untenable from the account of Magalhaens’ voyage and from the evidence of the map itself on which that claim is founded.

xxviiBut we now pass to a more plausible indication of a discovery of Australia by the Portuguese in the early part of the sixteenth century, which ranges between the years of 1512 and 1542. It occurs in similar form on six maps, four of them in England and two in France, on which, immediately below Java, and separated from that island only by a narrow strait, is drawn a large country stretching southward to the verge of the several maps. The earliest in all probability, and the most fully detailed of these maps, is the one from which we give the annexed reduction of that portion immediately under consideration. It is a large chart of the world, on a plane scale, on vellum, 8 ft. 2 in. by 3 ft. 10 in., highly ornamented, with figures, etc., and with the names in French. At the upper corner, on the left hand, is a shield of the arms of France, with the collar of St. Michael; and on the right, another shield of France and Dauphiny, quarterly. It was probably executed in the time of Francis I. of France, for his son the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II. This chart formerly belonged to Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, after whose death it was taken away by one of his servants. It was subsequently purchased by Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., and presented by him to the British Museum in 1790.

The second, in all probability, of these, is contained in an atlas drawn at Dieppe in 1547, at present in the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., of Middle Hill, Worcestershire. It contains the name of Nicholas Vallard, of Dieppe. The editor has been unsuccessful in his efforts to gain a sight of this atlas, or even of a fac-simile lithograph made by Sir Thomas Phillipps of the map supposed to contain the representation of Australia. Hence he has been compelled to rely upon the memory of Sir Frederick Madden, who had an opportunity of examining the atlas some years since, and who recollects that though xxviiiit bore the name of Vallard and the date of 1547, it was not made by him, and that its date, though probably earlier than 1547, could be shown from internal evidence to be not earlier than 1539. A coat of arms appears in the margin of the volume, argent, on a saltire, gules, five besants, a mullet, sable, in the fess point. This may lead a future investigator to the discovery of an earlier possessor of the map than Vallard, although it should be remarked that the borders on the margin appear to be of a later date than the maps themselves. It fell into the possession of Prince Talleyrand at the beginning of this century, and attracting the attention of the celebrated geographer M. Barbié du Bocage, drew from him a notice in the Magasin Encyclopédique, douzième année, tom. iv, 107, which, though lengthy, bears so directly upon the subject of the present work, that it is proposed in simple justice both to the writer and the reader, presently to give it in full.

xxixThe third and fourth of these maps (if our other inferences as to date be correct) are contained in one volume in the British Museum; one of them is a detailed map, and the other an almost skeleton map of the world in hemispheres, with the latitudes and longitudes marked, and the names of “the lytel Java” and “the londe of Java” laid down on the great country in question. It is from this latter map that the annexed extract is given, on the same scale as the original, the octavo page being sufficiently large to admit the portion required to be shown. The only point of difference calling for special remark is, that in the original hemisphere the line representing the eastern coast does not reach to the bottom of the map, but terminates abruptly in the same degree of latitude as represented in the copy, though that degree is here, for convenience sake, made to coincide with the margin of the map. Indeed the special interest of this particular map is, that whereas all the others which represent this remarkable country have the coast line extended indefinitely to the southern margin; on this both the eastern and western coast lines stop abruptly at certain points, of which we are able to take cognizance by the degrees of latitude being shown on the same map. The volume containing these two important maps bears the date of 1542, and was made by one Jean Rotz, who had in the first instance intended to dedicate it to the king of France, but afterwards presented it to king Henry VIII of England. In this dedication to the king, he says that the maps are made “au plus certain et vray quil ma esté possible de faire, tant par mon experience propre, que par la certaine experience de mes amys et compagnons navigateurs;” and at the close, he expresses his hope to compose shortly a work in English, which was to be printed, to the great profit and advantage of all the navigators and seamen of this prosperous kingdom. It is to be regretted that we do not possess the work here promised, as much light might thereby have been thrown upon the mystery in which the question before us is involved. It has been suggested by Malte Brun, that the author was a Fleming, who came over to xxxEngland with Anne of Cleves in 1540. The idea may have originated in the form of the name, but would hardly have been maintained had Malte Brun read Rotz’s dedication, in which he speaks of the king of France as having been “mon souverin et naturel signeur.” There can be no doubt, then, that he was a French subject.

The fifth in date, if we suppose it to have been made early in the reign of Henry II, is a map given in fac-simile by M. Jomard, in his Monuments de la Géographie, ou Recueil d’Anciennes Cartes, now in progress, and is described by him as “Mappemonde peinte sur parchemin par ordre de Henri II, Roi de France.”

The sixth is a map in a Portolano at the Depôt de la Guerre, Paris, drawn in 1555 by Guillaume le Testu, a pilot of Grasse, in Provence, or as others have thought a Norman. André Thevet, cosmographer to Henry II, boasts of having often sailed with him, and always styles him as “renommé pilote et singulier navigateur.” The map was drawn for Admiral Coligny, to whom it is dedicated and whose name it bears. The editor has succeeded in procuring a tracing of that portion which affects the present question, and finds it to agree with the other maps of the kind in the delineation of the coast of “la Grande Java.”

On the reduced tracing of the most fully detailed of these maps given at p. xxvii, are inscribed some names of bays and coasts which were noticed in the first instance by Alexander Dalrymple, the late hydrographer to the Admiralty and East India Company, xxxito bear a resemblance to the names given by Captain Cook to parts of New Holland which he had himself discovered.

In his memoir concerning the Chagos and adjacent islands, 1786, p. 4, speaking of this map he says:—“The east coast of New Holland, as we name it, is expressed with some curious circumstances of correspondence to Captain Cook’s MS. What he names

So that we may say with Solomon, ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’”

To the discredit of so well informed and laborious a man as Dalrymple, to whom, perhaps, next to Hakluyt, this country is the most largely indebted for its commercial prosperity, this passage was but an invidious insinuation, intended to disparage the credit of Captain Cook, of whose appointment to the command of the Endeavour he was extremely jealous. Dalrymple had earnestly desired the command of an expedition to discover the great southern continent, the existence of which he had endeavoured to prove by various philosophical arguments, which later times have shown to be not without foundation; and his observation would seem to imply that Cook, who had been so successful in his discoveries on the coast of New Holland, might have been led thereto by an acquaintance with this pre-existent map. The unworthy insinuation met with a sensible refutation, we are happy to record, from the pen of a Frenchman, xxxiiM. Frederic Metz, in a paper printed at p. 261, vol. 47, of La Revue, ou Decade Philosophique, Littéraire et Politique, Nov., 1805. For the sake of clearness, the editor avoids here giving the whole of M. Metz’s paper, in which an attempt is made to disprove that New Holland was discovered at this time by the Portuguese at all, but will merely quote those passages which meet Dalrymple’s insinuation. M. Metz says:—

“It had been generally believed that we were indebted to the Dutch for our acquaintance with this vast country, and that the celebrated Cook had in his first voyage discovered its eastern coast, which he named New South Wales, until the discovery was made in the British Museum of a map upon parchment, presumed to be of the sixteenth century, on which was observed a large country laid down on the site occupied by New Holland. On the eastern coast of this country places were found with the names ‘Côte des Herbaiges,’ ‘Rivière de beaucoup d’Iles,’ ‘Côte dangereuse,’ names which present a great resemblance to those of ‘Botany Bay,’ ‘Bay of Islands,’ and ‘Dangerous Coast,’ given by Cook to parts of New South Wales.

“The resemblance of these names struck many persons. Mr. Dalrymple, a man of the greatest merit, but a personal enemy of Cook, whom he never forgave for having received, in preference to him, the command of the Endeavour, in the voyage made to observe the passage of Venus, and especially for having demolished, beyond of hope of recovery, his theories of the existence of the southern lands, and of the north-west passage of America: Mr. Dalrymple, I say, took occasion therefrom to insinuate in one of his works, that the discovery of the east of New Holland was due to some navigator of the sixteenth century, and that Cook had only followed in his track....

xxxiii“As to the resemblance of the names—this seems to me to prove exactly the contrary of the conclusions which it has been attempted to draw from them. If Cook had been acquainted with the maps in question, and had wished to appropriate to himself the discoveries of another, will any one suppose him so short-sighted as to have preserved for his discoveries the very names which would have exposed his plagiarism, if ever the sources which he had consulted came to be known. The ‘dangerous coast’ was so named because there he found himself during four hours in imminent danger of shipwreck. We must suppose, then, that he exposed himself and his crew to an almost certain death in order to have a plausible excuse for applying a name similar to that which this coast had already received from the unknown and anonymous navigator who had previously discovered it. Moreover, names such as ‘Bay of Islands,’ ‘Dangerous coast,’ are well known in geography. We find a Bay of Islands in New Holland; and on the east coast of the island of Borneo there is a ‘Côte des Herbages.’”

The sound sense of this reasoning, apart from all question of honour on the part of a man of the high character of Captain Cook, would seem conclusive, yet this similarity of the names has, to the editor’s own knowledge, been remarked upon by persons of high standing and intelligence in this country, though without any intention of disparaging Captain Cook, as an evidence that this country was identical with Australia. The similarity of the expression, “Côte des Herbages,” with the name of Botany Bay, given to a corresponding part of the coast by Captain Cook, has been particularly dwelt upon, whereas it ought to be known that this bay, xxxivoriginally called Stingray, but afterwards Botany Bay, was not so named on account of the fertility of the soil, but from the variety of plants new to the science of botany which were discovered on a soil otherwise rather unpromising. It is plain that early navigators would assign such a designation as “Côte des Herbages” to a shore remarkable for its rich growth of grass or other vegetation, rather than from the appreciation of any curious botanical discovery. Had the similarity of the names “Rivière de beaucoup d’Isles” and “Côte dangereuse” with Cook’s “Bay of Isles” and the place “where the Endeavour struck,” names descriptive of unquestionable realities, been advanced by Dalrymple as evidence of the high probability that the country represented on the early map was New Holland, without volunteering an insinuation against the merit of his rival, we should have accepted the reasonable suggestion with deference and just acquiescence.

That New Holland was the country thus represented, became an argument supported by a variety of reasonings by more than one of our French neighbours. Mr. Coquebert Montbret, in a memoir printed in No. 81 of the Bulletin des Sciences, 1804, quotes Dalrymple’s injurious observation, and silently allows it to have its deceptive effect on the mind of the incautious reader.

The atlas now in the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, which, as we have stated, is probably next in date to that made for the Dauphin, fell into the possession of Prince Talleyrand at the beginning of xxxvthis century, and attracting the attention of the celebrated geographer M. Barbié du Bocage, drew from him the following notice in the Magasin Encyclopédique, douzième année, tom. iv, 1807, which, though lengthy, bears so directly upon the subject of the present work, that it is here given in full.

Extract from the notice of a geographical manuscript belonging to his Serene Highness the Prince of Benevento [better known as the Prince Talleyrand], read at a Public Session of the Institute, on the 3rd of July, 1807, by M. Barbié du Bocage.

This manuscript is an hydrographic atlas, drawn at Dieppe in 1547, by a person of the name of Nicholas Vallard, of Dieppe, representing the eastern and western coasts of the continent of New Holland. This atlas is not the only one upon which these coasts are laid down. There are two in England, which came from France, and which we have been made acquainted with by the English as well as by some Frenchmen. One of the two, which has been for a considerable time in the library of the British Museum, was drawn in 1542 by a person of the name of Jean Rotz or Roty, who had in the first instance drawn it, as he states in the dedication, for the king of France, but afterwards presented it to Henry VIII, king of England. The second is a large map on one single sheet of parchment, made for the Dauphin of France, whose arms it bears. It was formerly in the library of the earl of Oxford, where Sir Joseph Banks was acquainted with it, and thence it passed to the British Museum, where it is at present. The English pretend that none of these charts were discovered till after the death of the celebrated Captain Cook, and that they had no knowledge of them when this navigator set sail. But their prior existence in well-known libraries in England may cause this assertion xxxvito be doubted. But even if they had made use of them to indicate to their countryman the countries which he had to visit, it would not the less follow that the skill, the prudence, and the resolution with which Captain Cook conducted his operations must always secure for him the glory of having made known in detail the countries which had hitherto been but faintly indicated.

The third manuscript atlas which represents the coasts of New Holland, is that of which we have now to treat. It is a small folio volume, consisting of fifteen hydrographical charts, on vellum, which has been recently acquired by his serene highness the Prince of Benevento. This atlas, even by the account of persons who have seen those which are in England, is the most beautiful of all the works of the kind, and for this reason deserves the most particular attention. There has since been discovered in France a fourth, which is at present in the library of the Dépôt de la Guerre, which was drawn in 1555 by a person named Guillaume le Testu, a pilot, of Grasse, in Provence, for Admiral Coligny, to whom it is dedicated, and whose arms it bears.

The English geographers, MM. Dalrymple, Major Rennell, and Pinkerton; and among the French, MM. Buache, De la Rochette, Coquebert de Montbret, and others, recognize on these atlases the eastern and western coasts of New Holland. These coasts are bounded by the same latitudes as those indicated on recent maps; and if they encroach more on longitude it is because, at the time the discovery was made, there existed but small means of fixing the boundaries in that respect. The names on all the atlases which we have just quoted, are, for the most part, in Portuguese, some of them in French; that of 1542 alone, which is in England, has some of the names in bad English. We must, therefore, come to the conclusion that these atlases have been copied from Portuguese maps, and consequently that the discovery of the continent of New Holland belongs to the Portuguese. xxxviiThis is the opinion of MM. Dalrymple, Pinkerton, De la Rochette, and several others; and I do not believe that any good reason can be alleged in refutation of an opinion so well founded.

All these atlases call this continent “Great Java”, in contradistinction to the island of Java, which is to the north of it; yet it is very singular that no mention whatever is made of this country in the voyages of the time. As, however, I think I have detected from history the period at which it must have been made, I shall now endeavour to explain why the Portuguese have kept this discovery a secret. I shall then fix the period at which I presume it to have been made, and will shew how the knowledge of this country has been lost even by those who have discovered it.

The most ancient of the atlases which represent the coasts of New Holland, is that of Rotz or Roty, which is in England, and which bears the date of 1542. The discovery of New Holland, therefore, is anterior to the year 1542. At that period the Portuguese were masters of the Molucca Islands, which they had discovered in 1511, and where they had established themselves in 1512, and in one of which, Ternate, they had built a fort in 1522. They must have discovered New Holland after the Moluccas, and therefore this discovery must be limited to the period between the years 1512 and 1542.

Now, after 1516 or 1517, Spain began to dispute with Portugal the possession of the Moluccas, as being situated within the hemisphere which had been allotted to them by the bull of pope Alexander VI, dated the 4th of July, 1493. This pope, in consequence of the disputes which had arisen between the courts of Lisbon and Toledo, had arranged that all the discoveries which might be made on the globe to the east of a meridian one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands (which he seemed to think lay under the same meridian), for the space of a hundred and xxxviiieighty degrees of longitude, should belong to the Portuguese; and that those to the westward of the same meridian, for the same space, should belong to the Spaniards. This division has been since called the line of demarcation of Pope Alexander VI. Don John II, however, who was then king of Portugal, being dissatisfied with this bull, which seemed to deprive him of considerable possessions in the west, made another arrangement in the following year with Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, by which this line was pushed further west, and definitely fixed at three hundred and seventy leagues to the westward of the Cape Verde Islands. This agreement was signed the 4th of June, 1494; and it was arranged that, in the space of ten months, persons should be sent out who were well informed in geography, to fix exactly the places through which this line should pass.

This engagement once entered upon, no more consideration was given to the sending out competent persons to the places indicated, and the two governments continued their discoveries, each on its own behalf. Under the guidance of Cabral, the Portuguese, on the 9th of March, 1500, discovered Brazil, which lay in their own hemisphere. Under the guidance of Vincent Yanez Pinzon, the Spaniards had in this same or preceding year, sailed along the whole of this coast as far as the embouchure of the Oronoco. After this time the line, without further examination, was reckoned to pass by the mouth of the Marañon, or river of the Amazons, which had been already explored, and it is in this part that it is found traced on the Spanish maps of Herrera. The Portuguese, while they took possession of Brazil, continued their discoveries towards the east, and reached the Moluccas, where they established themselves, as we have said, in 1512. The proprietorship of the spices which the possession of these islands gave them, produced such considerable profits, that it soon excited the jealousy of the Spaniards. The latter pretended that the Moluccas were in xxxixthe hemisphere which had been allotted to them. This idea was particularly suggested to them by Magellan, who, being discontented with the treatment of king Emanuel, in having refused him an increase of allowance, took refuge about the year 1516 in Spain, and offered his services to the government of Charles V. Not only did he assert that the hemisphere belonging to the Spaniards comprised the Moluccas, but also the islands of Java and Sumatra, and a part of the Malay peninsula. In fact, from the difficulty which then existed in determining longitudes, the discoveries of the Portuguese appeared to appropriate more than one hundred and eighty degrees in this direction, so great was the amount of space given to them in their maps: nevertheless, if we examine modern maps we shall see that, measuring from the mouth of the Marañon, the Moluccas still came within the hemisphere of the Portuguese.

Cardinal Ximenes, who at that time governed Spain in the absence of Charles V., at the outset received Magellan very well, and Charles V. himself afterwards entrusted him with the command of a squadron of five vessels, which, as we know, sailed from San Lucar on the 20th of September, 1519, on a western passage in search of the Spice Islands or Moluccas. Two of the vessels of this fleet arrived on the 8th of November, 1521, at the island of Tidore, after having passed through the straits since called the Straits of Magellan. That navigator was now no more; he had been killed in one of the islands of the archipelago of St. Lazaro, since called the Philippines, and nearly all his squadron having been destroyed, one vessel only, named the Victoria, returned to Europe, with eighteen persons, all very sick, under the guidance of Sebastian del Cano, who landed on the 6th of September, 1522, at the same port of San Lucar de Barrameda, from which the fleet had set sail three years before.

Whether it was from policy, or because the currents which xlexist in the Great Pacific Ocean had carried Magellan’s fleet rapidly down to the Philippines and Moluccas, those who returned from this expedition always maintained that these latter islands were in the hemisphere of the Spaniards, who consequently laid claim to traffic there. They were even on the point of sending out a new expedition thither, when king John III begged Charles V to have the question examined by competent persons, and promised to acquiesce in their decision. The two governments appointed twenty-four, or even a greater number, both Spaniards and Portuguese, well skilled in geography and navigation, who from the commencement of March 1524, met alternately in the two cities of Badajos and Elvas, on the frontiers of the two states. Three months were allowed them to decide definitely to whom these islands belonged.

These commissioners, among whom was Sebastian del Cano, who had brought back the Victoria, consumed at the outset a considerable time in consulting globes and charts, and in comparing the journals of pilots. They examined the distance between the Moluccas and the line of demarcation. They disputed much, and came to no conclusion. More than two months passed away in this manner; and they reached the latter part of May, which had been fixed as the term of the conferences.

The Spanish commissioners then settled the line of demarcation at three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, as it had been fixed in 1494; and as, on the basis of the charts which they had then before them, they made the opposite line, which was to be at the distance of a hundred and eighty degrees, pass through the Malay peninsula, they included in their own hemisphere not only the Moluccas, but also the islands of Java and Borneo, part of Sumatra, the coast of China, and part of the Malay peninsula itself. The Portuguese did not agree to this limitation, which was too disadvantageous for themselves; on the contrary, xlithey went away very discontented, storming, and threatning war, which gave occasion to the jocose observation of Peter Martyr of Anghiera, a talented man, at that time the historiographer of the court of Spain, that the commissioners, after having well syllogized, concluded by being unable to decide the question except by cannon balls.

In spite of the unsuccessful issue of this negociation, the two courts did not come to a quarrel; they were on the point of forming alliances. The question of the marriage of the Infanta Catherine, the emperor’s sister, with king John, which was celebrated in 1525, was being then entertained. In the following year, 1526, the emperor espoused, with great pomp, Isabella, king John’s sister. Charles V, however, believing himself in the right, continued to permit his subjects to carry on commerce with the Spice Islands; and he himself fitted out fleets to dispute the possession of them with the Portuguese. Some of these vessels landed at the Moluccas in 1527 and 1528; but, as these expeditions were generally unsuccessful, and as, moreover, he was in need of money for his coronation in Italy, he listened to the proposals of king John to purchase his right to these islands. He parted with them by a secret treaty, which was signed at Saragossa the 22nd of April, 1529, for the sum, it is said, of 350,000 golden ducats, against the expressed wish of his subjects, who often, but in vain, besought him to retract it. By his refusal, it was thought that he had received much more. Thenceforth the Spaniards were not permitted to traffic with the Moluccas.

This termination of the quarrel on the part of Portugal was a justification of the claims of the Spaniards, and an acknowledgment in some sort that the Moluccas were in their hemisphere. After such an arrangement, the Portuguese could not show any discoveries made to the eastward, or even under the meridian of these islands. The greatest part of New Holland is more to the east than the Moluccas; xliihence it is to be believed that for this reason the Portuguese have kept silence respecting their discovery of it.

This discovery, as we have said, must be comprised between the years 1512 and 1542. There is, however, no mention made of it in the voyages of the time, which would sufficiently prove that the Portuguese had suppressed, or at least concealed, the account of it. But I propose to endeavour to supply this defect from the narrative of two of their historians.

Castanheda, a Portuguese author, who had been in India, tells us that in the beginning of July, 1525, the Portuguese of Ternate, one of the Moluccas, dispatched a vessel to the island of Celebes to traffic there; that this vessel on its return was driven by violent winds and currents into an open sea, between the Straits of Magellan and the Moluccas; that the Portuguese found themselves thrown more than three hundred leagues out of their route, and were several times nearly lost. One night their rudder was carried away, and they beat about till the morning, when they discovered an island thirty leagues in circumference, on which they landed, with thanks to God for affording them this asylum. The islanders gave them an excellent reception; they were of a tawny colour, but well made and good looking, both men and women. The men had long black beards. The Portuguese remained four months in this island, not only for the purpose of refitting, but because the winds were contrary for the return to the Moluccas. At length they departed, and reached Ternate on the 20th of January, 1526.

Such is the narrative of Castanheda. The Jesuit Maffei, who has given us a history of India, has supplied us with less details, but his account is not less valuable, inasmuch as he gives us the name of the captain who commanded the ship. He says: Some Portuguese of the Moluccas, having gone to the islands of Celebes to seek for gold, but not having been able to land, were driven by a fearful tempest upon an xliiiisland, which is distant therefrom three hundred leagues, when they went ashore. The inhabitants, who were simple people, received them very well, and soon became familiar with them. They comprehended their signs, and even understood a little of the language spoken at the Moluccas. All the inhabitants were well-looking, both male and female; they were cheerful, and the men wore beards and long hair. The existence of this island was previously unknown, but in consideration of the account given of it by the captain, whose name was Gomez de Sequeira, and of the map which he drew of this island, his name was given to it.

From the details supplied to us by these two authors, it is evident that the island on which Gomez de Sequeira was thrown was to the eastward of the Moluccas, because, in returning, the Portuguese had to sail westward. Now three hundred Portuguese leagues, starting from the Moluccas or the island of Celebes, lead us to within a trifle of Endeavour Straits; we may therefore conclude that it was upon one of the rocks in this strait that Gomez de Sequeira lost his rudder, and that the island on which he landed was one of the westernmost of those which lie along its western extremity. The Portuguese did not advance far into this strait, for it is plain that they met with no obstacle in returning to the Moluccas. I think, therefore, that the island on which Gomez de Sequeira landed was one of those which were called Prince of Wales’s Islands by Captain Cook, and which are inhabited, because this navigator states that he saw smoke there. What confirms me in this opinion, is the agreement of our two authors in stating that the men of Gomez de Sequeira’s Island had long and black hair and beards. We still find this characteristic distinguishing the natives of New Holland from those of New Guinea, whose hair and beards are crisped. This island, therefore, was nearer to New Holland than to New Guinea, which is, in fact, the case with the Prince of Wales’s Islands.

xlivThe Portuguese having discovered in 1525 an island so near as this to New Holland, we must believe that the discovery of that continent followed very soon after that of this island. It was at that time that the controversies between the courts of Portugal and Spain were at their highest; the Portuguese, therefore, needed to be cautious respecting their new discoveries; they were obliged to conceal them carefully. It will not, therefore, be surprising that no mention was made in their works of the discovery of New Holland.

But, after having shown how much importance the Portuguese must have attached to the concealment of their discoveries, and having examined at what period the discovery of New Holland may have been made, it will be not less interesting to inquire how this discovery may have become known in France, and afterwards in England, so early as 1542. There was nothing at that time to induce the court of Portugal to disclose their discoveries to the court of France; there was nothing to bind these two courts in intimate union; on the contrary, their intercourse had for some time been rather cool. As a proof of this, the king of Portugal had in 1543 married his daughter Mary to Philip the Infant of Spain, without giving notice thereof to Francis I, who thereupon showed his vexation in his conduct towards Francis de Norough, the ambassador of Portugal, who, to avoid a rupture between the two courts, answered with considerable reserve. We cannot, therefore, presume that the court of Portugal would ever have frankly communicated its discoveries to the court of France.

For my part, if it is permitted me to offer a conjecture, I think that this information may have resulted from the faithlessness of Don Miguel de Sylva, bishop of Viseo, and secretary of La Purité, a favourite of the king of Portugal, who, according to De la Clede, left the kingdom about 1542, carrying with him some papers of importance with which xlvthe king had intrusted him.^[5] This historian adds, that Don John was so indignant at the treachery of his favourite, that he outlawed him by a public decree, deprived him of all his benefices, and degraded him from his nobility. He decreed the same penalties against all his followers, and forbad all his subjects to hold any intercourse whatever with him, under pain of his displeasure. The count of Portalegre, the brother of the fugitive, was even confined as prisoner in the tower of Belem for having written to him, and kept under strict guard, until the Infanta Maria, on the point of her departure to marry Philip II, the son of the emperor Charles V, begged his liberation. The king granted the request, on condition that the count should go to Arzilla to fight against the Moors, and earn by his services the forgiveness of his fault.

The severity which the king Don John exhibited on this occasion, sufficiently shows the value which he attached to the papers which had been taken away. It is evident that they were of the greatest importance. They were secret papers; and may they not have been those which gave information of the discoveries of the Portuguese? Our atlases, therefore, may have been copied from these stolen documents; and it only remains for us to discover what has become of the originals.

Now, although the theories to which these maps xlvihave given rise have been so complacently accepted by successive geographical writers, the subject has never yet been minutely investigated by any English writer, nor, indeed, have the foregoing arguments of the French been ever before brought together into a focus. The editor, therefore, first proposes to answer the hypothesis of M. Barbié du Bocage respecting the voyage he adduces of Gomez de Sequeira, and then, finally, to deal with the general question of the suggestive evidence of the maps.

With respect to Gomez de Sequeira’s voyage, it is certainly surprising that M. Barbié du Bocage should have contented himself with referring to Castanheda and Maffei for a slight and loose description of this voyage, when it was equally competent to him to have resorted to the more ample description of Barros, the most distinguished of all the early Portuguese historians, who lived in the middle of the sixteenth century, and who has devoted a whole chapter to the minute description of the voyage in question. (See Dec. 3, liv. x, cap. 5.) So full and ample is Barros’ narrative that, with a modern map before us, we can track Sequeira’s course with a nicety which, so far as the main question is concerned, is not interrupted even by the accidents of the storm and the unshipping of his rudder. Let the reader for a moment consult any modern map of the Moluccas and neighbouring islands, and he will find that the island of Celebes, to which Sequeira directed his course from Ternate, presents the northernmost of the three horns of its oddly-shaped outline at a distance of about sixty leagues from Ternate. xlviiThis is the distance which Barros states that he had to sail in order to reach that island. Had he sailed to the nearest of the two other points his voyage would have been, instead of sixty leagues, more than twice that distance; whereas the very nearness of the island was a leading inducement for undertaking the voyage, as the object was to relieve the immediate necessities of the settlement at Ternate. Upon landing at the point thus shown to be the northernmost one, the fact of his having carried with him stuffs for barter being discovered by the natives, converted the friendly feeling with which they had at first received him into hostility, as, having heard of some previous acts of greediness on the part of the Portuguese, they immediately concluded that the visit was not made in a spirit of friendship, but from selfish and ulterior motives. Hence Sequeira and his party were compelled to make their escape in haste, and proceeded to four or five other small islands in the neighbourhood, at which they met with a like reception. The map will show these plainly to the north of Celebes. Resolving after these rebuffs to return to Ternate, they encountered a terrific storm, which drove them, to the best of their calculation, three hundred leagues, into an open sea, with not a single island in sight, but constantly towards the east. At length one night they struck upon an island and unshipped their rudder. They met with a most friendly reception from the natives, who are described as of a light, rather than a dark, colour, and clothed. The island is stated to have been large, and the natives xlviiipointed to a mountain to the westward in which they said there was gold. The Portuguese remained in the island four months, until the monsoon enabled them to return to Ternate.

Now, had Sequeira been driven by the storm towards Endeavour Strait, as presumed by M. Barbié du Bocage, a glance at the map will show us that his course would have been south-east instead of east, and that not through an open sea in which no island could be seen, but one bestudded with islands. In fact, so definite is the whole account as given in detail by Barros, that, as we have shown, his course under the driving of the tempest may be palpably traced in accordance therewith on modern maps as due east to the north of the Moluccas, and through an open sea, and is clearly at variance with the inference of M. Barbié du Bocage, who seems not to have consulted Barros at all upon the subject. To what island, the reader will ask, was Sequeira driven? Let the modern map be consulted, and the course described will bring us to the island Tobi, otherwise known as Lord North’s Island. A course so clearly defined is in itself a very strong point in the question, even though we may have to show some discrepancies between the description of the island on which Sequeira was thrown and that which we have in recent times received of Lord North’s Island. Let the reader, however, in connexion with Barros’ description of the course, take the following remarkable statement, as quoted in the 6th volume of the Ethnography and Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition, by H. Hale, in xlixwhich, under the article “Tobi, or Lord North’s Island,” at p. 78, the following account is given, and he will perhaps not dissent from the editor in thinking it possible that this was the island on which Sequeira was driven.

“Tobi, or Lord North’s Island, is situated in about lat. 3° 2´ N., and long. 131° 4´ E. It is a small low islet, about three miles in circumference, with a population of between three and four hundred souls. Our information concerning it is derived from an American, by name Horace Holden, who, with eleven companions, after suffering shipwreck, reached the island in a boat, and was taken captive by the natives. He was detained by them two years, from December 6th, 1832, to November 27th, 1834, when he made his escape and returned to America, where he published in a small volume [which is in the British Museum], an interesting narrative of his adventures and sufferings, with a description of the island and its inhabitants.

“The complexion of the natives, says Holden in his narrative, is a light copper colour, much lighter than that of the Malays or Pelew Islanders, which last, however, they resemble in the breadth of their faces, high cheek bones, and broad flattened noses. Here we observe what has been before remarked of the Polynesian tribes, that the lightest complexion is found among those who are nearest the equator.

“According to the native traditions a personage, by name Pita-Ka’t (or Peeter Kart),^[6] of copper colour like themselves, l‘Came, many years ago, from the Island of Ternate, one of the Moluccas, and gave them their religion and such simple arts as they possessed. It is probably to him that we are to attribute some peculiarities in their mode of worship, such as their temple, with rude images to represent their divinity. The natives wear the Polynesian girdle of barb cloth.

“The houses of the natives are built with small trees and rods, and thatched with leaves. They have two stories, a ground floor and a loft, which is entered by a hole or scuttle through the horizontal partition or upper floor.

“For ornament they sometimes wear in their ears, which are always bored, a folded leaf, and around their necks a necklace made of the shell of the cocoa-nut and a small white sea shell.”

With reference to the cruelties detailed in Holden’s narrative, Mr. Hale goes on to say:

“It should be mentioned that the release of the four Americans who survived (two of whom got free a short time after their capture), was voluntary on the part of the natives, a fact which shows that the feelings of humanity were not altogether extinct in their hearts. Indeed, although the sufferings of the captives were very great, it did not appear that they were worse, relatively to the condition in which the natives themselves lived, than they would have been on any other island of the Pacific. Men who were actually dying of starvation, like the people of Tobi, could not be expected to exercise that kindness towards others which nature refused to them.”

liWe have quoted this somewhat long passage respecting Lord North’s Island, as having an incidental interest in connexion with M. Barbié du Bocage’s argument; but whatever may really have been the island on which Sequeira was driven, it seems clear that it could not have been in the direction of Endeavour Strait as inferred by that geographer.

Having thus shown the surmises which have been suggested by geographers of good repute with respect to the main question of the discovery of Australia in the early part of the sixteenth century, and explained, as he hopes satisfactorily, the errors into which they have fallen in their attempts at explanation, the editor will now lay before the reader his own reasons for concluding that Australia is the country which these maps describe.

The first question that will naturally arise is—how far does the country thus represented, correspond in latitude, longitude, and outline with the recognized surveys of Australia as delineated in modern maps? And if the discrepancies exposed by the comparison do not forbid the supposition that Australia is the country represented on the early maps, the inquiry will then suggest itself—how, with any satisfactory show of reason, may these discrepancies be accounted for? To both these questions, the editor believes that he can give acceptable answers.

And first as respects latitude. In all of these maps, the latitude of the north of Java, which is the first certain starting point, is correct. The south coast of Java, or “the lytil Java,” though separated from lii“Java la Grande,” or the “Londe of Java,” by a narrow channel, as shown in the maps here given, has no names which indicate any pretension to a survey. There is enough proximity between the two to suggest alike the possibility of a connection or of a separation of the two countries. In the absence of so many words, the maps show as plainly as possible that it was as yet an unsettled question. With this fact, therefore, before us, implying, as it does, both conscientiousness in the statements on the maps, and the confession of an imperfect survey of the whole of the coasts supposed to be laid down, we have no difficulty in giving credence to the pretension that the great southern land there represented was, with all its errors, a reality and not a fiction. In all fairness, therefore, we pass the question of junction between the little and the great Java, as a point virtually declared to be unsettled, and supposing the latter to be Australia, test our supposition by inquiring as to the correctness of the latitude in which the coast line terminates on the western side. Here again we find exact correctness. In the one (Rotz’s map), the line ceases altogether at 35°, the real south-western point of Australia, and in the other at the same point all description ceases, and a meaningless line is drawn to the margin of the map, implying that no further exploration had been made. On the eastern side, we have in every respect greater inaccuracy; but for the present we deal only with the question of latitude. For the sake of convenience, our reduction of Rotz’s map is made to terminate at liiithe point where the eastern coast line of “the londe of Java terminates,” namely in the sixtieth degree, a parallel far exceeding in its southing even the southernmost point of Tasmania, which is in 43° 35´; but if we look to the Dauphin map, we find that about ten degrees of the southernmost portion of the line is indefinite, and it must not be forgotten that for the Portuguese this was the remotest point for investigation, and consequently the least likely to be definite. There is, however, strong reason for supposing that the eastern side of Tasmania was included within this coast line.

With respect to longitude, it may be advanced that with all the discrepancies observable in the maps here presented, there is no other country but Australia lying between the same parallels, and of the same extent, between the east coast of Africa and the west coast of America, and that Australia does in reality lie between the same meridians as the great mass of the country here laid down. In Rotz’s map we have the longitude reckoned from the Cape Verde islands, the degrees running eastward from 1 to 360. The extreme western point of “the Londe of Java” is in about 126° (102 E. from Greenwich), whereas the westernmost point of Australia is in about 113° E. from Greenwich. The extreme eastern points of “the Londe of Java” is in about 207° (or 183° E. from Greenwich). The extreme eastern point however is on a peak of huge extent, which is a manifest blunder or exaggeration. The longitude of the easternmost side, excluding this livpeak, is in about 187° (or 163° E. from Greenwich), whereas the easternmost point of Australia is in something less than 154° E. from Greenwich. The difficulty of ascertaining the longitude in those days is well known, and the discoveries which these maps represent were, in all probability, made on a variety of occasions, and had a continuous line given to them on maps, not so much as an exact, but as an approximative guide to subsequent explorers. It were hard indeed, therefore, if sufficient concession were not made to the pioneers of maritime exploration, for the reconciliation of these comparatively light discrepancies, when inaccuracies as striking are observable in surveys made as late as in the eighteenth century.

Thus in taking a general survey of the outline of this immense country, we have this one striking fact presented to us, that the western side is comprised between exactly the same parallels as the corresponding side of Australia, allowance being made for the conjunction of Java, while the eastern side presents the same characteristic as the eastern side of Australia in being by far the longest.

We now proceed to a more minute examination of the contour of the coasts. It is to be observed that on the north of the Great Java, as shown in all of these manuscript maps which have met the editor’s eye, occurs the word “Sumbava,”—a fact which, he thinks, has never been noticed by any writer upon these interesting documents. Here is another instance of the discovery of the north of lvan island of which the south has remained unexplored. The peak of the Great Java, on which this name “Sumbava” is laid down, falls into the right position of the now well-known island of Sumbava, with the smaller islands of Bali and Lombok, lying between it and Java, and with Flores and Timor duly described to the eastward. The reason of this south coast of these islands remaining so long unexplored may be found in the description of Java by Barros, the Portuguese historian, who wrote in the middle of the sixteenth century. He says: “The natives of Sunda, in dissecting Java, speak of it as separated by the river Chiamo from the island of Sunda on the west, and on the east by a strait from the island of Bali; as having Madura on the north, and on the south an undiscovered sea; and they think that whoever shall proceed beyond these straits, will be hurried away by strong currents, so as never to be able to return, and for this reason they never attempt to navigate it, in the same manner as the Moors on the eastern coast of Africa do not venture to pass the Cape of Currents.” The earliest mention that the editor has noticed of a passage to the south of Java, is in the account of the “Four Hollanders’ Ships’ Voyage, being the First Voyage of the Dutch to the East Indies.” See Oxford Collection of Voyages, vol. ii, p. 417. Under date of the 14th March, 1597, it is said: “The wind blew still south-east, sometimes more southward and sometimes eastward, being under 14°, and a good sharp gale, holding our course west south-west. There we found lvithat Java is not so broad nor stretcheth itself so much southward as it is set down in the card; for, if it were, we should have passed clean through the middle of the land.” Supposing, then, that the Portuguese navigators have lighted upon the west coast of Australia, and have regarded it as a possible extension to the southward of the already known island of Java; let us proceed to test the correctness of this supposition by the contour of the coast of the western side. A single glance of the eye will suffice to detect the general resemblance. It is probable that the two great indentures are Exmouth Gulf and Shark Bay, and we may fairly conclude we detect Houtman’s Abrolhos in about their proper parallel of from 28° to 29° south latitude. To attempt a minute investigation of the whole coast upon data so indefinite would be of course unreasonable, but on this western side at least the similarity is sufficient, we think, on every ground to establish its identity with the west coast of Australia. On the eastern side the discrepancies are much greater. Having already spoken of the latitude and longitude, we now speak merely of the outline of the coast. In the ancient map we see no huge promontory terminating in Cape York, but let the reader recall the suggestion that the visits to these coasts were made on various occasions, and naturally less frequently to the eastern than to the western side, and let the result of these considerations be that the promontory may have been altogether unvisited or ignored, and we shall have forthwith an explanation of the form of lviithe north-east coast line on the early maps. Let a line be drawn from the southernmost point of the Gulf of Carpentaria to Halifax Bay, and the form of outline we refer to is detected immediately. Nor is this conjecture without corroboration from the physical features of the country. On the ancient map we find several rivers laid down along the north-east coast. If we examine the corresponding coast in the Gulf of Carpentaria, those rivers are seen to exist; whereas from Cape York all along the coast of Australia to the twenty-second or twenty-third degree, there is not even an indication of a river emptying itself into the sea. The great number of islands and reefs laid down along the north-east coast of the early maps coincides with the Great Barrier reefs, and with the Cumberland and Northumberland islands, and a host of others which skirt this part of the shores of Australia. “Coste dangereuse,” “Bay perdue,” and “R. de beaucoup d’Isles,” are names which we readily concede to be appropriate to portions of such a coast. The name of “Coste des Herbaiges,” of which we have already spoken as having been erroneously supposed by many geographers to apply to Botany Bay, was probably given to that part of the coast where the first symptoms of fertility were observed in passing southward, the more northern portions of the shore being for the most part dry and barren. That it is an error to connect the name with Botany Bay has already been shown, at p. xxxiv, and the editor must not fail to state that the unanswerable reason there adduced was derived lviiifrom a judicious observation made to him by the late distinguished Dr. Brown, who not only, as Humboldt has described him, was “Botanices facile princeps,” but himself acquainted with the locality of which he spoke.

The remainder of the coast southward is too irregularly laid down both as to latitude and longitude, and consequently as to correctness of conformation, to admit of any useful conjecture. It must be supposed from the conscientiousness observable in the delineation of other parts of the country, that this portion was laid down more carelessly, or with less opportunity of taking observations. It is by no means improbable, from the length of this coast line, that “Baye Neufve” is Bass’s Straits; that “Gouffre” is Oyster Bay in Tasmania; and that the survey really ceased at the south of that island. That the continuity of the coast forms no ground of objection to this conjecture, may be shown by the fact that on “a general chart exhibiting the discoveries made by Captain Cook, by Lieut. H. Roberts,” the coast is continuous to the south of Van Diemen’s Land, Bass’s Straits being then of course undiscovered.

It may also be fairly presumed that the islands in the extreme east of our extract from the Dauphin map, represent New Zealand.

If the above reasons have sufficient weight in them to justify the supposition that the extensive country thus laid down on these early maps is really Australia, it becomes a question of the highest interest to ascertain, as nearly as may be, by whom, and at what date, the discovery of this country was made.

lixThe maps upon which the supposition of the discovery is alone founded are all French, and that they are all repetitions, with slight variations, from one source, is shown by the fact that the inaccuracies are alike in all of them. But although the maps are in French, there are indications of Portuguese in some of the names, such as Terre ennegade, a Gallicized form of “Tierra anegada,” i.e., “land under water,” or “sunken shoal,” “Graçal,” and “cap de Fromose.” The question then arises, were the French or the Portuguese the discoverers? In reply, we present the following statement.

In the year 1529, a voyage was made to Sumatra, by Jean Parmentier of Dieppe, and in this voyage he died. Parmentier was a poet and a classical scholar, as well as a navigator and good hydrographer. He was accompanied in this voyage by his intimate friend the poet Pierre Crignon, who, on his return to France, published, in 1531, the poems of Parmentier, with a prologue containing his eulogium, in which he says of him, that he was “le premier François qui a entrepris à estre pilotte pour mener navires à la Terre Amérique qu’on dit Brésil, et semblablement le premier François qui a descouvert les Indes jusqu’à l’Isle de Taprobane, et, si mort ne l’eust pas prévenu, je crois qu’il eust été jusques aux Moluques.” This is high authority upon this point, coming as it does from a man of education, and a shipmate and intimate of Parmentier himself. The French, then, were not in the South Seas beyond Sumatra before 1529. The date of the earliest of our quoted lxmaps is not earlier than 1535, as it contains the discovery of the St. Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in that year; but even let us suppose it no earlier than that of Rotz, which bears the date of 1542, and ask, what voyages of the French in the South Seas do we find between the years of 1529 and 1542? Neither the Abbé Raynal, nor any modern French writer, nor even antiquaries, who have entered most closely into the history of early French explorations, as for example, M. Léon Guérin, the author of the Histoire Maritime de France, Paris, 1843, 8vo.; and of Les Navigateurs Français, 8vo., Paris, 1847, offer the slightest pretension that the French made voyages to those parts, in the early part or middle of the sixteenth century. Now we do know from Barros and Galvano that, at the close of 1511, Albuquerque sent from Malacca, Antonio de Breu, and Francisco Serrano, with three ships to Banda and Malacca: they passed along the east side of Sumatra to Java, and thence by Madura, Bali, Sumbava, Solor, etc., to Papua or New Guinea. From thence they went to the Moluccas and to Amboyna. See Barros, d. 3, l. 5, c. 6, p. 131, and Galvano, translated by Hakluyt, p. 378. Here we have the very islands, forming the northern portion of the Grande Jave, at this early date; but that which is totally wanting between this and 1529, is the account of the various explorations of the eastern and western coasts of the vast country described under that name. It is certain, moreover, that France was at that time too poor, and too much embroiled in lxipolitical anxieties, to busy itself with extensive nautical explorations. Had she so done, the whole of North America and Brazil might now have belonged to her. At the same time, however, we know that the Portuguese had establishments before 1529, in the East Indian Islands, and the existence of Portuguese names on the countries of which we speak, as thus delineated on these French maps, is in itself an acknowledgment of their discovery by the Portuguese, as assuredly the jealousy implied in the sentence quoted at p. vi of this introduction, from Pierre Crignon’s Prologue, would not only have made the French most ready to lay claim to all they could in the shape of discovery, but would have prevented any gratuitous insertion of Portuguese names on such remote countries, had they themselves discovered them.

But, further, as an important part of the argument, the reader must not overlook that jealousy of the Portuguese, to which allusion has already been made (p. v), in forbidding the communication of all hydrographical information respecting their discoveries in these seas. As regards the surmises of M. Barbié du Bocage respecting the probable causes of the suppression or concealment of such documents, his carefulness and ingenuity entitle them to the best consideration; and if those documents really exist in France, or Rome, or elsewhere, it is much to be hoped that they may ere long be brought to light. His Excellency the Count de Lavradio, ambassador from Portugal to the Court of St. James’s, has obligingly set lxiion foot inquiries at Rome for the purpose of elucidating this subject, which have not, however, produced any successful result.

But although we have no evidence to show that the French made any original discoveries in the South Seas in the first half of the sixteenth century, we have the evidence that they were good hydrographers. Crignon describes Parmentier as “bon cosmographe et géographe,” and says, “par luy ont esté composez plusieurs mapemondes en globe et en plat, et maintes cartes marines sus les quelles plusieurs ont navigué seurement.” It is dangerous to draw conclusions from negatives; but it is both legitimate and desirable that we should give due weight to evidence of high probability when such fall within our notice. If all the French maps we have quoted are, as has been shown, derived from one source, since they all contain the same errors; and if Parmentier, who was a good hydrographer, was the only French navigator we find mentioned as having gone so far as Sumatra before the period of the earliest of these maps; and further, if these maps exhibit Portuguese names laid down in these maps on a country beyond Parmentier’s furthest point of exploration, we think the inference not unreasonable that Parmentier may have laid down, from Portuguese maps, the information which has been copied into those we have quoted, and that the descriptions round the coast, which are all (as may be plainly seen), with the exception of those which bear the stamp of Portuguese, convertible into French, have lxiiibeen naturally written by French mapmakers, in that language. We can but throw out this suggestion for quantum valeat. All positive evidence, in spite of laborious research, is wanting. The Portuguese names are but few, but there they are, and bear their stubborn evidence. The earliest Portuguese portolani which have met the editor’s eye are those of Joham Freire, of 1546, and of Diego Homem, of 1558. Both these are silent on the subject. That of Lazaro Luis and of Vas Dourado, later in the century, both examined by Dr. Martin in Lisbon, are equally so. But this has been already accounted for. It is true that, in a mappemonde of the date of 1526, by one Franciscus, monachus ordinis Franciscanorum, copied into the atlas to the “Géographie du Moyen Age” of Joachim Lelewel, the great Terra Australis, extending along the south of the globe from Tierra del Fuego, is laid down with the words “Is nobis detecta existet,” and “hæc pars ore nondum cognita;” but this is plainly nothing more than a fanciful extension of Magellan’s discovery of the north coast of Tierra del Fuego, combined with the old supposition of the existence of a great southern continent.

A similar remark occurs in the manuscript portolano of Ioan Martinez, of Messina, of the date of 1567, in the British Museum; and in the fifth map of the portolano of the same hydrographer, of the date of 1578, is laid down “Meridional discoperta novamente,” with no names on it, and only shewing the north part. The extent of what is seen is twice as long as Java Major, which seems here to be lxivSumatra. It is observable that Petan and Maletur, names occurring on or near the Terra Australis of other maps of about this date, occur here, but close under Java Minor, which is a long way to the west of the “Meridional discoperta novamente.”

In 1526 the Portuguese commander, Don Jorge de Meneses, in his passage from Malacca to the Moluccas, was carried by currents and through his want of information respecting the route, to the north coast of Papua, which we now know as New Guinea; and in the following year we find Don Alvaro de Saavedra, a Spaniard, and kinsman of the great Cortes, despatched from New Spain to the Moluccas, and also lighting on New Guinea, where he passed a month; but nowhere in the allusions to these voyages do we find reference to the great southern land, which is laid down with so much detail under the name of “La Grande Jave.”

Our surmises, therefore, lead us to regard it as highly probable that Australia was discovered by the Portuguese between the years 1511 and 1529, and, almost to a demonstrable certainty, that it was discovered before the year 1542.

A notion may be formed of the knowledge possessed by the Spaniards in the middle of the sixteenth century, on the part of the world on which we treat, from the following extract from a work entitled, “El libro de las costumbres de todas las gentes del mundo y de las Indias.” Translated and compiled by the Bachelor Francisco Themara. Antwerp, 1556. “Thirty leagues from Java the Less is Gatigara, lxvnineteen degrees the other side of the equinoctial towards the south. Of the lands beyond this point nothing is known, for navigation has not been extended further, and it is impossible to proceed by land on account of the numerous lakes and lofty mountains in those parts. It is even said that there is the site of the Terrestrial Paradise.” Although this was not originally written in Spanish, but was translated from Johannes Bohemus, it would scarcely have been given forth to the Spaniards had better information on such a subject existed among that people.

It has been already stated at pages xvii and xviii of this Introduction, that in the early engraved maps of the sixteenth century, there occur apparent indications of Australia, with names and sentences, descriptive of the country so represented, derived from the narrative of Marco Polo, with an intimation that some of these representations may not have emanated solely from that narrative. The earliest of these occurs on a mappemonde in the third volume of the polyglot bible of Arias Montanus, and the indication of Australia there given is the more striking that it stands unconnected with any other land whatever, and bears no kind of description. It is simply a line indicating the north part of an unexplored land, exactly in the position of the north of Australia, distinctly implying an imperfect discovery, but not copied from, or bearing any resemblance to, any indication of the kind in any previous map with which the editor is acquainted.

lxviIn Thevet’s Cosmographie Universelle, Paris, 1575, is a map with Taprobane, La Grand Jave, Petite Jave, Partie de la Terre Australe; and in tom. i, liv. 12, the following passage:

“L’art et pratique du navigage est le plus pénible et dangereux de toutes les sciences, que oncques les hommes ayent inventées, veu que l’homme s’expose à la mercy des abysmes de ce grand ocean, qui environne et abbreuve toute la terre. Davātage, avec ceste Esquille lon peult visiter presque toute ce que le monde contient en sa rotondité, soit vers la mer glaciale, ou les deux poles, et terre Australe, qui n’est encor comme ie croy descouverte, mais selon mon opinion d’aussi grande estendue que l’Asie ou l’Afrique, et laquelle un iour sera recherchée par le moyen de ce petit instrument navigatoire, quelque long voyage qui y peust estre.”

In Dalrymple’s Hist. Coll. of Voyages in the South Pacific Ocean, Juan Fernandez is said to have discovered the southern continent. Burney, who speaks of his discovery of the southern continent (vol. i, p. 300), refers to the memorial of Juan Luis Arias for the description. See the first article in the present collection.

It is needless here to repeat the names and sentences already described at page xvii as given on early engraved maps from Marco Polo, but it will be well to notice such peculiarities as distinguish these maps from those in manuscript, which we have already been speaking of as probably representing Australia under the name of La Grande Jave. Such notice is the more interesting as the date of these engraved lxviimaps is intermediate between that of the manuscript documents and the period of the authenticated discovery of Australia. In the 1587 edition of Ortelius is a map entitled “Typus Orbis Terrarum,” in which New Guinea is made an island, with the words “Nova Guinea quæ an sit insula aut pars continentis Australis incertum.” On the Terra Australis, here brought up far more to the north than elsewhere, and separated from New Guinea only by a strait, are the words, “Hanc continentem Australem nonnulli Magellanicam regionem ab ejus inventore nuncupant.” While this sentence shows how indefinite was the idea of the extent of Australia towards the south, we think that the entire delineation, which brings the great Terra Australis so far northward in this longitude into connexion with New Guinea, goes far to show that Australia had really been discovered.

In various editions of Mercator occur copies of a map entitled, “Orbis Terræ Compendiosa descriptio quam ex magna universali Gerardi Mercatoris Rumoldus Mercator fieri curabat aº 1587,” in which similar indications are given to those in the map of Ortelius just described.

In the map of Peter Plancius, given in the English edition of the voyages of Linschoten, 1598, similar indications of Australia occur, but leaving the question of the insular character of New Guinea doubtful.

In the Speculum Orbis of C. de Judæis, Antwerp, 1592, is a map entitled “Brasilia et Peruvia,” on which occurs, “Chæsdia seu Australis Terra quam lxviiinautarum vulgus Tierra di Fuego vocant, alii Psittacorum Terram.” In the map of Asia, in the same volume, a tract is laid down which, by comparison with Ortelius’ map of the Pacific Ocean, is plainly New Guinea; and on both these maps, on the west coast of said tract, are the words, “Tierra baixa,” which seems to tally with “Baie Basse,” at about the corresponding point on the manuscript maps, and is confirmatory of the conclusion which the editor had formed, as stated on page xxvi. In the same volume is a map of the Antarctic hemisphere, in which the Terra Australis incognita is brought high up to the north in the longitude of Australia: on that part of it opposite the Cape of Good Hope is the following legend: “Lusitani bonæ spei legentes capitis promontorium, hanc terram austrum versus extare viderunt, sed nondum imploravere,” a significant sentence, if allowance be made for the difficulty at that time of reckoning the longitude.

In the map to illustrate the voyages of Drake and Cavendish by Jodocus Hondius, of which a fac-simile was given in The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, printed for our Society, New Guinea is made a complete island, without a word to throw a doubt on the correctness of the representation; while the Terra Australis, which is separated from New Guinea only by a strait, has an outline remarkably similar to that of the Gulf of Carpentaria. These indications give to this map an especial interest, and the more so that it is shown to be earlier than the passage of Torres through Torres’ Straits in 1606, by its bearing lxixthe arms of Queen Elizabeth, before the unicorn of Scotland had displaced the dragon of England.

In the article “Terra Australis,” in Cornelius Wytfliet’s Descriptionis Ptolemaicæ Augmentum, Louvain, 1598, we find the following passage:—

“The ‘Australis Terra’ is the most southern of all lands, and is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait. Its shores are hitherto but little known, since after one voyage and another, that route has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited unless when sailors are driven there by storms. The ‘Australis Terra’ begins at two or three degrees from the equator, and is maintained by some to be of so great an extent, that if it were thoroughly explored, it would be regarded as a fifth part of the world.”

The above significant statement was printed, it will be remembered, before any discovery of Australia of which we have an authentic account.

But while examining these indications of a discovery of Australia in the sixteenth century, it will be asked what explorations had been made by the Spaniards in that part of the world in the course of that century. From the period of the voyage of Don Alvaro de Saavedra to the Moluccas in 1527, already alluded to, we meet with no such active spirit of exploration on the part of the Spaniards in the South Seas. Embarrassed by his political position, and with an exhausted treasury, the emperor, in 1529, definitely renounced his pretensions to the Moluccas for a sum of money, although he retained his claim to the islands discovered by his subjects to the east of the line of demarcation now confined to lxxthe Portuguese. In 1542 an unsuccessful attempt to form a settlement in the Philippine Islands was made by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, but its failure having been attributed to mismanagement, a new expedition in 1564 was despatched with the like object under Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, which was completely successful, and a Spanish colony was established at Zebu. It is not impossible that this settlement gave rise to voyages of discovery about this time by the Spaniards, of which no accounts have been published. In 1567 Alvaro de Mendana sailed from Callao on a voyage of discovery, in which he discovered the Solomon Islands and several others. There are great discrepancies in the different relations of this voyage. In 1595 he made a second voyage from Peru, in which he discovered the Marquesas, and the group afterwards named by Carteret Queen Charlotte’s Islands. The object of this expedition was to found a colony on the Solomon Islands, which he had discovered in his previous voyage, but from the incorrectness of his reckoning he was unable to find them. In the island of Santa Cruz he attempted to establish a colony, but without success, and in this island he died. In this second voyage he had for his chief pilot Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, who may be regarded as the last of the distinguished mariners of Spain, and whose name claims especial notice in a work treating of the early indications of Australia, although he himself never saw the shores of that great continental island.^[7]

lxxiThe discovery of the island of Santa Cruz suggested to the mind of Quiros that the great southern continent was at length discovered, and in two memoirs addressed by him to Don L. de Velasco, viceroy of Peru, we meet with the first detailed argument upon this great geographical question, which, though he himself was not destined to demonstrate it by an actual discovery, may nevertheless be said to have been indirectly brought to a solution through his instrumentality. It is true that it is difficult in dealing with these vague surmises respecting the existence of a southern continent to draw distinctions between Australia itself and the great continent discovered in the present century, some twenty or thirty degrees to the south of that vast island. It has been already stated, p. xxxi, that Dalrymple, nearly two centuries later, earnestly advocated the same cause as De Quiros had done, and speaking of that navigator he says: “The discovery of the southern continent, whenever and by whomsoever it may be completely effected, is in justice due to this immortal name.” It should be premised that there are, in fact, three points of ambiguity in connexion with the name of that navigator, which it is well at once to state, as they might mislead the judgment of the superficial reader of the history of navigation of that period as to his connexion with the discovery of Australia. lxxiiIn the first place, though generally reputed to be a Spaniard, he is described by Nicolas Antonio, the author of the Bibliotheca Hispana, himself a Spaniard, and not unwilling, it may be supposed, to claim so distinguished a navigator for his countryman, as “Lusitanus. Eborensis, ut aiunt Lusitani” (a Portuguese, stated by the Portuguese to be a native of Evora), and the style of his writings bears out the supposition. Secondly, Antonio de Ulloa, in his Resumen, p. 119, quotes from an account of the voyage of Quiros, said to be given in the Historia de la Religion Serafica of Diego de Cordova (a work which the editor has not met with), the discovery of a large island in twenty-eight degrees south latitude, which latitude is farther south than Quiros or his companions are otherwise known to have made in any voyage. Thirdly, the printed memoirs of Quiros bear the title of Terra Australis Incognita, while the southern Tierra Austral, discovered by Quiros himself, and surnamed by him “del Espiritu Santo,” is none other than the “New Hebrides” of the maps of the present day.

At the same time, to both Quiros and Dalrymple we are indirectly indebted for the earliest designation which attaches in any sense to the modern nomenclature connected with Australia, viz., for the name of Torres Straits. That Quiros, whether by birth a Portuguese or a Spaniard, was in the Spanish service, cannot be doubted. The viceroy of Peru had warmly entertained his projects, but looked upon its execution as beyond the limits of his own power to lxxiiiput into operation. He therefore urged to Quiros to lay his case before the Spanish monarch at Madrid, and furnished him with letters to strengthen his application. Whether Philip III was more influenced by the arguments of De Quiros, as to the discovery of a southern continent, or rather by the desire to explore the route between Spain and America by the east, in the hope of discovering wealthy islands between New Guinea and China, we need not pause to question. It is possible that both these motives had their weight, for Quiros was despatched to Peru with full orders for the carrying out of his plans, addressed to the Viceroy, the Count de Monterey; and he was amply equipped with two well-armed vessels and a corvette, with which he sailed from Callao on the 21st of December, 1605. Luis Vaez de Torres was commander of the Almirante, or second ship, in this expedition. The voyage was looked upon as one of very great importance; and Torquemada, in his account of it in the Monarquia Indiana, says that the ships were the strongest and best armed which had been seen in those seas. The object was to make a settlement at the island Santa Cruz, and from thence to search for the Tierra Austral, or southern continent.

After the discovery of several islands, Quiros came to a land which he named Australia del Espiritu Santo, supposing it to be a part of the great southern continent. At midnight of the 11th of June, 1606, while the three ships were lying at anchor in the bay which they had named San Felipe and Santiago, lxxivQuiros, for reasons which are not known, and without giving any signal or notice, was either driven by a storm, or sailed away from the harbour, and was separated from the other two ships.

Subsequently to the separation, Torres found that the Australia del Espiritu Santo was an island, and then continued his course westward in pursuance of the exploration. In about the month of August, 1606, he fell in with a coast in 11½ degrees south lat., which he calls the beginning of New Guinea; apparently the south-eastern part of the land afterwards named Louisiade by M. de Bougainville, and now known to be a chain of islands. As he could not pass to windward of this land, Torres bore away along its south side, and himself gives the following account of his subsequent course. “We went along three hundred leagues of coast, as I have mentioned, and diminished the latitude 2½ degrees, which brought us into 9 degrees. From hence we fell in with a bank of from three to nine fathoms, which extends along the coast above one hundred and eighty leagues. We went over it, along the coast, to 7½ south latitude; and the end of it is in 5 degrees. We could not go further on for the many shoals and great currents, so we were obliged to sail south-west, in that depth, to 11 degrees south lat. There is all over it an archipelago of islands without number, by which we passed; and at the end of the eleventh degree the bank became shoaler. Here were very large islands, and there appeared more to the southward. They were inhabited by black people, very corpulent and lxxvnaked. Their arms were lances, arrows, and clubs of stone ill fashioned. We could not get any of their arms. We caught, in all this land, twenty persons of different nations, that with them we might be able to give a better account to Your Majesty. They give much notice of other people, although as yet they do not make themselves well understood. We were upon this bank two months, at the end of which time we found ourselves in twenty-five fathoms, and 5 degrees south latitude, and ten leagues from the coast; and, having gone four hundred eighty leagues here, the coast goes to the north-east. I did not search it, for the bank became very shallow. So we stood to the north.”

The very large islands seen by Torres in the 11th degree of south latitude, are evidently the hills of Cape York; and the two months of intricate navigation, the passage through the strait which separates Australia from New Guinea. A copy of this letter of Torres was fortunately lodged in the archives of Manilla; and it was not till that city was taken, in 1762, by the English, that the document was discovered by Dalrymple; who paid a fitting tribute to the memory of this distinguished Spanish navigator, by giving to this dangerous passage the name of Torres’ Straits, which it has ever since retained. The editor has striven in vain to learn into whose hands Dalrymple’s copy of this letter has fallen. He has been compelled, therefore, to reprint it from Dalrymple’s translation, supplied to Admiral Burney, as inserted at the end of vol. ii of his Discoveries and Voyages in the South Sea.

lxxviDe Quiros himself reached Mexico on the 3rd of October, 1606, nine months from his departure from Callao. Strongly imbued with a sense of the importance of his discoveries, he addressed various memoirs to Philip III, advocating the desirableness of further explorations in these unknown regions; but, after years of unavailing perseverance, he died at Panama in 1614, leaving behind him a name which for merit, though not for success, was second only to that of Columbus; and with him expired the naval heroism of Spain. “Reasoning,” as Dalrymple says, “from principles of science and deep reflection, he asserted the existence of a southern continent; and devoted with unwearied though contemned diligence, the remainder of his life to the prosecution of this sublime conception.” In the first document printed in this collection, which is from the hand of the Fray Juan Luis Arias, is given an account of his earnest advocacy of the resuscitation of Spanish enterprise in the southern seas, and especially with reference to the great southern continent.

But while the glory of Spanish naval enterprise was thus on the wane, the very nation which Spain had bruised and persecuted was to supplant her in the career of adventure and prosperity. The war of independence had aroused the energies of those provinces of the Netherlands which had freed themselves from the Spanish yoke; while the cruelties perpetrated in those provinces which the Spaniards had succeeded in again subduing, drove an almost incredible number of families into exile. The majority of lxxviithese settled in the northern provinces, and thus brought into them a prodigious influx of activity. Among these emigrants were a number of enterprising merchants, chiefly from Antwerp,—a town which had for many years enjoyed a most considerable, though indirect, share in the transatlantic trade of Spain and Portugal, and was well acquainted with its immense advantages. These men were naturally animated by the bitter hatred of exiles, enhanced by difference of faith and the memory of many wrongs. The idea which arose among them was, to deprive Spain of her transatlantic commerce, and thus to cripple her resources, and strengthen those of the Protestants, and by this means eventually to force the southern provinces of the Netherlands from their oppressors. This idea, at first vaguely entertained by a few, became general when the Spaniards forbad Dutch vessels to carry on any traffic with Spain. This traffic had existed in spite of the wars, and had furnished the Dutch with the principal means of carrying it on.

Being thus violently thrust out of their share in transatlantic commerce, the Dutch determined to gain it back with interest. Geography and hydrography now became the subjects of earnest study and instruction; and the period was distinguished by the appearance of such men as Ortelius, Mercator, Plancius, De Bry, Hulsius, Cluverius, etc., whom we are now bound to regard as the fathers of modern geography. Among these the most earnest in turning the resources of science into a weapon against the oppressors lxxviiiof his country, was Peter Plancius, a Calvinist clergyman, who opened a nautical and geographical school at Amsterdam for the express purpose of teaching his countrymen how to find a way to India, and the other sources whence Spain derived her strength. We do not here dwell on their efforts to find a northern route to the east. Their knowledge of the direct route to that wealthy portion of the world had become greatly increased by the appearance of Jan Huyghen van Linschoten’s great work. (Amst., 1595–96.) Linschoten had, for fourteen years, lived in the Portuguese possessions in the East, and had there collected a vast amount of information. The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602; and in 1606 we find a vessel from Holland making the first authenticated discovery of that great south land which in our own time has been designated—at the suggestion of that worthy navigator, Matthew Flinders, to whom we are so largely indebted for our knowledge of the hydrography of that country—by the distinct and appropriate name of Australia.

Of the discoveries made by the Dutch on the coasts of Australia, our ancestors of a hundred years ago, and even the Dutch themselves, knew but little. That which was known was preserved in the Relations de divers voyages curieux of Melchisedech Thevenot (Paris, 1663–72, fol.); in the Noord en Oost Tartarye of Nicolas Witsen (Amst., 1692–1705, fol.); in Valentyn’s Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien (Amst., 1724–26, fol.); and in the Inleiding tot de algemeen Geographie lxxixof Nicolas Struyk (Amst., 1740, 4to.). We have, however, since gained a variety of information through a document which fell into the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, and was published by Alexander Dalrymple, at that time hydrographer to the Admiralty and the East India Company, in his collection concerning Papua. This curious and interesting document is a copy of the instructions to Commodore Abel Jansz Tasman for his second voyage of discovery. That distinguished commander had already, in 1642, discovered not only the island now named after him, Tasmania (but more generally known as Van Diemen’s Land, in compliment to the then governor of the Dutch East India Company at Batavia), but New Zealand also; and, passing round the east side of Australia, but without seeing it, sailed on his return voyage along the northern shores of New Guinea. In January 1644 he was despatched on his second voyage; and his instructions, signed by the Governor-General, Antonio Van Diemen, and the members of the council, are prefaced by a recital, in chronological order, of the previous discoveries of the Dutch. The document is reprinted in the present volume.

From this recital, combined with a passage from Saris, given in Purchas, vol. i, p. 385, we learn that, “On the 18th of November, 1605, the Dutch yacht, the Duyfhen (the Dove), was despatched from Bantam to explore the islands of New Guinea, and that she sailed along what was thought to be the west side of that country, to 19¾° of south latitude.” This extensive country was found, for the greatest part, desert; lxxxbut in some places inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages, by whom some of the crew were murdered; for which reason they could not learn anything of the land or waters, as had been desired of them; and from want of provisions, and other necessaries, they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished. The furthest point of the land, in their maps, was called Cape Keer Weer, or “Turn Again.” As Flinders observes, “the course of the Duyfhen from New Guinea was southward, along the islands on the west side of Torres’ Strait, to that part of Terra Australis a little to the west and south of Cape York. But all these lands were thought to be connected, and to form the west coast of New Guinea.” Thus, without being conscious of it, the commander of the Duyfhen made the first authenticated discovery of any part of the great south land about the month of March 1606; for it appears that he had returned to Banda in or before the beginning of June of that year.

The second expedition mentioned in the Dutch recital for the discovery of the great south land, was undertaken in a yacht in the year 1617, by order of the Fiscal d’Edel, “with little success,” and the journals and remarks were not to be found; but various ships outward bound from Holland to the East Indies, in the course of the years 1616, 1618, 1619, and 1622, made discoveries on the west coast of the great unknown south land, from 35° to 22° south latitude, and among them the ship Eendragt (the Concord), commanded by Dirk Hartog, Hertoge, or Hartighs, of Amsterdam, fell in with land in lxxxiabout 25 degrees south, which afterwards received its name from this ship. The president, De Brosses, has fallen into the error of describing Dirk Hartog, as a native of Eendragt, adding that this coast has preserved the name of the vessel, and that of the country of its commander. The Dutch recital which mentions the voyage of the Eendragt, does not give Hartog’s name, but we learn it from a MS. chart by Hessel Gerritz, of Amsterdam, 1627, referred to by Dalrymple in his collection concerning Papua, note, page 6. An important part of Hartog’s discovery was Dirk Hartog’s Roads, at the entrance of the sound, afterwards called by Dampier Shark’s Bay, in 25°; and on Dirk Hartog’s island, one of the islands forming the road, he left a tin plate, bearing the following inscription: Aº. 1616 den 25sten October is hier vangecomen het schip de Endracht van Amsterdam, den Oppercoopmen Gilles Mibais Van Luyck, Kapitein Dirk Hartog, van Amsterdam, den 27sten. dito t’ zeijl gegaen na Bantam, den Ondercoopman Jan Stoyn, Opperstiermann Pieter Dockes van Bil Aº. 1616. Of which the following is a translation: On the 25th of October, 1616, arrived here the ship Endraght, of Amsterdam: the first merchant, Gilles Mibais Van Luyck; Captain Dirck Hartog, of Amsterdam; the 27th ditto set sail for Bantam; undermerchant, Jan Stoyn; upper steersman, Pieter Dockes, from Bil. Aº. 1616.

In 1697, this plate was found by Wilhem Van Vlaming, Captain of the Geelvink, of whose voyage we shall have to speak in due course, and was lxxxiireplaced by another on which the inscription was copied, and the following new inscription added:

Of which the following is a translation: On the 4th of February, 1697, arrived here the ship Geelvinck, of Amsterdam: captain commandant, Wilhelm van Vlaming of Vlielandt; assistant, Jan van Bremen of Copenhagen; first pilot, Michéel Bloem van Estight of Bremen; the hooker the Nyptangh, captain Gerrit Collaert of Amsterdam; assistant, Theodorus Heermans of the same place; first pilot, Gerrit Gerritz of Bremen; then the galliot Weseltje; commander, Cornelis van Vlaming of Vlielandt; pilot, Coert Gerritzs of Bremen. Sailed from here with our fleet on the 12th, to explore the south land, and afterwards bound for Batavia.

In the account of the voyage of discovery made to the south by the corvettes, Geographe and Naturaliste, lxxxiiiin the years 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804, published by F. Peron, vol. i, chap. 10, p. 193, we find, that in the month of July 1801, Captain Hamelin, of the Naturaliste, resolved on sailing to the extremity of Shark’s Bay; but he first dispatched three men to Dirck Hartog’s island, for the purpose of signalizing the Geographe, in case it should heave in sight at the entrance of the bay. On returning from Dirck Hartog’s island, the boatswain brought with them the plate of tin above described. It was about six inches diameter, and the inscriptions were described as coarsely cut. The plate was found on the north point of the island, which was named in consequence, the Cape of the Inscription; it was then half covered with sand, lying near an oaken post, on which it seemed to have been originally nailed. Having copied the inscriptions, Captain Hamelin had a new post made, and sent back the plate to be refixed on the same spot from which it had been taken; he would have looked upon it as sacrilege to have kept on board this plate, which, for nearly two centuries, had been spared by nature, and by those who might have observed it before him. He himself also placed on the north-east part of this island a second plate, on which were inscribed the name of his corvette, and the date of his arrival on those shores. In the translation given in Peron’s work of the earlier of these two inscriptions, a droll mistake is made by an error in punctuation, as will be seen by comparing the original inscription, see p. lxxxi, with the following: “1616. Le 25 Octobre lxxxivest arrivé ici le navire l’Endraght d’Amsterdam: premier marchand, Gilles Miebais Van Luck; capitaine, Dirck Hartighs d’Amsterdam; il remit sous voile le 27 du même mois; Bantum étoit sous marchand; Janstins premier pilote: Pieter Ecoores Van-Bu ... Anne 1616.”

Thus it will be seen, that Bantam, in Java, for which they set sail, is transformed into the undermerchant, and the person who really held that post is converted into chief pilot, while poor Pieter Dockes, whose name, perhaps more feebly scratched at the close of the inscription, had become obliterated by more than a century’s rough usage, is deprived of the honour of holding any post whatever. Even this rendering of the inscription is however highly interesting, as giving some indications of the degree of obliteration effected by the weather in this long space of time.

In 1617 appeared a work, the title of which renders some mention of it in this place necessary. It was entitled “Mundus alter et idem, sive Terra Australis antehac semper incognita longis itineribus peregrini academici nuperrime lustrata. Hanau, 1617.” The book bearing this delusive title was by Bishop Joseph Hall. It was in reality an invective against the characteristic vices of various nations, from which it is said that Swift borrowed the idea of Gulliver’s Travels.

A strange blunder has been made by the Abbé Prevost, tom. ii, p. 201, of his Histoire des Voyages, 4to. ed., and by the President de Brosses, in his lxxxvHistoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes, tom. i, p. 432; and copied by Callander in his unacknowledged translation from De Brosses, to the effect that in the year 1618, one Zeachen, a native of Arnheim, discovered the land called Arnheim’s Land, and Van Diemen’s Land on the N. coast of Australia, in about the latitude of 14°. He proceeds to say that Diemen’s Land owes its name to Anthony Van Diemen, at that time general of the Dutch East India Company, who returned to Europe with vast riches in 1631. The blunder is easily demonstrable. Zeachen, or as it is also given, Zechaen, is a form of word plainly irreconcileable with the genius of the Dutch language, and is an evident misspelling for Zeehaen, which is the name not of a man, but of a ship, the Sea-hen.

No such voyage is mentioned in the recital of discoveries which preface the instructions to Tasman, nor is there any notice of the north coast of New Holland having been visited by the Dutch in that year. Moreover Van Diemen, as we learn from the Vies des Gouverneurs Généraux avec l’abrégé de l’histoire des établissemens Hollandois by Dubois, was not governor general until January 1st, 1636, and it is observable that one of the ships employed in Tasman’s voyage in 1642, in which he discovered the island now known as Tasmania, but to which he, out of compliment, gave the name of the governor general, Van Diemen, was called the Zeehaen, from which in all probability, by some complication of mistakes, the mis-statement here made has originated.

lxxxviThe Mauritius, an outward bound ship, appears to have made some discoveries upon the west coasts, in July 1618, particularly of Willem’s River, near the north-west cape, but no further particulars are known.

It would seem that another of the outward bound ships referred to in the Dutch recital, as visiting the coasts of New Holland, was commanded by Edel, and the land there discovered, which was on the west coast, was named the land of Edel. From Campbell’s edition of Harris’s voyages, we learn that this discovery was made in 1619. It appears from Thevenot’s chart, published in 1663, to have extended from about 29° northward, to 26½, where the land of Eendragt commences, but in Van Keulen’s chart, published near the close of the century, it is made to extend still more southward, to 32° 20´, which Thevenot’s chart would attribute rather to the discovery made three years later (1622) by the ship Leeuwin (the Lioness).

The great reef lying off the coast of Edel’s Land, called Houtman’s Abrolhos, was discovered at the same time. The name was doubtless given after the Dutch navigator Frederick Houtman, although we find no trace of his having himself visited this coast. The Portuguese name Abrolhos, meaning “open your eyes,” was given to dangerous reefs, implying the necessity of a sharp look out.

The name of the commander of the Leeuwin has not yet appeared in any published document that has met the editor’s eye. The land to which the name of that vessel was given, extended from 35° northward, lxxxviito about 31°; but as we have already stated, in Van Keulen’s and later charts, the northern portion of this tract has been included in the discovery by Edel.

For the nearer discovery of Eendraght’s Land, the Dutch recital informs us that the governor general, Jan Pietersz Coen, dispatched in September, 1622, the yachts De Haring and Harewind; but this voyage was rendered abortive by meeting the ship Mauritius, and searching after the ship Rotterdam.

In January 1623, the Dutch recital informs us, the yachts Pera and Arnhem, under the command of Jan Carstens, were despatched from Amboina by order of his Excellency Jan Pieterz Coen. Carstens, with eight of the Arnhem’s crew, was treacherously murdered by the natives of New Guinea; but the vessels prosecuted the voyage, and discovered “the great islands, Arnhem and the Spult.” Arnhem’s Land forms the easternmost portion of the north coast of New Holland, lying to the west of the Gulf of Carpentaria. In a chart inserted in Valentyn’s Beschryvingh van Banda, fo. 36, is laid down the river Spult in Arnhem’s Land, in about the position of Liverpool River, with which, in all probability, it is identical; and the country in its vicinity is probably what is here meant by the Spult.

The ships were then “untimely separated”, and the Arnhem returned to Amboina. The Pera persisted, and “sailed along the south coast of New Guinea to a flat cove situate in 10° south latitude, and ran along the west coast of this land to Cape Keer Weer; from lxxxviiithence discovered the coast further southwards, as far as 17 degrees, to Staten River. From this place, what more of the land could be discerned seemed to stretch westward.” The Pera then returned to Amboina. “In this discovery were found everywhere shallow water and barren coasts; islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations, and of very little use to the Dutch East India Company.”

The first discovery of the south coast of New Holland was made in 1627. The Dutch recital says: “In the year 1627, the south coast of the great south land was accidently discovered by the ship the Gulde Zeepaard, outward bound from Fatherland, for the space of a thousand miles.” The journal of this voyage seems to have been lost. The editor has spared no pains, by inquiry in Holland and Belgium, to trace its existence, but without success; and the only testimony that we have to the voyage is derived from the above passage and Dutch charts, which give the name of Pieter Nuyts to the immense tract of country thus discovered. Nuyts is generally supposed to have commanded the ship; but Flinders judiciously remarks that, as on his arrival at Batavia, he was sent ambassador to Japan, and afterwards made governor of Formosa, it seems more probable that he was a civilian—perhaps the Company’s first merchant on board—rather than captain of the ship. In estimating the thousand miles described in the recital, allowance must doubtless be made for the irregularities of the coast, embracing from Cape Leeuwin to St. Francis and St. Peter’s Islands.

lxxxixThe next discovery upon the western coasts was that of the ship Vianen, one of the seven which returned to Europe under the command of the Governor-General, Carpenter. In this year, the Dutch recital informs us that the coast was seen again accidentally, in the year 1628, on the north side, in the latitude 21° south, by the ship Vianen, homeward bound from India, when they coasted two hundred miles without gaining any knowledge of this great country; only observing “a foul and barren shore, green fields, and very wild, black, barbarous inhabitants.”

This was the part called De Witt’s Land; but whether the name were applied by the captain of the Vianen does not appear. The President De Brosses, whose account, however, is too full of blunders to follow very implicitly, says, “William de Witt gave his own name to the country which he saw in 1628 to the north of Remessen’s River; and which Viane, a Dutch captain, had, to his misfortune, discovered in the month of January in the same year, when he was driven upon this coast of De Witt, in 21° of latitude, and lost all his riches.” The name of De Witt was subsequently retained on this part of the coast in all the maps.

In Thevenot’s Recueil de divers Voyages curieux, 1663, is given an account, translated from the Dutch, of the shipwreck of the Batavia, Captain Francis Pelsart, in the night of June 4, 1629, on the reef still known as Houtman’s Abrolhos, lying between 28° and 29° S. lat., on the west coast of Australia. A loose and incorrect translation of this account, is xcgiven in vol. i, p. 320, of Harris’s Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca (Campbell’s edition), but a new translation is supplied, in its proper chronological place, in the present volume. At daylight, the shipwrecked sailors saw an island at about three leagues distance, and, still nearer, two islets, to which the passengers with some of the crew were sent. As no fresh water was found on these islets, Pelsart put to sea on the 8th of June, in one of the boats which he had had covered with a deck, and sailed to the main land for the purpose of seeking for water. He found his latitude at noon to be 28° 13´ south. The coast, which bore N. by W., he estimated to be eight leagues from the place of shipwreck. It was rocky and barren, and about of the same height as the coast of Dover. He essayed to put in at a small sandy bay, but the surf and unfavourableness of the weather compelled him to keep off the shore. He then steered north, but the abruptness of the shore, and the breakers which he found along the coast, prevented his landing for several days, till at length on the 14th of June, being then in 24° latitude, he saw some smokes at a distance, and steered towards them, but the shore was still found to be steep and rocky, and the sea broke high against it; at length six of his men leaped overboard, and with great exertion reached the land, the boat remaining at anchor in twenty-five fathoms. The sailors, while busily engaged in seeking for water, perceived four natives creeping towards them on their hands and feet; but suddenly, on one of the sailors appearing on an eminence, they rose up and xcifled, so that those who remained in the boat could see them distinctly. They were wild, black, and entirely naked.

The search for water was unsuccessful, and the sailors swam back to the boat, though much bruised by the waves and the rocks. They then again set sail, keeping outside of the shoals. On the morning of the 15th, they discovered a cape, off which lay a chain of rocks, stretching out four miles into the sea, and beyond this another reef, close to the shore. Finding here an opening where the water was smooth, they put into it, but with great risk, as they had but two feet of water with a stony bottom. Here in the holes of the rocks they found fresh rain water, of which they collected forty gallons. There were evident traces of the natives having been there but a short time before. On the 16th of July, they endeavoured to collect more water but without success. There were no signs of vegetation on the sandy level country to be seen beyond, and the ant hills were so large, that they might have been taken for the houses of the natives. The quantity of flies was so great, that they could with difficulty free themselves from them. Eight savages, carrying sticks or spears in their hands, came within musket shot, but fled when the Dutch sailors moved towards them. When Captain Pelsart found there was no hope of procuring water, he again weighed anchor, and got outside of the reef by a second opening more to the north; for having observed the latitude to be 22° 17´, his intention was to seek for the river of Jacob Remessens near the xciinorth-west cape, but the wind changing to north-east, he was compelled to quit the coast. Being now four hundred miles from the place of shipwreck, and having barely water enough for their own use, he determined to make the best of his way back to Batavia for assistance.

Meanwhile, by a fortunate accident, one of them who had been left on the Abrolhos chanced to taste the water in two holes, which water had been supposed to be salt, as it rose and fell with the tide. To their inexpressible joy it proved to be fit to drink, and afforded them an unfailing supply. Captain Pelsart afterwards returned to the Abrolhos in the yacht Saardam, from Batavia; but finding a shameful conspiracy on foot, he was compelled to execute some, and two men were set on shore on the opposite main land. In the instructions subsequently given to Tasman for his voyage in 1644, he was directed “to inquire at the continent thereabouts after two Dutch men, who, having forfeited their lives, were put on shore by the Commodore Francis Pelsart, if still alive. In such case, you may make your enquiries of them about the situation of those countries; and if they entreat you to that purpose, give them passage hither.”

Gerrit Tomaz Pool, or Poel, was sent in April of this year from Banda, with the yachts Klyn, Amsterdam, and Wezel upon the same expedition as Carstens; and at the same place on the coast of New Guinea he met with the same fate. Nevertheless, “the voyage was assiduously continued under the charge of xciiithe super cargo Pieterz Pietersen; and the islands Key and Arouw visited. By reason of very strong eastwardly winds, they could not reach the west coast of New Guinea (Carpentaria); but shaping their course very near south, discovered the coast of Arnhem or Van Diemen’s Land, in 11° south latitude; so named from the governor general Van Diemen, who was sent out this year, and sailed along the shore for one hundred and twenty miles (thirty mijlen), without seeing any people, but many signs of smoke.”

A short account of this voyage is given by Valentyn, in his volume on Banda, p. 47, a translation of which will be found at p. 75 of the present volume.

Abel Janszen Tasman, who, in the year 1642, had made the two great discoveries of south Van Diemen’s Land—in these days more correctly named after himself, Tasmania,—and of New Zealand, was again sent out in 1644, for the express purpose of examining the north and north-western shores of New Holland. His instructions, of which we have already repeatedly spoken, say, that “after quitting Point Ture, or False Cape, situate in 8 degrees on the south coast of New Guinea, you are to continue eastward along the coast to 9 degrees south latitude, crossing prudently the cove at that place. Looking about the high islands or Speults River, with the yachts for a harbour, despatching the tender De Braak for two or three days into the cove, in order to discover whether, within the great inlet, there be not to be found an entrance into the South Sea. xcivFrom this place you are to coast along the west coast of New Guinea, to the furthest discoveries in 17 degrees south latitude, following the coast further, as it may run west or southward. But it is to be feared you will meet in these parts with the south-east trade winds, from which it will be difficult to keep the coast on board, if stretching to the south-east; but, notwithstanding this, endeavour, by all means to proceed, that we may be sure whether this land is divided from the great known south continent or not.” Thus it became part of Tasman’s duty to explore Torres Straits, then unknown, though possibly suspected to exist. That they had unconsciously been passed through by Torres, in 1606, we have already seen. Tasman, however, failed, as will be presently shewn, in making the desired exploration, and it was not till 1770 that the separation of New Holland from New Guinea was established by Captain Cook. In the remaining portion of his duty, Tasman fully succeeded, viz., in establishing the continuity of the north-west coast of the land designated generally “the great known south continent,” as far south as about the twenty-second degree. It is greatly to be regretted that the account of this interesting voyage has not been published. The Burgomaster Witsen, in a work on the migrations of the human race, which appeared in 1705, gives some notes on the inhabitants of New Guinea and New Holland, in which Tasman is quoted among those from whom he gained his information; thus showing that Tasman’s narrative was then in existence. M. Van Wyk xcvRoelandszoon, in a letter addressed to the editor of the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, dated 26th July, 1825, states, that many savans du premier ordre had for a long time sought in vain for the original papers of Abel Tasman. One young, but very able fellow-countryman of his, had even made a voyage for that express purpose to Batavia, in the hope that they might be found there, but he unfortunately died shortly after his arrival at that place. M. Van Wyk continues, “we still live in the hope of receiving some of these documents.” This hope, however, was not realized, and the efforts of the editor of the present volume, which have been exerted in influential quarters for the same object, have been equally unsuccessful. But, although we have to regret the loss or non-appearance of any detailed account of this most important voyage, the outline of the coasts visited by Tasman is laid down, though without any reference to him or his voyage, on several maps which appeared within a few years after the voyage was performed. The earliest representation which the editor has found anywhere mentioned, although in all probability it was preceded by others published in Holland, was on the mappemonde of Louis Mayerne Turquet, published in Paris in 1648. It was also represented on a planisphere, inlaid in the floor of the Groote Zaal, in the Stad-huys at Amsterdam, a building commenced in 1648. The site adopted for this remarkable map was peculiar, and scarcely judicious; for though it gratified the eyes of the enterprising burghers, with the picture of the successful xcviexplorations of their countrymen, it exposed the representation itself to almost unceasing detrition from the soles of their feet. This outline was also given in the map entitled Mar di India, in the 1650 edition of Janssen’s Atlas, 5 vol. supplement. It also occurs in a large Atlas in the King’s Library in the British Museum, by J. Klencke, of Amsterdam, presented to King Charles the Second, on his restoration in 1660, and also in a chart inserted in Melchisedech Thevenot’s Relation de divers voyages curieux, 1663. From these maps it is apparent that it was from this voyage that the designation of New Holland was first given to this great country. In a map by Van Keulen, published at the close of the seventeenth century, a portion of Tasman’s track with the soundings is given, but this also is without reference to Tasman himself. It has, however, been the good fortune of the editor of the present volume to light upon a document which, in the absence of Tasman’s narrative, and his own original chart, is the next to be desired: viz., an early copy, perhaps from his own chart, with the tracks of his two voyages pricked thereon, and the entire soundings of the voyage of 1644 laid down. A reduction of this chart is here given. It forms Art. 12 in a miscellaneous MS. collection marked 5222 in the department of MSS. in the British Museum. It bears no name or date, but is written on exactly the same kind of paper, with the same ink, and by the same hand, as one by Captain Thomas Bowrey, in the same volume, done at Fort St. George in 1687. It is observable, that in the preface to a work by Captain Bowrey, on the Malay language, he says, that in 1688, he embarked at Fort St. George, as a passenger for England, having been nineteen years in the East Indies, continually engaged in navigation and trading in those countries, in Sumatra, Borneo, Bantam, and Java. The twofold blunder, both as to fact and date, contained in the sentence inserted in the middle of the chart, “This large land of New Guinea was first discovered to joyne to y^e south land by y^e Yot Lemmen as by this chart Francois Jacobus Vis. Pilot Major Anno 1643” is self-evidently an independent subsequent insertion, probably by Bowrey himself, and therefore by no means impugns the inference that the chart is otherwise a genuine copy. The soundings verify the track, and show that Tasman regarded the first point of his instructions as to the exploration of the “great inlet,” either as of less importance or of greater danger than the subsequent portion, as to establishing the continuity of the lands on the north and north-west coasts of “the great known southern continent.”

xcviiIt is worthy of remark, that the map by Klencke, already referred to, leaves the passage towards Torres Strait open, while in the map here given it is closed. The missing narrative of Tasman alone could explain this discrepancy, or show us the amount of authenticity to be ascribed to either of these maps; but it appears to the editor, that the track laid down with the soundings, gives to the map here given the claim to preference, while the very depth of the imaginary xcviiibight here drawn, instead of the strait, throws it out of the line of exploration in the voyage whose track is described. From the notes of the Burgomaster Witsen (1705), we derive the only fragment of an account of this most important voyage. From thence we gain the earliest information respecting the inhabitants. The translation is given by Dalrymple, in his volume on Papua. It is as follows: “In latitude 13 degrees, 8 minutes south, longitude 146 degrees, 18 minutes (probably about 129½ degrees east of Greenwich), the coast is barren. The people are bad and wicked, shooting at the Dutch with arrows, without provocation, when they were coming on shore. It is here very populous.”

“In 14 degrees, 58 minutes south, longitude 138 degrees, 59 minutes (about 125 degrees east) the people are savage, and go naked: none can understand them. In 16 degrees, 10 minutes south, the people swam on board of a Dutch ship, and when they received a present of a piece of linen, they laid it upon their head in token of gratitude. Every where thereabout all the people are malicious. They use arrows and bows, of such a length that one end rests on the ground when shooting. They have also hazegayes and kalawayes, and attacked the Dutch, but did not know the execution of the guns.

“In Hollandia Nova [a term which seems to imply that the previously named plans were not supposed by Witsen to be included under the name of New Holland] in 17 degrees, 12 minutes south (longitude 121 degrees or 122 degrees east), Tasman found xcixnaked black people, with curly hair: malicious and cruel, using for arms bows and arrows, hazeygayes and kalawayes. They once came to the number of fifty, double armed, dividing themselves into two parties, intending to have surprised the Dutch, who had landed twenty-five men; but the firing of the guns frightened them so much that they took to flight. Their canoes are made of the bark of trees: their coast is dangerous: there is but little vegetation: the people have no houses.”

“In 19 degrees, 35 minutes S., longitude 134 degrees (about 120 degrees apparently), the inhabitants are very numerous, and threw stones at the boats sent by the Dutch to the shore. They made fires and smoke all along the coast, which it was conjectured they did to give notice to their neighbours of strangers being upon the coast. They appear to live very poorly; go naked; eat yams and other roots.”

This fragment of description is meagre enough; but it is all that we can boast of possessing. It is further remarkable that those who have spoken of the part of the coast visited by Tasman in this voyage, have led their readers into a misconception by attributing the discovery of the Gulf of Carpentaria to Carpenter, and of the northern Van Diemen’s Land to the governor so named. So soon after the voyage as the year 1663, we find Thevenot printing as follows: “We shall, in due course, give the voyages of Carpenter and Diemen, to whom is due the principal honour of this discovery. Van Diemen brought back gold, porcelain, and a thousand other articles of cwealth; which at first gave rise to the notion that the country produced all these things: though it has been since ascertained that what he brought was recovered from a vessel which had been wrecked on these coasts. The mystery which the Dutch make of the matter, and the difficulties thrown in the way of publishing what is known about it, suggest the idea that the country is rich. But why should they shew such jealousy with respect to a country which produces nothing deserving so distant a journey?” La Neuville also, in his Histoire de Hollande (Paris, 1703, tom. ii, p. 213), speaking of Van Diemen, says: “This latter not only examined the coasts of this great land, but had two years previously sailed as far as 43 degrees towards the antarctic pole, and discovered, on the 24th of November 1642, a new country in the other continent, which now bears the name of Van Diemen’s Land.” Here the very details clearly expose the nature of the mistake, since the maps and the instructions to Tasman shew his second voyage to have been in 1644, and the discovery of Van Diemen’s Land in 1642 is known to be his beyond all dispute. The fact is moreover confirmed by the identity of the names given to the tracts discovered in these two voyages, viz. those of the principal members of the council and of Marie van Diemen, to whom Tasman is supposed to have been attached.

Prévost, in his Histoire des Voyages (Paris, 1753, tom. ii, p. 201), says that Carpentaria was discovered by Carpenter in 1662. We then find De Brosses correcting this statement (p. 433) by saying, “the ciAbbé Prevost ought not to have stated that, in 1662, Carpentaria was discovered by Pieter Carpenter, since he was Governor-General of the Company of the Indies, and returned to Europe in June 1628 with five vessels richly laden.” He then quotes the above passage from Thevenot, and continues: “Unfortunately Thevenot has not fulfilled his promise respecting Carpentaria. That learned collector was engaged in preparing, at the time of his decease, a fifth volume of his collection, of which some incomplete portions of what he had already published were found in his cabinet. From amongst these I have extracted the journal of Captain Tasman, who discovered Van Diemen’s Land. There was, however, nothing respecting the voyage of Captain Carpenter, nor that of the Governor-General, Van Diemen, even if he had left one: at least, if the manuscripts of these voyages were there originally, it is not known what has become of them.” De Brosses concludes by saying that his researches in private collections and in printed geographical works had been unsuccessful in procuring further information on the subject. Subsequent geographers continued to attribute to Carpenter the discovery of Carpentaria, and many of them to Van Diemen the discovery of the north Van Diemen’s Land. In Dubois’ work, Vies des Gouverneurs Généraux, already quoted, which was compiled in Holland from the manuscript journals and registers from Batavia, he says expressly, p. 82, in speaking of Carpenter, who was governor between 1623 and 1627: “Some writers attribute to him personally the honour ciiof the discovery of Carpentaria, the southern land lying between New Guinea and New Holland; but this is without any apparent foundation, inasmuch as they fix this discovery in the year 1628, in which year he returned to Holland, on the 12th of June, with five vessels richly laden, having sailed from Batavia on the 12th of November of the previous year.” It should, moreover, be observed, that no evidence has been adduced of his having been on the coast at all, while there is every reason to believe that the exploration of the Gulf of Carpentaria was not only “achevé,” as M. Eyriès suggests (p. 12, art. 1, vol. ii, of Nouvelles Annales des Voyages), by Tasman in 1644, but accomplished by that navigator for the first time. It might then be asked how comes it that Tasman, who had in both his voyages so largely complimented the governor Van Diemen, by giving his name and that of his daughter Maria, to whom he was attached, to various points of his discovery, should finally give the name of Carpenter to an important gulf and tract of country, when the governor bearing that name had left Batavia sixteen years before? The answer is readily given. The Governor and Company of Batavia formed a local administration under the presidency of the Company of the Indies at Amsterdam, which latter consisted of seventeen delegates from the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands. In the year 1623, in which Carpenter commenced his governorship in the east, an event occurred in Amboina which threatened to produce a war between Holland and England. Some English ciiiofficials, in concert with some Japanese soldiers, had formed a conspiracy to kill the Dutch in the island and to gain possession of the fortress. The conspiracy was discovered, and the governor had the conspirators put to death. In England the governor’s conduct was regarded as a piece of heartless cruelty. Mutual recriminations ensued, and for several years a contest between the two countries was imminent. After Carpenter’s return to Holland in 1628, he was sent out as one of a deputation to London on this subject despatched in the year 1629. He was also appointed president of the Company of the Indies in Amsterdam, which post he occupied till his death in 1659. It need, therefore, no longer be subject of surprise that Tasman should have given the name of Carpenter, the president of the Home Company of the Indies, to an extensive country and gulf discovered by him in 1644.

We cannot dismiss our notice of this important voyage, which thus gave the name of New Holland to the great South Land, without quoting the remark of Thevenot in the Relation de l’estat présent des Indes, prefixed to the second volume of his Relation de Divers Voyages Curieux. He says: “The Dutch pretend to have a right to the southern land which they have discovered.... They maintain that these coasts were never known by the Portuguese or the other nations of Europe.... It is to be noticed that all this extent of country falls within the line of demarcation of the Dutch East India Company, if we are to believe their maps, and that civthis motive of interest has perhaps made them give a false position to New Zealand, lest it should fall within the line of demarcation of the Dutch West India Company; for these two companies are as jealous of each other, as they are of the other nations of Europe.... It is to be observed, that although the Portuguese possess many places in the Indies, they are extremely weak, by reason that their enemies are masters of these seas and of the traffic which they themselves formerly possessed.”

The observation would seem to imply that Thevenot, a Frenchman, was not wanting in the belief that these coasts had really been discovered by the Portuguese before they were visited by the Dutch, while it passes by in silence any thought of a claim thereto on the part of his own countrymen, a point worth noticing in connexion with the evidence of the early French manuscript maps of which we have already so fully treated.

From the voyage of Tasman to the close of the seventeenth century, it is probable that a considerable number of voyages were made to the west coasts of New Holland, of which no account has ever been printed. By the obliging and intelligent assistance of Mr. Frederick Müller, of Amsterdam, (a rare example of a bookseller who interests himself not only in obtaining curious early books illustrative of the history of his country, but in minutely studying that history himself), the editor has been enabled to procure some documents from the Hague, which have never before been printed, and one which, although cvin print, has become exceedingly scarce, and has never before been rendered into English.

The earliest of these is an account of the ship De Vergulde Draeck, on the Southland, and the expedition undertaken both from Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope in search of the survivors, etc., drawn up and translated from authentic MS. copies of the logbooks in the Royal Archives at the Hague. De Vergulde Draeck, which set sail from the Texel in October 1655, was wrecked on a reef on the west coast, in latitude 30 degrees, 40 minutes, and a hundred and eighteen souls were lost. The news was brought to Batavia by one of the ship’s boats, sixty-eight of the survivors having remained behind, exerting themselves to get their boat afloat again, that they might send some more of their number to Batavia. The Governor General immediately dispatched the flyboat the Witte Vaclk, and the yacht the Goede Hoop, to the assistance of those men, and also to help in the rescue of the specie and merchandize lost in the Vergulde Draeck. This expedition was attended with bad success, as they reached the coast in the winter time. Similar ill luck attended the flyboat Vinck, which was directed to touch at New Holland, in its voyage from the Cape to Batavia in 1657, to search for the unfortunate men who had been left behind. The company next dispatched from Batavia two galliots, the Waeckende Boey, and the Emeloort, on the 1st of January, 1658. These vessels also returned to Batavia in April of the same year, having each of them separated, after parting company by the way, cvisailed backwards and forwards again and again, and landed parties at several points along the coast. They had also continually fired signal guns night and day, without, however, discovering either any Dutchmen, or the wreck of the vessel. The only things seen were some few planks and blocks, with a piece of the mast, a taffrail, fragments of barrels, and other objects scattered here and there along the coast, and supposed to be remnants of the wreck. This account, with a description of the west coast of the South Land, by the Captain Samuel Volkersen, of the Pink Waeckende Boey, is accompanied by copies of original charts, showing the coast visited by this vessel and the Emeloort, never before printed. These documents are followed by an extract from the Burgomaster Witsen’s Noord en Oost Tartarye, descriptive of the west coast, a portion of which is plainly derived from the account of Abraham Leeman, the mate of the Waeckende Boey.

We must not here omit to mention, that in the year 1693, appeared a work bearing the following title: Les Avantures de Jaques Sadeur dans la découverte et le voyage de la Terre Australe, contenant les coutumes et les mœurs des Australiens, leur religion, leurs exercises, leurs études, leurs guerres, leurs animaux, particuliers à ce pays et toutes les raretez curieuses qui s’y trouvent. À Paris, chez Claude Barbin, au Palais, sur le second perron de la Sainte Chapelle, 1693. In the Vannes edition, p. 3, the author’s Christian name is given Nicolas. An English translation appeared in the same year, entitled cvii“A new discovery of Terra Incognita Australis, or the Southern World, by James Sadeur, a Frenchman, who, being cast there by a shipwreck, lived thirty-five years in that country, and gives a particular description of the manners, customs, religion, laws, studies and wars of those southern people, and of some animals peculiar to that place, with several other rarities. These memoirs were thought so curious, that they were kept secret in the closet of a late great minister of state, and never published till now, since his death. Translated from the French copy printed at Paris by publick authority, April 8. Imprimatur, Charles Hern, London. Printed for John Dunton, at the Raven, in the Poultry, 1693.” The work is purely fictitious throughout.

The next Dutch voyage of which we have succeeded in finding an account, is that of Willem de Vlamingh, in 1696, which also owed its origin to the loss of a ship, the Ridderschap van Hollandt. This vessel had been missing from the time she had left the Cape of Good Hope in 1684 or 1685, and it was thought probable she might have been wrecked upon the great South Land, and that some of the crew might, even after this lapse of time, be still living. The commodore, Willem de Vlaming, who was going out to India with the Geelvink, Nyptang, and Wezel, was, therefore, ordered to make a search for them. The account of this voyage, which was printed at Amsterdam in 1701, 4to, is exceedingly scarce; and after many years enquiry, the editor cviiideemed himself fortunate in procuring it through the medium of Mr. Müller, of Amsterdam, and a translation of it is here given. The search of De Vlaming was, however, fruitless, and the two principal points of interest were the finding of the plate already described, with the inscription commemorating the arrival and departure of Dirk Hartog, in 1616, and the discovery of Swan River, where the embodiment of the poet’s notion of a rara avis in terris was for the first time encountered, and two of the black swans were taken alive to Batavia.

Meanwhile, the shores of New Holland had been visited by a countryman of our own, the celebrated Dampier. In the buccaneering expedition in which he made a voyage round the world, he came upon the north-west coast in 16 degrees, 50 minutes due south from a shoal, whose longitude is now known to be 122¼ degrees east. Running along the shore N.E. by E., twelve leagues to a bay or opening convenient for landing, a party was sent ashore to search for water, and surprised some of the natives, some of whom they tried to induce to help in filling the water casks, and conveying them to the boat. “But all the signs we could make,” says Dampier, “were to no purpose; for they stood like statues, staring at one another, and grinning like so many monkeys. These poor creatures seem not accustomed to carry burdens; and I believe one of our ship’s boys, of ten years old, would carry as much as one of their men.” In his description of the natives, he agrees with Tasman in their being “a naked black people, with cixcurly hair, like that of the negroes in Guinea; but he mentions other circumstances which are not mentioned in the note from Tasman.” He describes them as “the most miserable people in the world. The Hottentots compared with them are gentlemen. They have no houses, animals, or poultry; their persons are tall, straight bodied, thin, with long limbs; they have great heads, round foreheads, and great brows; their eyelids are always half closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes, for they are so troublesome here, that no fanning will keep them from one’s face; so that, from their infancy, they never open their eyes as other people do, and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold up their heads as if they were looking at something over them. They have great bottle noses, full lips, wide mouths; the two fore teeth of the upper jaw are wanting in all of them; neither have they any beard. Their hair is short, black and curled, and their skins coal black, like that of the negroes in Guinea. Their only food is fish, and they consequently search for them at low water; and they make little weirs or dams with stones across little coves of the sea. At one time, our boat being among the islands, seeking for game, espied a drove of these people swimming from one island to another, for they have neither boats, canoes, nor bark logs.” Dampier remained there from January 5 to March 12, 1688, but is silent as to any dangers upon the twelve leagues of coast seen by him.

In the year 1699, Great Britain being at peace cxwith the other maritime states of Europe, king William ordered an expedition for the discovery of new countries, and for the examination of some of those already discovered, particularly New Holland and New Guinea. Dampier’s graphic narrative of his buccaneering voyages caused the Earl of Pembroke to select him to conduct the expedition. The Roebuck, a ship belonging to the royal navy, was equipped for the purpose. After a voyage of six months, Dampier struck soundings in the night of August 1st, 1699, upon the northern part of the Abrolhos shoal, in latitude about 27 degrees, 40 minutes S. Next morning he saw the main coast, and ran northward along it, discovering in 26 degrees, 10 minutes, an opening two leagues wide, but full of rocks and foul ground. August 6th, he anchored in Dirk Hartog’s Road, at the entrance of a sound which he named Shark’s Bay: where he remained eight days examining the sound, cutting wood upon the islands, fishing, etc., and gives a description of what was seen in his usual circumstantial manner. His description of the kangaroo, probably the first ever given of that singular animal, is a curious one. “The land animals we saw here were only a sort of raccoons, but different from those of the West Indies, chiefly as to their legs; for these have very short forelegs, but go jumping, and like the raccoons are very good meat.”

Sailing northward along the coast, he found an archipelago extending twenty leagues in length, which has been more recently examined by Captain cxiKing. He anchored in lat. 20 degrees, 21 minutes, under one of the largest of the islands, which he named Rosemary Island. This was near the southern part of De Witt’s Land; but besides an error in latitude of 40 minutes, he complains that in Tasman’s charts “the shore is laid down as all along joining in one body or continent, with some openings like rivers, and not like islands, as really they are.” “By what we saw of them, they must have been a range of islands, of about twenty leagues in length, stretching from E.N.E. to W.S.W., and, for aught I know, as far as to those of Shark’s Bay; and to a considerable breadth also, for we could see nine or ten leagues in amongst them, towards the continent or main land of New Holland, if there be any such thing hereabouts: and by the great tides I met with awhile afterwards more to the north-east, I had a strong suspicion that here might be a kind of archipelago of islands; and a passage, possibly, to the south of New Holland and New Guinea, into the great South Sea eastward.

“Not finding fresh water upon such of the islands as were visited that day, Captain Dampier quitted his anchorage next morning, and ‘steered away E.N.E., coasting along as the land lies.’ He seems to have kept the land in sight, in the daytime, at the distance of four to six leagues; but the shore being low, this was too far for him to be certain whether all was main land which he saw; and what might have been passed in the night was still more doubtful.

cxii“August 30th, being in latitude 18 degrees, 21 minutes, and the weather fair, Captain Dampier steered in for the shore; and anchored in eight fathoms, about three-and-a-half leagues off. The tide ran ‘very swift here; so that our nun-buoy would not bear above the water to be seen. It flows here, as on that part of New Holland I described formerly, about five fathoms.’

“He had hitherto seen no inhabitants; but now met with several. The place at which he had touched in the former voyage ‘was not above forty or fifty leagues to the north-east of this. And these were much the same blinking creatures (here being also abundance of the same kind of flesh flies teizing them), and with the same black skins, and hair frizzled, tall and thin, etc., as those were. But we had not the opportunity to see whether these, as the former, wanted two of their fore teeth.’ One of them, who was supposed to be a chief, ‘was painted with a circle of white paste or pigment about his eyes, and a white streak down his nose, from his forehead to the tip of it. And his breast, and some part of his arms, were also made white with the same paint.’

“Neither bows nor arrows were observed amongst these people: they used wooden lances, such as Dampier had before seen. He saw no houses at either place, and believed they had none; but there were several ‘things like haycocks, standing in the savannah; which, at a distance, we thought were houses, looking just like the Hottentots’ houses at the Cape cxiiiof Good Hope; but we found them to be so many rocks.’ These rocks he could not have examined very closely; for there can be little doubt that they were the anthills described by Pelsart as being ‘so large, that they might have been taken for the houses of Indians.’

“The land near the sea coast is described as equally sandy with the parts before visited, and producing, amongst its scanty vegetation, nothing for food. No stream of fresh water was seen, nor could any, fit to drink, be procured by digging.

“Quitting this inhospitable shore, Captain Dampier weighed his anchor on September 5th, with the intention of seeking water and refreshments further on to the north-eastward. The shoals obliged him to keep at a considerable distance from the land, and finally, when arrived at the latitude of 16 degrees, 9 minutes, to give up his project, and direct his course for Timor.”

With the voyage of Dampier terminates the information gained of the western coasts previously to the present century, which does not lie within the range of our inquiries.

In 1705 another and last voyage was made by the Dutch for the discovery of the north coast. The expedition consisted of three vessels, the Vossenbosch, the Wayer, and the Nova Hollandia. The commander was Martin van Delft. The journals appear to have been lost. At all events they have not hitherto been found, but a report to the Governor-General and cxivCouncil of the discoveries and notable occurrences in the expedition, was drawn from the written journals and verbal recitals of the officers on their return, by the Councillors Extraordinary, Hendrick Swaardecroon and Cornelis Chastelijn. This report is given for the first time in English in the present collection, from which it appears that the part of the coast visited was carefully explored, and that the Dutch had intercourse with the natives, a result in which De Vlaming’s expedition had entirely failed. In the miscellaneous tracts of Nicholas Struyck, printed at Amsterdam, 1753, is also given an imperfect account of this voyage as follows: “March 1st, 1705. Three Dutch vessels were sent from Timor with order to explore the north coast of New Holland, better than it had before been done. They carefully examined the coasts, sand banks, and reefs. In their route to it, they did not meet with any land, but only some rocks above water, in 11 degrees, 52 minutes south latitude” (probably, says Flinders, the south part of the great Sahul Bank, which, according to Captain Peter Heywood, who saw it in 1801, lies in 11 degrees 40 minutes). “They saw the west coast of New Holland, four degrees to the eastward of the east point of Timor. From thence they continued their route towards the north, and passed a point, off which lies a bank of sand above water, in length more than five German miles of fifteen to a degree. After which they made sail to the east, along the coast of New Holland; observing everything with care, until they came to a gulf, the head cxvof which they did not quite reach. I (Struyck) have seen a chart made of these parts.”

Flinders remarks upon this account, “What is here called the west must have been the north-west coast,” and he is right; for in the report here printed, the country is called “Van Diemen’s Land,” lying, as we know, on the north-west coast of New Holland, already in this introduction frequently referred to in distinction from the island more generally so known, and now called Tasmania. Flinders continues: “which the vessels appear to have made somewhat to the south of the western Cape Van Diemen. The point which they passed was probably this same cape itself; and in a chart, published by Mr. Dalrymple, August 27th, 1783, from a Dutch manuscript (possibly a copy of that which Struyck had seen), a shoal, of thirty geographic miles in length, is marked as running off from it, but incorrectly, according to Mr. M’Cluer. The gulf here mentioned was probably a deep bay in Arnhem’s Land; for had it been the Gulf of Carpentaria, some particular mention of the great change in the direction of the coast would, doubtless, have been made.”

In the year 1718 a Mons. Jean Pierre Purry, of Neufchatel, published a work entitled, Mémoire sur le Pays des Caffres et la Terre de Nuyts par rapport à l’utilité que la Compagnie des Indes Orientales en pourroit rétirer pour son Commerce, followed by a second memoir in the same year. These publications were explanatory of a project he entertained of founding a colony in the land of Nuyts. The scheme had cxvibeen submitted to the Governor-General, Van Swoll, at Batavia, but was discountenanced. It subsequently met the same fate when laid by its author before the Directors of the Dutch East India Company at Amsterdam. M. Purry shortly afterwards brought his proposition before the West India Company, and it was supposed by some that the voyage of Roggeween to the South Seas in 1721 was a result of this application; but it is distinctly stated by Valentyn that it was an entirely distinct expedition. In 1699 Roggeween’s father had submitted to the West India Company a detailed memoir on the discovery of the southern land; but the contentions between Holland and Spain prevented the departure of the fleet destined for the expedition, and it was forgotten. Roggeween, however, who had received his father’s dying injunctions to prosecute this enterprize, succeeded at length in gaining the countenance of the directors, and was himself appointed commander of the three ships which were fitted out by the company for the expedition. According to Valentyn, the principal object of this voyage was the search for certain “islands of gold,” supposed to lie in 56 degrees south latitude; but the professed purpose was distinctly avowed by Roggeween to be directed to the south lands. Although the expedition resulted in some useful discoveries, it did not touch the shores of New Holland.

The last document in the collection here printed is a translation from a little work published in Dutch, in 1857, by Mr. P. A. Leupe, Captain of Marines in cxviithe Dutch Navy, “The Houtman’s Abrolhos in 1727,” detailing the disasters of which those dangerous shoals had been the cause.

It will be seen that we have been unable to supply any descriptive account of discoveries on the eastern coast of Australia. That it was really discovered, and in all probability by the Portuguese, in the early part of the sixteenth century, we have already endeavoured to show. During more than two centuries from that period, it was probably never visited by any European. The honour of exploring that portion of the great island was reserved for the immortal Cook, who first saw that coast on April 19th, 1770, but a reference to such well known explorations certainly does not fall within the scope of antiquarian investigation. The like may be said of the first visit to Van Diemen’s Land, subsequent to Tasman’s discovery in 1642, which was made by Marion a hundred and thirty years later.

In conclusion, it would be inappropriate to omit the remark that it is to that most able and distinguished voyager, Matthew Flinders, to whose valuable work, A Voyage to Terra Australis, the editor has been greatly indebted for help in this introduction, that we have to give the credit for the compact and useful name which Australia now bears. In a note on page 111 of his introduction, he modestly says, “Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term [Terra Australis], it would have been to convert it into Australia, as being more agreeable to the ear, cxviiiand an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth.”

It has been the habit, for the most part, of editors of works for the Hakluyt Society, to endeavour to elucidate their text by introductions, which have often reached to a considerable length. A very slight consideration of the nature of the subjects which the Society professes to deal with, will show the reasonableness, nay, even the necessity of such introductions. When the attention of a reader is invited to the narrative of a voyage, however interesting and curious in itself, which carries him back to a remote period, it is but reasonable that he should have explained to him the position which such a narrative, arbitrarily selected, holds in the history of the exploration of the country treated of. To do this satisfactorily is clearly a task requiring no little labour, and although it may necessarily involve a somewhat lengthy dissertation, certainly calls for no apology. Nevertheless, the simple fact of an introduction bearing a length at all approaching to that of the text itself, as is the case in the present volume, does, beyond question, at the first blush, justly require an explanation. All the publications of our Society consist of previously unpublished documents, or are reprints or translations of narratives of early voyages become exceedingly rare. But it is evidently matter of accident to what length the text may extend, while it is equally evident that the introductory cxixmatter illustrative of a small amount of text may be, of necessity, longer than that required to illustrate documents of greater extent. This is strikingly the case with the subject of the present volume. It has been matter of good fortune that the editor has been enabled to bring together even so many documents as are here produced, in connection with the early discoveries of Australia, while the enigmatical suggestions of early maps, unaccompanied by any descriptive matter to be found after diligent research, has necessitated an inquiry into their merits, which, though lengthy, it is hoped will not be deemed unnecessary. This so called introduction in fact, in a great measure, consists of matter, which, if supplied by original documents, would form a component part of the text itself.

The editor cannot close his labours on this most puzzling subject of the “Early Indications of Australia,” without expressing an earnest hope that further researches may yet result in the production of documents, as yet undiscovered, which may throw a light upon the history of the exploration of this interesting country in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and, if possible, solve the great mystery which still hangs over the origin of the early manuscript maps so fully treated of, and it is hoped not without some advance towards elucidation, in this introduction.

Sire,—The memorial of the Doctor Juan Luis Arias showeth: That in consideration of the great advantage which will accrue to the service of Your Majesty, to the extension of the Catholic Church, and to the increase of our holy faith, from the conversion of the gentiles of the southern land, which is the principal obligation to which Your Majesty and your crown are pledged, he now earnestly begs (great as have been his former importunities) to solicit Your Majesty’s consideration to that which is here set forth. At the instance of the fathers of the Seraphic order of St. Francis, and in particular of the father Fray Juan de Silva, he has composed a treatise dedicated to his most serene highness the Infant Don Ferdinand,^[8] from which a judgment may 2be formed of the temperature, productions, and population of the southern hemisphere, and every other point desirable to be understood with respect to its most extensive provinces and kingdoms. He has done this with a view to its discovery, and the spiritual and evangelical conquest, and bringing in to our holy faith and Catholic religion of its numberless inhabitants, who are so long waiting for this divine and celestial benefit at the hand of Your Majesty. It is a subject upon which the father Fray Juan de Silva has bestowed the most serious attention, and for which he is most anxiously solicitous; for all his order desire to be engaged in this mighty enterprise, which is one of the greatest that the Catholic Church ever has or ever can undertake, and the accomplishment of which it is the duty of all us her faithful sons to pray should be accelerated as much as possible. For the English and Dutch heretics, whom the devil unites for this purpose by every means in his power, most diligently continue the exploration, discovery, and colonization of the principal ports of this large part of the world in the Pacific Ocean, and sow in it the most pernicious poisons of their apostasy, which they put forth with the most pressing anxiety in advance of us, who should put forth the sovereign light of the gospel. This they are now perseveringly doing in that great continent in which are the provinces of Florida, and they will afterwards proceed to do the same with New Spain, and then with New Mexico, the kingdom of Quivira, the Californias, and other most extensive provinces. For which purpose, and for other reasons connected with their machinations against our kingdom, they have already colonized Virginia. To further the same object also, they have fortified and colonized Bermuda, and continue most zealously and rapidly sowing the infernal poison of their heresy, and infecting with it the millions upon millions of excellent people who inhabit those regions. From Virginia also they are advancing most rapidly inland, with the most 3ardent desire to deprive the Catholic Church of the inestimable treasure of an infinite number of souls; and to found in that land an empire, in which they will at length possess much better and richer Indies than our own, and from which position they will be able to lord it absolutely over all our territories, and over all our navigation and commerce with the West Indies. This is a most grievous case for us, and most offensive to our Lord God and His Church, and this kingdom has reason to dread from so mischievous a state of things very great injuries from the hands of these enemies, and no less punishment from the divine indignation for having allowed these basilisks to locate themselves in such a position; from whence, before we of the Catholic Church arrive with the preaching of the gospel with which we are commissioned, they draw to themselves and infect with the depravity of their apostasy that countless number of gentiles which inhabit the said provinces, and which cover a greater surface of land than all Europe.

But as the said treatise of the southern hemisphere has not yet been put into a form to be communicated, which will soon be done, I have resolved herein to relate to Your Majesty, although very briefly, some of its contents; in order, meanwhile, to afford the necessary information concerning these southern lands, whither it is proposed to set on foot so great and mighty an undertaking as the evangelical and spiritual conquest of the said hemisphere.

In order to understand the question, it must be premised that the whole globe of earth and water is divided into two equal parts or halves by the equinoctial line. The northern hemisphere, which stretches from the equinoctial to the Arctic Pole, contains all which has been hitherto discovered and peopled in Asia, Europe, and the chief part of Africa. The remaining half, or southern hemisphere, which reaches from the equinoctial to the Antarctic Pole, comprises part of what we call America, and the whole of that Austral land, 4the discovery and apostolic conquest of which is now treated of. Now, if we except from this southern hemisphere all that there is of Africa lying between the equinoctial line and the Cape of Good Hope, and all that there is of Peru from the parallel of the said equinoctial line, which passes near Quito, down to the straits of Magellan, and that small portion of land which lies to the south of the strait, all the rest of the firm land of the said southern hemisphere remains to be discovered. Thus of the whole globe, there is little less than one entire half which remains to be discovered, and to have the gospel preached in it; and this discovery and evangelical conquest forms the principal part of the obligation under which these kingdoms lie for the preaching of the gospel to the gentiles, in conformity with the agreement made with the Catholic Church and its head, the supreme pontiffs Alexander VI and Paul III.

Some one will say, that what has been stated is contradictory to what the Apostle understands as meant by the Psalmist with reference to the preaching of the gospel, where he says; “Their sound is gone out into every land, and their words unto the ends of the world.” For the Apostle, speaking of the conversion of the gentiles, says thus: “How shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? or how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” Then shortly after the Apostle saith: “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” According to which it seems that it must be affirmed, either that then or now the preaching of the gospel has already had its course, and its voice gone out throughout all the world, or that the gospel was to be only preached for 5the most part in the northern hemisphere and in some very small part of the aforesaid lands of Africa and Peru in the southern, and that in the remainder of the world there is no population or discovered land-surface uncovered by water where there could be populations or habitations, and thus that the voice of the gospel has already run its course as far as it can, and that in the rest of the southern hemisphere there is no provision for it. To all this I reply, that these words of the Psalmist were a prophecy of the preaching of the gospel, speaking out of the past into the future with the infallible certainty of prophecy. And although the Apostle, in quoting the said passage of the Psalmist, seems to affirm that already in his time the preaching of the gospel had had its course throughout the world, it is to be understood that he speaks in the sense of the aforesaid prophecy; that the preaching and the voice of the gospel had to run, and not that it had already run throughout the whole of the globe, since his quotation of the said passage of the Psalmist was made at so early a period that the gospel was then preached only in a small part of the northern hemisphere.

The passage of the Apostle where he so speaks may be also thus understood: he could not say that the gentiles did not hear the voice or word of the gospel to their conversion, because already it has gone forth from the apostolic seminary for the conversion of all the earth; and in order that it may reach to its boundaries, so that no portion of the gentiles throughout the whole world should remain to which it should not reach, and into which it should not penetrate. Moreover it may be understood in this sense, that he speaks of the gentiles (after the consummation of the preaching of the gospel) as placed at the divine tribunal, and as giving to understand that those who would not be converted should have no remission; and on this point the Apostle puts the following question: “Haply all have not heard the word of the gospel, else if they had heard it would they not have embraced 6it?” and that they had all heard it is a certain thing, since the sound of the gospel voice has sounded throughout all the earth; so that in all these senses this expression of the Apostle may be understood without opposition in any way to the strictness of its genuine and literal meaning. And if any one should say that the nearest explanation of the passage would be, that the sound of the preaching of the gospel might reach to the ends of the earth in the interval which took place between the time when the Apostles went forth to preach the gospel, after the Redeemer had gone up to heaven, and the time when St. Paul said these words,—the answer is, that although the preaching of the gospel may have travelled far in the said interval, it did not extend over any great part even of the northern hemisphere, as is very manifest; and thus the southern hemisphere still remained, and has remained until now, without the voice of the gospel being preached or sounded in it, always excepting those parts of Africa and Peru which are comprehended therein, but which, when its extent is considered, form a very small part of it. Moreover, the equinoctial line, which is, as it were, the boundary of the two hemispheres, may be understood to represent the ends of the earth, to some parts of which the preaching of the gospel might reach in the said interval. But this is not contradictory to our proposition, and if due consideration be given to the subject it will be seen, that Christ our Redeemer has pointed out to us with much clearness, that this preaching of the gospel in the southern hemisphere should take place after that in the north; for in giving charge to His Apostles, and through them to those apostolic men who should succeed them, that they should preach the gospel, it appears that He gave them to understand that that charge was principally and directly given for the northern hemisphere; for He spoke to them in this manner: “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; 7and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” Now although some Greek and Latin doctors have understood that by these two folds the Redeemer meant, firstly, that of the Jews, who were to be brought into the Church, and who, from the commencement of the preaching of the gospel, would continue to be converted; and secondly, that of the gentiles, which He pointed out thus distinctly because it was to be the principal fold; yet the said passage is not well explained in this manner, as time and the progress of gospel preaching have since shown; and inasmuch as it would follow from the said interpretation that, in some sense, the Redeemer had committed to the Apostles the preaching to the Jews only, and, as by original intention, reserved to Himself the preaching to the gentiles; that was not the case, since the preaching to all the principal of the gentiles of the northern hemisphere was divided among the Apostles, and, in fact, they continued carrying out the injunction. The subsequent election also of the Apostle who was the chosen vessel for preaching to the gentiles, must be understood in the same manner. Thus our Lord and Redeemer made a distinction in this passage between the two principal folds which were to be brought into the pale of the Church. The first, that of all the gentiles of the northern hemisphere, the immediate preaching to whom was enjoined upon the Apostles; the other, that of the southern hemisphere, whose conversion to our holy faith He appears to have reserved to Himself when He says, that they should take care to bring within the pale of the Church the sheep of the northern hemisphere, and that He would take upon Himself the charge of bringing in the others as in His own person. And it is a very certain fact that that injunction is now in course of being carried out, from the Franciscan order having gone forth and undertaken the extension of this great enterprise. For its seraphic and sovereign chief, the most glorious patriarch St. Francis, possessed in his own person so express 8and true an image of the Redeemer, that it might very well be said that the fold of the southern hemisphere should be brought in by Him in person, it being that which that exalted patriarch reserved to himself to bring in to the pale of the Church through the medium of the faithful sons of his institute and order. Thus it is seen in this passage in how great esteem the Almighty Lord held this extensive and precious fold of the southern hemisphere, which His Church hopes for; since He says that the sheep thereof, as those which are most chosen and drawn by His hand or by that of His seraphic and sovereign standard bearer, are to hear His voice with the most singular affection and devotion, receive His doctrine and faith and be most faithful to Him, continuing always most constant and firm therein; not like those of the northern hemisphere, amongst whom there has been so great a defection and apostasy, so great a number of provinces of the northern hemisphere having deserted their faith and apostatized. So that the Catholic faith, in the purity in which the Apostles preached it, may be said to remain only in that little portion which is governed by the head of the Church and in these kingdoms of Spain, in which the divine providence by such great means preserves it as a chosen seminary and as a refined and pure plantation of religion, from which it should be transplanted to that southern hemisphere. And thus the sovereign commission to preach the gospel to the said southern hemisphere appertained as of necessity to those kingdoms, as those which the Redeemer had distinguished and preferred to the rest, in order that they should attract that hemisphere, which is to be the most enlightened of the Catholic and faithful fold of His Church. Whence it follows, that the principal compact and agreement into which these kingdoms have entered with the Church in undertaking to preach the gospel, is directed towards the preaching to the aforesaid southern hemisphere.

Some one, however, may say in opposition to the above 9arguments, that the commission which the Redeemer gave to the Apostles to preach the gospel should be understood as being general, and therefore applying to both hemispheres, in accordance with what He said to them before He ascended into heaven: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” As also relates St. Matthew: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The same also is written by the evangelist St. Luke. The answer to all this is, that it in no sense contradicts the distinction which has been made between the two principal folds of the gentiles which had to be taken from these two hemispheres; for in the passages quoted, Christ our Redeemer speaks in the persons of the Apostles, with all the apostolic men and preachers of the gospel who were to succeed them until the end of the world; but that which He committed to them bore immediate reference to the northern hemisphere, which was that which they divided amongst themselves and where they preached, for not one of the Apostles has been understood to have passed to the southern hemisphere. The words also which the Redeemer added in the abovementioned passage: “And there shall be one fold and one shepherd,” prove that He there speaks of the fold which was to be converted from the southern hemisphere; because, until that hemisphere be settled, the preaching of the gospel will not have been consummated, and consequently the making one fold of the two hemispheres under one shepherd cannot be verified. Thus the conversion and spiritual and evangelical conquest of the southern hemisphere has remained to be effected by the Apostolic men of this kingdom.

Moreover, long ago, the Divine Majesty foretold this same thing by the prophet Obadiah, who says thus: “The captivity of Jerusalem, which is in the Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the south, and Saviours shall come up on Mount 10Sion to judge the Mount of Esau.” And where our Vulgate puts Bosphorus the Hebrew text says Sepharat, which signifies Spain, according to the Chaldaic paraphrast and the Sederholan of the Hebrews and Rabbi Zonathas Abenuciel and many other Hebrews. And it is with much propriety that, in the place of Spain, our interpreter has put Bosphorus, for that word signifies the passage of an ox, that is to say, a strait. Now there are in the Mediterranean three straits of this name; one is called the Thracian Bosphorus, which is that of Constantinople, which is the passage from the said Mediterranean to the Black Sea; another is called the Cimmerian Bosphorus, which is the passage from the Black Sea to the Lake Meotis; the third is the Gaditan Bosphorus, which is the Strait of Gibraltar. When, therefore, hydrographers speak of the Bosphorus alone without addition, it is understood to mean the principal one in the Mediterranean, by which it communicates with the ocean, and therefore the prophet Obadiah meant the same when he said “the captivity of Jerusalem which is in the Bosphorus,” that is to say, which is in Spain. But, as has been said, our translator has with much propriety and in accordance with the intention of the prophet, given Bosphorus as the rendering for the word Sepharat; for although the transmigration of Jerusalem which was in Spain was to possess the cities of the south, its conquerors had to go forth principally from that part of Spain which is nearest to the Bosphorus or Strait of Gibraltar, as is seen to be the case.

The literal meaning of this prophecy therefore is, that the transmigration of Jerusalem which was in the Bosphorus, that is to say, the Spaniards who have been the most constant of the faithful, and to whom was transmitted the perseverance of the faith of Abraham and Jacob, are to possess the cities of the south, that is to say, the southern hemisphere, gaining over it a spiritual and apostolical conquest by the preaching of the gospel. And then the saviours, who are 11the preachers of the gospel and who bring salvation to the gentile, shall come up on Mount Sion to judge the Mount of Esau, which is as much as to say, they shall ascend to the highest climax of the sovereign virtues, from whence they shall announce to the gentiles the true knowledge of their Creator and Redeemer. And thus they shall judge them by condemning and extirpating their errors, and reducing them to the purity of our holy faith. After their conversion also, they shall judge them at the divine tribunal of the sacrament of penitence. The prophet concludes by saying: “And the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” For when these Catholic kingdoms shall have drawn to the faith this southern hemisphere and shall have proclaimed and sung this glorious victory, the Redeemer will have made perfect the kingdom of His Church, which now is defective in the greatest part from not having accomplished this grand object. Hence it may be gathered how great a service this will be to the Redeemer, and how blessed will be the prince of this monarchy who shall undertake and complete it. Thus it has been seen that the prophet Obadiah prophecied to the letter the conquest and spiritual possession of the southern hemisphere, through the medium of the preaching of the gospel by the Spanish nation, which has preserved in its integrity the faith of the Redeemer and of His Catholic Church.

Some have asked, as already pointed out, whether the southern hemisphere be not all water, forming, as it were, a great part of the ocean, so as to leave but little of the surface of the earth in it uncovered. The reply to this is, that, according to what we are taught by sacred writ and by philosophical reasoning, there is proportionably as great a surface of land uncovered in the southern hemisphere as in the northern. For the fiat of the Creator, that the waters should be collected into certain hollows of the earth, in order that there should remain uncovered the portion that was necessary for the production of vegetation, as where He says in Genesis 12the 1st: “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear,” supposes this water to have been created an entire orb, which covered and surrounded the whole of the earth, in the same manner as we reckon the positions of the elements; the land the lowest, in the middle of which is the centre of the whole elementary and celestial machine, then the water, and after that the air and igneous substance or the fire, which reaches its culmination or convex part in the concave of the celestial firmament. Then if, when God commanded that the waters should be gathered together, it was to be understood solely with reference to the northern hemisphere, the water in the southern hemisphere would remain as it was, surrounding and covering all, and the whole sphere of water could not be contained beneath one spherical surface equidistant to the centre of gravity, which always seeks to be united with the centre of the whole machine. And thus all the water of the southern hemisphere would be more remote from the said centre than that of the other hemisphere, without being contained in any sinus, and thus would be much higher, and naturally could not contain itself without flowing towards the other hemisphere, until it placed itself in equilibrium with the said centre of gravity; as is plainly gathered from the demonstration of Archimedes, in his work “De Insidentibus Aquæ,” and is manifestly seen in the ebb and flow of the ocean; in which it is observed, that when the water rises above the surface of equidistance from its centre of gravity, it immediately outflows its ordinary limits until it finds its level with that surface; so that the gathering together of the waters was proportional in the two halves of the sphere of earth and water, gathering itself into certain hollows of the earth, which also have their means of correspondence between the two hemispheres. For as the quiet and equilibrium of the parts of the earth and water with respect to the centre of gravity consist in the equal 13tendencies of the opposite parts towards the same centre, it follows that the sinuses or receptacles of water in the one half are nearly proportioned in their position and other respects to those of the other. From all which it follows, that in the southern hemisphere there is an uncovered surface of land correspondent, or nearly so, to that which has been discovered in the northern hemisphere.

If any one should say in opposition to the above argument, that the Psalmist appears to assert that the hemisphere opposite to the northern was entirely covered with water, when he says: “Who stretcheth out the earth above the waters, for His mercy endureth for ever;”—in which the real meaning of the royal prophet would seem to be, that that half of the earth which is between the equinoctial and the Arctic pole was that which was peopled, and that, as by a miracle, all the earth was stretched out above the waters, which covered the other half as far as the Antarctic pole—the answer is, that the Psalmist does not intend to say absolutely that the earth is stretched out above the waters; for that is impossible, since these two bodies, earth and water, gravitate towards the centre of gravity, which is that of the mass or sphere of land and water, and thus of necessity the water upon the earth is contained in its hollows; but, as by an allegory, he said that it might seem to those who inhabit the one hemisphere, that the land was stretched upon the waters which extended towards the other hemisphere, as it is our custom in imagination to think that the antipodes are below those to whom they are antipodes, it being in conformity to the law of gravitation that both one and the other are alike uppermost, and the lower part, which is the centre of gravity, towards which both incline, is common to all.

And thus, in agreement with this, the same prophet, speaking of the divine foundation of the earth, says also in another place: “Who hath founded the earth upon its own stability, that it shall not be moved for ever;” which was as much as 14to say, that the earth has no other stability or foundation for its remaining in the position in which it is but its own stability, which consists in the equal tendencies of its opposite parts towards the centre of gravity, a law to which the water also is subjected, and, as it rests upon the earth, it keeps the same relation to the centre of gravity; from all which results the aforesaid equalization of the whole mass of earth and water to that centre, and in this consists its stability. Hence it follows that the Psalmist, in the passage first quoted, spoke generally of the two hemispheres; since the inhabitants of each one might imagine to themselves that all the earth of that hemisphere was kept in its place by the water contained in the hollows of the other. The expression that the earth never shall move at any time, implies that it is naturally impossible that its centre of gravity should be moved from the centre of the entire elementary and celestial system, for that would be that gravitation should ascend or move upwards. Hence the statement of the Psalmist in no way opposes what has been demonstrated, that there is as much surface of land uncovered and free from water in the southern hemisphere as there is in the northern.

Also, if we recur to the celestial influences which, in regard to temperature, affect the earth and water with dryness and cold, heat and moisture, cold and moisture, and heat and dryness, and cause some parts of the earth to be uncovered by water and to be kept dry, while others remain under water; these are the influences of the fixed stars, which are vertical to the southern hemisphere, and as efficacious as those of the northern hemisphere for keeping the parts of the said southern hemisphere dry, uncovered, and habitable, as may be proved by observing the celestial objects which correspond to each hemisphere; when it will be seen that, of the forty-eight fixed stars, four-and-twenty correspond to each hemisphere, and also of the twelve signs of the zodiac, six belong to each; so that it cannot be doubted that there is in the southern 15hemisphere at least as great a part of the earth’s surface uncovered as in the north. Now it is consequently manifest that this part of the earth is as fertile and habitable as the northern hemisphere, for the south has of necessity the same distribution of zones as the north; that is to say, half of the torrid zone from the equinoctial line to the tropic of Capricorn, then the temperate zone from that to the Antarctic circle, and then that which lies between the Antarctic circle and the Antarctic pole; and those zones in the two hemispheres which correspond to each other, have (allowance being made for the natural motion of the sun through the ecliptic) the same, or nearly the same temperature, excepting such differences as are caused by certain vertical stars and the various form, arrangement, and temperament of the land, from which it occurs that in the hottest part of a zone there are some spots very temperate and cool. And thus in those zones which are generally cold, there are some parts which are milder and very free from the severity of the cold. And if particular consideration be given to the influences produced on temperature by the constellations belonging to the southern hemisphere, it will be found that there are lands in it, not only as habitable, but much more so than in the other hemisphere; and it has been seen by experience, from the discoveries which have been made in that half of the torrid zone which is south of the equator, that whereas the ancients considered its heat to be so excessive that it was utterly uninhabitable, there have been found in it parts as habitable and of as mild a temperature as in the most temperate and habitable parts of Spain. This has been shown in the country of the Baia de Sanfelipe y Santiago, discovered by captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, which is very near to the middle of the southern half of the torrid zone, where, in the month of May, was found the same mildness of temperature, the same songs of birds in the twilight, the same agreeableness and delight in the softness of the air, as is found in 16Spain in the mildest and most refreshing season of spring. And although, in the middle of the time that they were in the bay, the sun went down about twenty degrees to the north, which, together with the fifteen or twenty minutes of the latitude of the bay, made their distance from the sun, which was in the south of the zenith, little more than twenty-five degrees, and thus fifty-five of southern altitude; yet was the temperature extremely mild for a situation so near to the middle of the southern half of the torrid zone. But in other islands which they discovered in the same southern half of the torrid zone, when the sun stood in southern signs for January, February, and March, being vertical or very near the vertex or zenith of those islands, there was not felt greater heat there than in our summer, nor, indeed, did there appear to have been so much on those occasions when they went on shore for the purpose of taking in water.

By the same reasoning it is shown, that the land of the southern hemisphere is greatly stored with metals and rich in precious stones and pearls, fruits and animals; and from the discoveries and investigations which have been already made in this southern hemisphere, there has been found such fertility, so great plenty and abundance of animals, swine, oxen, and other beasts of different kinds fit for the sustenance of man as has never been seen in our Europe; also of birds and fishes of different species, and, amongst them all, those which we most value as wholesome and delicate on the shores of our own ocean; and fruits, some of which we already know, and others of different kinds, all which may well excite the greatest admiration, as has been related in detail in the treatise referred to at the beginning of this memorial.

It must be observed that, although the arguments we have hitherto advanced refer to the entire southern hemisphere, yet that which we now propose to have explored, discovered, and evangelically subdued, is that part of the said hemisphere 17which lies in the Pacific Ocean, between the longitude of the coast of Peru, as far as the Baia de San Felipe y Santiago and the longitude which remains up to Bachan and Ternate, in which longitude the following most remarkable discoveries have already been made. The adelantado Alvaro Mendaña de Meyra first discovered New Guadalcanal, which is a very large island very near New Guinea; and some have imagined that what Mendaña called New Guadalcanal was part of New Guinea, but this is of no consequence whatever. New Guinea belongs also to the southern hemisphere, and was discovered some time before; and almost all of it has been since discovered on the outside [the northern side]. It is a country encompassed with water,^[9] and, according to the greater number of those who have seen it, it is seven hundred leagues in circuit: others make it much more: we do not give a close calculation here, because what has been said is sufficient for the intention of this discourse. The rest will be said in its proper place. The middle of those great islands are in from thirteen to fourteen degrees of south latitude. The adelantado Mendaña afterwards discovered the archipelago of islands which he called the Islands of Solomon, whereof, great and small, he saw thirty-three of very fine appearance, the middle of which was, according to his account, in eleven degrees south latitude. After this he discovered, in the year 1565, the island of San Christobal, not far from the said archipelago, the middle of which was in from seven 18to eight degrees of south latitude. The island was one hundred and ten leagues in circuit. Subsequently, in the year ’95, the said adelantado sailed for the last time from Peru, taking with him for his chief pilot the Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, with the purpose of colonizing the island of San Christobal, and from thence attempting the discovery of the southern terra firma. He shortly after discovered, to the east of the said island of San Christobal, the island of Santa Cruz, in ten degrees south latitude. The island was more than one hundred leagues in circuit, very fertile and populous, as, indeed, appeared all those islands which we have mentioned, and most of them of very beautiful aspect. In this island of Santa Cruz the adelantado had such great contentions with his soldiers, that he had some of the chief of them killed, because he understood that they intended to mutiny, and in a few days after he died. Whereupon, as the admiral of the fleet had parted company a short time before they had reached the said island, the whole project was frustrated, and Pedro Fernandez de Quiros took Doña Isabel Garreto, the wife of the adelantado, and the remainder of the fleet to Manilla.

Some time afterwards Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, being at Valladolid, came to this court to petition for the same discovery, and was dispatched to the viceroy of Peru, who was to supply him with all that was requisite. He sailed from Lima in January of the year 1605, with three vessels, the Capitana, the Almiranta, and one Zabra, with Luis Vaez de Torres for his admiral, in order to colonize the island of Santa Cruz, and to follow out the intentions of the adelantado Mendaña. After discovering in this voyage many islands and islets, he put in at the island of Taumaco, which is from eight to nine leagues in circuit, in ten degrees south latitude, and about one thousand seven hundred leagues distant from Lima, which is about eighty leagues to the eastward of the island of Santa Cruz. The cacique or chief of 19Taumaco informed him, as well as he could make himself understood, that if he sought the coast of the great Terra Firma, he would light upon it sooner by going to the south than to the island of Santa Cruz; for in the south there were lands very fertile and populous, and running down to a great depth towards the said south. In consequence of which Pedro Fernandez de Quiros abandoned his idea of going to colonize the island of Santa Cruz, and sailed southward with a slight variation to the south-west, discovering many islands and islets, which were very populous and of pleasing appearance, until, in fifteen degrees and twenty minutes south, he discovered the land of the Baia de San Felipe y Santiago, which, on the side that he first came upon, ran from east to west. It appeared to be more than one hundred leagues long; the country was very populous, and, although the people were dark, they were very well favoured; there were also many plantations of trees, and the temperature was so mild that they seemed to be in Paradise; the air, also, was so healthy, that in a few days after they arrived all the men who were sick recovered. The land produced most abundantly many kinds of very delicious fruits, as well as animals and birds in great variety. The bay, also, was no less abundant in fish of excellent flavour, and of all the kinds which are found on the coast of the sea in Spain. The Indians ate for bread certain roots like the batata, either roasted or boiled, which when the Spaniards tasted they found them better eating and more sustaining than biscuit.

For certain reasons (they ought to have been very weighty) which hitherto have not been ascertained with entire certainty, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros left the Almiranta and the Zabra in the said bay, and himself sailed with his ship, the Capitana, for Mexico, from whence he again came to this court to advocate anew the colonization of that land, and was again sent back to the viceroy of Peru, and died at Panamá on his return voyage to Lima. The admiral Luis 20Vaez de Torres being left in the bay and most disconsolate for the loss of the Capitana, resolved, with the consent of his companions, to continue the discovery. Being prevented by stress of weather from making the circuit of the land of the Baia, to see whether it were an island or mainland as they had imagined, and finding himself in great straits in twenty-one degrees south, to which high latitude he had persevered in sailing in about a south-westerly direction from the fifteen or twenty minutes south in which lay the aforesaid Baia, he put back to the north-west and north-east up to fourteen degrees, in which he sighted a very extensive coast, which he took for that of New Guadalcanal; from thence he sailed westwards, having constantly on the right hand the coast of another very great land, which he continued coasting, according to his own reckoning, more than six hundred leagues, having it still to the right hand^[10] (in which course may be understood to be comprehended New Guadalcanal and New Guinea). Along the same coast he discovered a great diversity of islands. The whole country was very fertile and populous; he continued his voyage on to Bachan and Ternate, and from thence to Manilla, which was the end of this discovery.

There was also a pilot named Juan Fernandez, who discovered the track from Lima to Chili by going to the westward (which till then had been made with much difficulty, as they kept along shore, where the southerly winds almost constantly prevail): he sailing from the coast of Chili about the latitude of forty degrees, little more or less, in a small ship, with some of his companions, in courses between west and south-west, was brought in a month’s time to what was, to the best of their judgment, a very fertile and agreeable continent, inhabited by a white and well-proportioned people, 21of our own height, well clad, and of so peaceable and gentle a disposition that, in every way they could express, they showed the greatest hospitality, both with respect to the fruits and productions of their country, which appeared in every respect very rich and plentiful. But (being overjoyed to have discovered the coast of that great and so much desired continent) he returned to Chili, intending to go back properly fitted, and to keep it a secret till they and their friends could return on the discovery. It was delayed from day to day till Juan Fernandez died, when, with his death, this important matter fell to the ground.

In regard to this subject it must be observed, that many have related this discovery of Juan Fernandez in the following manner, affirming that they had it thus from himself, viz.: That going to the westward from Lima, to discover the track to Chili, waiting their opportunity and getting off shore (where the winds almost always are southerly), a certain space of longitude (which he would, at a proper time, declare); and then standing south, with little deviation to the adjoining points, he discovered the said coast of the southern continent in the latitude (which he would also tell when expedient), from whence he made his voyage to Chili.

Other relations, very worthy of credit, give this discovery as before described; but whether it happened in this or the other manner, or whether there were two different discourses, it is a very certain fact that he did discover the coast of the southern land; for it has been thus certified by persons of great credit and authority, to whom the said Juan Fernandez communicated the account, with the above-mentioned proofs and details of the country and the people thus discovered: and one of these witnesses, who made a statement thereof here to Your Majesty, as having heard it from the said pilot, and seen the description he brought of the said coast, was the Maestre del Campo Cortes, a man as worthy 22of credit as any that is known, and who has been employed in Chili nearly sixty years.

When Pedro Fernandez de Quiros sailed from the coast of Peru, he followed nearly the same track until he reached the latitude of twenty-six degrees, when his companions, and especially his admiral, earnestly advised him to continue on until he reached forty degrees, as the most reasonable means of finding the continent which they had come in search of. This, for certain considerations he refused, being apprehensive of unfavourable weather, as he saw that the sun already began to decline towards the equinoctial; but in this refusal he made a great mistake.

That which we have above related, is the most noticeable thing which has hitherto been effected in the shape of discovery in the southern hemisphere in the said longitude in the Pacific; and although, with the exception of the discovery made by the pilot Juan Fernandez, no satisfactory examination of the coast of the much-sought-for great southern continent has been effected, yet, doubtless, the aforesaid voyage failed but little of finding it, and it is either by negligence or by carelessness, and, it may be said, by the acknowledged blunders of some of the adventurers that it has not yet been discovered, for in their explorations they saw very great and manifest signs of a most extensive continent; and when Pedro Fernandez de Quiros reached the aforesaid twenty-six degrees they saw to the south very extensive and thick banks of clouds in the horizon, and other well known signs of mainland, and also a little islet, in which were various kinds of birds of very sweet song, which never sing nor are found at any great distance from the coast of the mainland. They discovered afterwards some islands, still very remote from the coast of Peru and Mexico, inhabited by races very different in feature, form, stature, colour, and language from the Indians of Peru and Mexico, which, apparently, could not have been peopled but from the coast of 23the southern continent. And in other islands which Pedro Fernandez de Quiros discovered in the same voyage, long before he discovered that of Taumaco, he stated that he saw some boys as fair and ruddy as Flemings, amongst the natives of the islands who were almost swarthy, and they said by signs that they brought those whites from a more southern latitude. Nearly the same thing was met with by the adelantado Alvaro de Mendaña, in some island which he discovered before he reached San Christobal and Santa Cruz, as in those which he called the four Marquesas de Mendoza and others, in which there were the same reasons for presuming that they could not have been peopled from the coasts of Peru and Mexico, but from the southern land; not only from the distance from those countries, but from the great difference of the natives from the Indians of Peru and Mexico, and because when questioned by signs they had no knowledge of any land towards Mexico or Peru, and all seemed to point towards the south.

It is of great importance towards the same argument, to take into consideration the often confirmed indications given by the Indians of Taumaco of there being a deep and spacious, populous and fertile continent towards the south. The land also of the Baia de San Felipe y Santiago showed very great signs of its being the coast of the southern continent, as much by its great extent as by there being visible from it, looming at a great distance, cordilleras of very lofty mountains of very agreeable aspect; and by the fact of two rivers falling into the bay, one as large as the Guadalquiver, and the other not quite so broad, all signs of a continent, or at least of a very spacious and deep country approaching to a continent.

Many spacious rivers were also seen to discharge themselves along the coast which the pilot Juan Fernandez discovered, from which and from the signs of the natives, and from the people being so white, so well clad, and in all other 24respects so different from those of Chili and Peru, it was taken for certain that it was the coast of the southern continent, and seemed to be far better and richer than that of Peru. Besides all this, the great number of large islands which, as has been stated, have been discovered on voyages from the coast of Peru, made with the object of discovering the southern land, are necessarily the evidences of the proximity of a very large and not very distant continent, as we see in the islands of the archipelago of San Lazaro, near which are the Phillippines, the Moluccas, Amboina, those of Banda,^[11] the Javas, and many others in their neighbourhood, which are the evidences of the proximity of the great coast of the continent of Asia; I now allude to India beyond the Ganges, the kingdoms of Siam and Cambodia, that of the Great Mogul and China, leaving out what lies more to the westward.

From all which it follows how infallibly certain is the greatness, populousness, fertility, and riches of the southern continent, and how readily, according to what has been above demonstrated, it may be discovered and subjected to an evangelical and spiritual conquest, by which may be attracted to our Mother, the Catholic Church, millions upon millions of most faithful and sincere sons as the result of this mighty evangelical conquest. And if the vast extent of the southern continent of which we have been writing, were not such as it has thus evidently been shown to be, for planting therein the purity of our holy and Catholic religion, nevertheless we have in that portion of the southern hemisphere which we have already seen and visited, if we take into consideration all the above-mentioned islands, more land than half of Europe, and as rich, populous, and fertile, in which there is the full harvest of which Christ our Lord and treasure spoke, to be cultivated by the holy labourers and preachers of His gospel.

25Your Majesty ought to give much consideration to the fact that Christ our Redeemer and supreme good, when He finished the period of His first coming, recommended to His Apostles with the greatest strictness the preaching of His gospel, as the principal means by which the redemption of the human race, which had cost him so much, was to receive its consummation. For this cause it was the last charge He gave to them, that they might understand that it was the principal service they had to render Him, and for which He had chosen them. Immediately after so doing He ascended up to heaven, to give to His most holy humanity the seat of ineffable glory at the right hand of His Father, and receive the crown of the sovereign and universal empire over heaven and earth, as is shown by the evangelist St. Mark in the passage quoted above: “And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved.” And after He “had spoken unto them He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.” Thus also should Your Majesty set the eyes of your heart upon the consummation of the preaching of the gospel in the southern hemisphere, which this same Lord is now recounting to you, with the crown of the universal empire of the globe in His hand, ready to place it upon your head, if you value, as it should be valued, this Divine commission, and execute it with that zeal and devotion which the charge enjoins. But if, which God forbid, Your Majesty should not accept this commission, or withhold the said zeal from the undertaking, it would doubtless be the greatest disaster that could happen to this kingdom, and the most certain sign that God is withdrawing his Hand from us; and even already it seems that this withdrawal has fallen upon us, in that we are not attempting a task which applies to us so well, and which so much concerns these kingdoms 26and all Your Majesty’s possessions. And we do not seem to bethink ourselves that, in neglecting and crushing so great an enterprise, our most culpable and persevering remissness brings upon us this grievous and abiding calamity, which we shall realize with greater certainty when we have to repair such great losses, for we shall have to effect all our conversions amidst great blindness and error.

Meanwhile Your Majesty might not apprehend how that this proposition is the most important that could be made for the welfare of your crown, and that its most speedy and faithful execution should be carried out with the same fervour and zeal as was shown at the commencement by your most Christian predecessors the Catholic kings, who frequently declared that, when other means failed, they themselves would go forth to carry it into effect. By this means will Your Majesty return to find the road which they followed, and by which they brought their kingdom to so great a height of prosperity, from which exalted height it has, through the loss of time and through repeated blunders and hindrances, continued falling, until we have reached such a point that the most inconsiderable nations of Europe, whom we formerly held beneath our feet, now look upon us as an oppressed and afflicted nation and of small account, which is a horrible fact, and an easily recognizable effect of the divine indignation for the aforesaid cause, and there is no one who correctly reasons upon this subject but will come to the same conclusion.

Let me also invite Your Majesty’s attention to the words of the Apostle in the passage quoted above: “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?” And let Your Majesty take into account that the Apostle is speaking with Your Majesty yourself, and with your kingdoms, with reference to this very point, in as much as the charge has been given for 27preaching to the entire southern hemisphere, and especially to that which lies in the Pacific Ocean, and without allowing that any other Christian prince should go or send preachers hither.^[12] If Your Majesty do not send them, how shall they have any knowledge of their Redeemer and be converted to Him? And as the charge was given that these gentiles were to be converted, Your Majesty and your Crown will be principally responsible for their conversion, for you will be the immediate cause of that infinite number of gentiles not hearing the word of the gospel or knowing their Redeemer; for as they should know Him, who is it that, if preachers are not sent, has the guilt of not sending them, and not allowing others to send them? May Your Majesty ponder much upon this matter, for it touches nothing less than your salvation and the final loss of your crown, if we do not perfectly discharge this most righteous duty, and acquit this most heavy debt to our Lord and Redeemer, by sending, as speedily as possible to the southern hemisphere, a sufficient number of preachers of the gospel.

May Your Majesty give no heed to the plausible arguments which some may perhaps advance, with some show of political consideration, that Your Majesty is not in a condition to undertake the conquest of new kingdoms of such great extent and so far off, but will have enough to do to keep those which you already have. There will also not be wanting men learned in the scriptures, who will prove from them that Your Majesty may disregard the fulfilment of an obligation so distinct, and may withdraw from the contract you have made with the Redeemer, through the medium of His vicar and the head of His Church. May Your Majesty 28give no heed to this, but abominate it as mischievous to your greatness, your conscience, and to your crown. For this conquest is to be a spiritual and evangelical one, and by no means entailing, as is supposed, any considerable expense upon Your Majesty, nor a matter which can divert you from walking conformably to the dictates of the Apostle. But rather, in order to secure Your Majesty the restoration and increase of your royal power to the extent of your desires, may Your Majesty give the attention of your exalted understanding to the words of the Apostle to his disciple Timothy, as if he had addressed them personally to Your Majesty: “For the time will come (please God that it may not be that in which we live) when they who are under an obligation to follow sound doctrine so important as this, not only do not receive it, but cannot endure it, heaping up to themselves the opinions of men with the title of teachers, who thereby only flatter them and conform to their wishes, turning away their ears from the truth and changing it into fables.” For such are the superficial arguments of expediency for reasons of state which are advanced in opposition to the extension of the Catholic Church and the increase of our holy faith. The Apostle then says, and we may reasonably understand him as on the present occasion addressing himself to Your Majesty: “But do thou (who, as sovereign prince of this Catholic monarchy, and as having made a contract with the King of kings, art pledged by promise to the completing of the preaching of the gospel), abominating those who shall propose to thee the contrary, watch day and night over the fulfilment of this glorious and important obligation, labour as much as lieth in you that it may by all possible means be accomplished, do the work of an evangelist; for as the evangelists wrote the gospel in order that thou mightest cause it to be preached to the gentiles, do thou after thy manner perform the same office which they performed in preaching. Placing great value on the fact 29that the Redeemer would not entrust the charge to any other prince but to thy illustrious house, do thou give all thy strength to the full and perfect completion of this grand and exalted ministry, so that no gap be left.” By so doing Your Majesty will be able to say at the day of account, that which immediately afterwards is said by the Apostle: “Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi; in reliquo reposita est mihi corona justitiæ, quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex, non solum autem mihi, sed his qui diligunt adventum ejus.” I have fought the good fight gloriously, overcoming the greater power of Lucifer, liberating from his tyrannical and abominable servitude so great a number of millions of souls in the southern hemisphere, which would have been lost and would have lost the Redeemer, who laid upon me the charge of this great and heroic deed; I have finished most faithfully my course; I have kept His faith pure in this Catholic seminary of my kingdom, and have transplanted it with the same purity into the hearts of the infinite number of gentiles which dwell in that spacious fold; and thus may I justly hope from the hand of the King Eternal, in the great day of the universal account, the glorious and blessed crown of righteousness (which the Apostle hoped for himself) from having rendered this service, the most acceptable which any king or prince of the world shall have rendered to the Divine Majesty. The same Apostle afterwards goes on to say, that not only would it be given to him, but to all those that love the coming of the just Judge, which are those who hold in such account the fulfilment of their obligations, and especially of so heavenly an one as this, that they may justly hope for the reward of that unspeakably glorious crown. Your Majesty may also entertain a like security of hope that, if the present proposition and prayer be accepted and undertaken with the earnest promptitude which, as has been shown, is enjoined upon you, there will be added to your 30present enjoyment of these Catholic kingdoms, and of the other possessions of your monarchy, every possible exaltation and aggrandisement, which is the most affectionate desire of Your Majesty’s faithful subjects and servants.

Being in this city of Manila, at the end of a year and a half of navigation and making discovery of the lands and seas in the southern parts; and seeing that the Royal Audience of Manila have not hitherto thought proper to give me dispatches for completing the voyage as Your Majesty commanded, and as I was in hopes of being the first to give yourself a relation of the discovery, etc.; but being detained here, and not knowing if, in this city of Manila, I shall receive my dispatches, I have thought proper to send Your Majesty Fray Juan de Merlo, of the order of San Francisco, one of the three religious who were on board with me, who having been an eye-witness, will give a full relation to Your Majesty. The account from me is the following.

We sailed from Callao, in Peru, December 21st, 1605, with two ships and a launch, under the command of Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, and I for his almirante; and without losing company, we stood W.S.W., and went on this course 800 leagues.

32In latitude 26° S., it appeared proper to our commander not to pass that latitude, because of changes in the weather: on which account I gave a declaration under my hand that it was not a thing obvious that we ought to diminish our latitude, if the season would allow, till we got beyond 30 degrees. My opinion had no effect; for from the said 26 v., we decreased our latitude in a W.N.W. course to 24½v. In this situation we found a small low island, about two leagues long, uninhabited and without anchoring ground.

From hence we sailed W. by N. to 24° S. In this situation we found another island, uninhabited, and without anchorage. It was about ten leagues in circumference. We named it San Valerio.

From hence we sailed W. by N. one day, and then W.N.W. to 21⅓° S., where we found another small low island without soundings, uninhabited, and divided into pieces.

We passed on in the same course, and sailed twenty-five leagues: we found four islands in a triangle, five or six leagues each; low, uninhabited, and without soundings. We named them las Virgines (the Virgins). Here the variation was north-easterly.

From hence we sailed N.W. to 19° S. In this situation we saw a small island to the eastward, about three leagues distant. It appeared like those we had passed. We named it Sta. Polonia.

Diminishing our latitude from hence half a degree, we saw a low island, with a point to the S.E., full of palms: it is in 18½° S. We arrived at it. It had no anchorage. We saw people on the beach: the boats went to the shore, and when they reached it, they could not land on account of the great surf and rocks. The Indians called to them from the land: two Spaniards swam ashore: these they received well, throwing their arms upon the ground, and embraced them and kissed them in the face. On this friendship, a chief 33among them came on board the Capitana to converse, and an old woman; who were cloathed, and other presents were made to them, and they returned ashore presently, for they were in great fear. In return for these good offices they sent a heap, or locks of hair, and some bad feathers, and some wrought pearl oyster shells: these were all their valuables. They were a savage people, mulattoes, and corpulent: the arms they use are lances, very long and thick. As we could not land nor get anchoring ground, we passed on, steering W.N.W.

We went in this direction from that island, getting sight of land. We could not reach it from the first, on account of the wind being contrary and strong with much rain: it was all of it very low, so as in parts to be overflowed.

From this place in 16½° S., we stood N.W. by N. to 10¾° S. In this situation we saw an island, which was supposed to be that of San Bernardo, because it was in pieces: but it was not San Bernardo, from what we afterwards saw. We did not find anchoring ground at it, though the boats went on shore to search for water, which we were in want of, but could not find any: they only found some cocoa-nut trees, though small. Our commander seeing we wanted water, agreed that we should go to the island Santa Cruz, where he had been with the adelantado Alvaro de Mendana, saying we might there supply ourselves with water and wood, and then he would determine what was most expedient for Your Majesty’s service. The crew of the Capitana at this time were mutinous, designing to go directly to Manila: on this account he sent the chief pilot a prisoner on board my ship, without doing anything farther to him or others, though I strongly importuned him to punish them, or give me leave to punish them; but he did not choose to do it, from whence succeeded what Your Majesty knows, since they made him turn from the course [voyage], as will be mentioned, and he has probably said at Your Majesty’s court.

34We sailed from the above island W. by N., and found nearly a point easterly variation. We continued this course till in full 10° S. latitude. In this situation we found a low island of five or six leagues, overflowed and without soundings: it was inhabited, the people and arms like those we had left, but their vessels were different. They came close to the ship, talking to us and taking what we gave them, begging more, and stealing what was hanging to the ship, throwing lances, thinking we could not do them any harm. Seeing we could not anchor, on account of the want we were in of water, our commander ordered me ashore with two boats and fifty men. As soon as we came to the shore they opposed my entrance, without any longer keeping peace, which obliged me to skirmish with them. When we had done them some mischief, three of them came out to make peace with me, singing, with branches in their hands, and one with a lighted torch and on his knees. We received them well and embraced them, and then cloathed them, for they were some of the chiefs; and asking them for water they did not choose to shew it me, making signs as if they did not understand me. Keeping the three chiefs with me, I ordered the sergeant, with twelve men, to search for water, and having fallen in with it, the Indians came out on their flank and attacked them, wounding one Spaniard. Seeing their treachery they were attacked and defeated, without other harm whatever. The land being in my power, I went over the town without finding anything but dried oysters and fish, and many cocoa-nuts, with which the land was well provided. We found no birds nor animals, except little dogs. They have many covered embarcations, with which they are accustomed to navigate to other islands, with latine sails made curiously of mats; and of the same cloth their women are cloathed with little shifts and petticoats, and the men only round their waists and hips. From hence we put off with the boats loaded with water, but by the 35great swell we were overset with much risk of our lives, and so we were obliged to go on without getting water at this island. We named it Matanza.

We sailed in this parallel thirty-two days. In all this route we had very strong currents, and many drifts of wood and snakes, and many birds, all which were signs of land on both sides of us. We did not search for it, that we might not leave the latitude of the island of Santa Cruz, for we always supposed ourselves near it; and with reason, if it had been where the first voyage when it was discovered had represented; but it was much further on, as by the account will be seen. So that about sixty leagues before reaching it, and 1940 from the city of Lima, we found a small island of six leagues, very high, and all round it very good soundings; and other small islands near it, under shelter of which the ships anchored. I went with the two boats and fifty men to reconnoitre the people of this island; and at the distance of a musket shot separate from the island, we found a town surrounded with a wall, with only one entrance, without a gate. Being near with the two boats with an intention of investing them, as they did not by signs choose peace, at length their chief came into the water up to his neck, with a staff in his hand, and without fear came directly to the boats; where he was very well received, and by signs which we very well understood, he told me that his people were in great terror of the muskets, and therefore he entreated us not to land, and said that they would bring water and wood if we gave them vessels. I told him that it was necessary to remain five days on shore to refresh. Seeing he could not do more with me he quieted his people, who were very uneasy and turbulent, and so it happened that no hostility was committed on either side. We went into the fort very safely; and having halted, I made them give up their arms, and made them bring from their houses their effects, which were not of any value, and go with them to the island to other 36towns. They thanked me very much: the chief always continued with me. They then told me the name of the country: all came to me to make peace, and the chiefs assisted me, making their people get water and wood and carry it on board the ships. In this we spent six days.

The people of this island are of an agreeable conversation, understanding us very well, desirous of learning our language and to teach us theirs. They are great cruizers: they have much beard; they are great archers and hurlers of darts; the vessels in which they sail are large, and can go a great way. They informed us of more than forty islands, great and small, all peopled, naming them by their names, and telling us that they were at war with many of them. They also gave us intelligence of the island Santa Cruz, and of what had happened when the adelantado was there.

The people of this island are of ordinary stature: they have amongst them people white and red, some in colour like those of the Indies, others woolly-headed blacks and mulattoes. Slavery is in use amongst them. Their food is yams, fish, cocoa-nuts, and they have hogs and fowls.

This island is named Taomaco, and the name of the chief is Tomai. We departed from hence with four Indians whom we took, at which they were not much pleased: and as we here got wood and water, there was no necessity for us to go to the Island Santa Cruz, which, as I have said, is in this parallel sixty leagues farther on.

So we sailed from hence, steering S.S.E. to 12½° S. latitude, where we found an island like that of Taomaco, and with the same kind of people, named Chucupia: there is only one small anchoring place; and passing in the offing, a small canoe with only two men came to me to make peace, and presented me some bark of a tree, which appeared like a very fine handkerchief, four yards long and three palms wide: on this I parted from them.

37From hence we steered south. We had a hard gale of wind from the north, which obliged us to lye to for two days: at the end of that time it was thought, as it was winter, that we could not exceed the latitude of 14° S., in which we were, though my opinion was always directly contrary, thinking we should search for the islands named by the Indians of Taomaco. Wherefore sailing from this place we steered west, and in one day’s sail we discovered a volcano, very high and large, above three leagues in circuit, full of trees, and of black people with much beard.

To the westward, and in sight of this volcano, was an island, not very high and pleasant in appearance. There are few anchoring places, and those very close to the shore: it was very full of black people. Here we caught two in some canoes, whom we cloathed and gave them presents, and the next day we put them ashore. In return for this they shot a flight of arrows at a Spaniard, though in truth it was not in the same port, but about a musket shot farther on. They are, however, a people that never miss an opportunity of doing mischief.

In sight of this island and around it are many islands, very high and large, and to the southward one so large that we stood for it, naming the island where our man was wounded Santa Maria.

Sailing thence to the southward towards the large island, we discovered a very large bay, well peopled, and very fertile in yams and fruits, hogs and fowls. They are all black people and naked. They fight with bows, darts and clubs. They did not choose to have peace with us, though we frequently spoke to them and made presents; and they never, with their goodwill, let us set foot on shore.

This bay is very refreshing, and in it fall many and large rivers. It is in 15⅔° S. latitude, and in circuit it is twenty-five leagues. We named it the bay de San Felipe y Santiago, and the land del Espiritu Santo.

38There we remained fifty days:^[13] we took possession in the name of Your Majesty. From within this bay, and from the most sheltered part of it, the Capitana departed at one hour past midnight, without any notice given to us, and without making any signal. This happened the 11th of June. And although the next morning we went out to seek for them, and made all proper efforts, it was not possible for us to find them; for they did not sail on the proper course, nor with good intention. So I was obliged to return to the bay, to see if by chance they had returned thither. And on the same account we remained in this bay fifteen days; at the end of which we took Your Majesty’s orders, and held a consultation with the officers of the frigate. It was determined that we should fulfil them, although contrary to the inclination of many, I may say, of the greater part; but my condition was different from that of Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros.

At length we sailed from this bay, in conformity to the order, although with intention to sail round this island, but the season and the strong currents would not allow this, although I ran along a great part of it. In what I saw, there are very large mountains. It has many ports, though some of them are small. All of it is well watered with rivers. We had at this time nothing but bread and water: it was the height of winter, with sea, wind, and ill will [of his crew] against us. All this did not prevent me from reaching the mentioned latitude, which I passed one degree, and would have gone farther if the weather had permitted; for the ship was good. It was proper to act in this manner, for these are not voyages performed every day, nor could Your Majesty otherwise be properly informed. Going into the said latitude on a S.W. course, we had no signs of land that way.

39From hence I stood back to the N.W. to 11½° S. latitude: there we fell in with the beginning of New Guinea, the coast of which runs W. by N. and E. by S. I could not weather the east point, so I coasted along to the westward on the south side.

All this land of New Guinea is peopled with Indians, not very white, and naked, except their waists, which are covered with a cloth made of the bark of trees, and much painted. They fight with darts, targets, and some stone clubs, which are made fine with plumage. Along the coast are many islands and habitations. All the coast has many ports, very large, with very large rivers, and many plains. Without these islands there runs a reef of shoals, and between them [the shoals] and the main land are the islands. There is a channel within. In these ports I took possession for Your Majesty.

We went along three hundred leagues of coast, as I have mentioned, and diminished the latitude 2½°, which brought us into 9°. From hence we fell in with a bank of from three to nine fathoms, which extends along the coast above 180 leagues. We went over it along the coast to 7½° S. latitude, and the end of it is in 5°. We could not go farther on for the many shoals and great currents, so we were obliged to sail out S.W. in that depth to 11° S. latitude. There is all over it an archipelago of islands without number, by which we passed, and at the end of the eleventh degree the bank became shoaler. Here were very large islands, and there appeared more to the southward: they were inhabited by black people, very corpulent, and naked: their arms were lances, arrows, and clubs of stone ill-fashioned. We could not get any of their arms. We caught in all this land twenty persons of different nations, that with them we might be able to give a better account to Your Majesty. They give much notice of other people, although as yet they do not make themselves well understood.

40We went upon this bank for two months, at the end of which time we found ourselves in twenty-five fathoms, and in 5° S. latitude, and ten leagues from the coast. And having gone 480 leagues, here the coast goes to the N.E. I did not reach it, for the bank became very shallow. So we stood to the north, and in twenty-five fathoms to 4° latitude, where we fell in with a coast, which likewise lay in a direction east and west. We did not see the eastern termination, but from what we understood of it, it joins the other we had left on account of the bank, the sea being very smooth. This land is peopled by blacks, different from all the others: they are better adorned: they use arrows, darts, and large shields, and some sticks of bamboo filled with lime, with which, by throwing it out, they blind their enemies. Finally, we stood to the W.N.W. along the coast, always finding this people, for we landed in many places: also in it we took possession for Your Majesty. In this land also we found iron, china bells, and other things, by which we knew we were near the Malucas; and so we ran along this coast above 130 leagues, where it comes to a termination fifty leagues before you reach the Malucas. There is an infinity of islands to the southward, and very large, which for the want of provisions we did not approach; for I doubt if in ten years could be examined the coasts of all the islands we descried. We observed the variation in all this land of New Guinea to the Molucas; and in all of it the variation agrees with the meridian of the Ladrone Islands and of the Philippine Islands.

At the termination of this land we found Mahometans, who were cloathed, and had firearms and swords. They sold us fowls, goats, fruit and some pepper, and biscuit which they called sagoe, which will keep more than twenty years. The whole they sold us was but little; for they wanted cloth, and we had not any; for all the things that had been given us for traffic were carried away by the 41Capitana, even to tools and medicines, and many other things which I do not mention, as there is no help for it; but, without them, God took care of us.

These Moors gave us news of the events at the Malucas, and told us of Dutch ships, though none of them came here, although they said that in all this land there was much gold and other good things, such as pepper and nutmegs. From hence to the Malucas it is all islands, and on the south side are many uniting with those of Banda and Amboyna, where the Dutch carry on a trade. We came to the islands of Bachian, which are the first Malucas, where we found a Theatine, with about one hundred Christians in the country of a Mahometan king friendly to us, who begged me to subdue one of the Ternate islands inhabited by revolted Mahometans, to whom Don Pedro de Acunha had given pardon in Your Majesty’s name, which I had maintained; and I sent advice to the M. de Campo, Juan de Esquivel, who governed the islands of Ternate, of my arrival, and demanded if it was expedient to give this assistance to the king of Bachian, to which he [Juan de Esquivel] answered that it would be of great service to Your Majesty if I brought force for that purpose. On this, with forty Spaniards and four hundred Moors of the king of Bachian, I made war, and in only four days I defeated them and took the fort, and put the king of Bachian in possession of it in Your Majesty’s name, to whom we administered the usual oaths, stipulating with him that he should never go to war against Christians, and that he should ever be a faithful vassal to Your Majesty. I did not find these people of so intrepid a spirit as those we had left.

It must be ascribed to the Almighty that, in all these labours and victories, we lost only one Spaniard. I do not make a relation of them to Your Majesty, for I hope to give it at large.

The king being put in possession, I departed for Ternate, which was twelve leagues from this island, where Juan de 42Esquivel was, by whom I was very well received; for he had great scarcity of people, and the nations of Ternate were in rebellion, and assistance to him was very unexpected in so roundabout a way.

In a few days afterwards arrived succour from Manila, which was much desired, for half of the people left by Don Pedro de Acunha were no more, and there was a scarcity of provisions, for, as I said, the nations of the island were in rebellion; but by the prudence of the M. de Campo, Juan de Esquivel, he went on putting the affairs of the island in good order, although he was in want of money.

I left the Patache here and about twenty men, as it was expedient for the service of Your Majesty. From hence I departed for the city of Manila, where they gave me so bad a dispatch, as I have mentioned; and hitherto, which is now two months, they have not given provisions to the crew; and so I know not when I can sail from hence to give account to Your Majesty,

Instructions for the commodore, Captain Abel Jansz Tasman, the skipper chief-pilot, Franz Jacobsz Visser, and the counsel of the yachts Limmen and Zeemeuw, and the tender De Brak, destined for a nearer discovery of Nova Guinea, and the unknown coasts of the discovered east and south lands, together with the channels and the islands supposed to be situated between and near them.

The several successive administrations of India, in order to enlarge and extend the trade of the Dutch East India Company, have zealously endeavoured to make an early discovery of the great land of Nova Guinea, and other unknown east and southerly countries, as you know by several discourses, and maps, journals, and papers communicated to you. But hitherto with little success, although several voyages have been undertaken.

1st. By order of the president, John Williamsson Verschoor, who at that time directed the company’s trade at Bantam, which was in the year 1606, with the yacht the Duyfhen, who in their passage sailed by the islands Key and Aroum, and discovered the south and west coast of Nova Guinea, for about 220 miles (880) from 5° to 13¾° south latitude: and found this extensive country, for the 44greatest part desert, but in some places inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages, by whom some of the crew were murdered; for which reason they could not learn anything of the land or waters, as had been desired of them, and, by want of provisions and other necessaries, they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished: the furthest point of the land was called in their map Cape Keer-Weer,^[14] situated in 13¾° S.

The second voyage was undertaken with a yacht, in the year 1617, by order of the Fiscal D’Edel, with little success, of which adventures and discoveries, through the loss of their journals and remarks, nothing certain is to be found.

From this time the further discoveries of the unknown east and south countries were postponed until the year 1623, on account of there being no ships to spare; but in the interim, in the year 1619, a ship, named the Arms of Amsterdam, destined to Banda, drove past that place and touched at the south coast of Nova Guinea, where some of the crew were murdered by the savage inhabitants, wherefore they acquired no certain knowledge of the country.

But in the meantime, in the years 1616, 1618, 1619, and 1622, the west coast of this great unknown south land, from 35° to 22° S. latitude, was discovered by outward bound ships, and among them by the ship Endraght; for the nearer discovery of which the governor-general, Jan Pietersz Coen (of worthy memory), in September 1622, dispatched the yachts De Haring and Harewind; but this voyage was rendered abortive by meeting the ship Mauritius, and searching after the ship Rotterdam.

In consequence of which, by order of His Excellency, the third voyage was undertaken in the month of January 1623, with the yachts Pera and Arnhem, out of Amboina, under the command of Jan Carstens; with order to make a nearer friendship with the inhabitants of the islands Key, Aroum, 45and Tenimber, and better to discover Nova Guinea and the south lands, when an alliance was made with the said islands and the south coast of Nova Guinea nearer discovered. The skipper, with eight of the crew of the yacht Arnhem, was treacherously murdered by the inhabitants; and after a discovery of the great islands Arnhem and the Spult (by an untimely separation) this yacht, with very little success, came back to Amboina.

But the yacht Pera persisting in the voyage, sailed along the south coast of Nova Guinea to a flat cove on this coast, situated in 10° south latitude, and ran along the west coast of this land to Cape Keer-Weer, from thence discovered the coast farther southward as far as 17° S. to Staten River (from this place what more of the land could be discerned seemed to stretch westward), and from thence returned to Amboina.

In this discovery were found everywhere shallow water and barren coast; islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations, and of very little use to the Company. The journal of this voyage is not now to be found; but the discovered countries may be seen in the maps which were made of them.

Through the little success of this third voyage, but mostly because no ships could be spared, the discovery was again omitted until 1636; but in the interim, in the year 1627, the south coast of the great south land was accidentally discovered by the ship the Gulde Zeepard, outward bound from Fatherland,^[15] for the space of 250 miles (1000); and again accidentally in the year following, 1628, on the north-side, in the latitude of 21° S., by the ship Vianen, homeward bound from India; when they coasted about 50 miles (200) without gaining any particular knowledge of this great country, only observing a foul and barren shore, green fields, 46and very wild, black, barbarous inhabitants; all which, by the loss of the ship Batavia, and the cruelties and miseries which followed from that, is fully proved, and was experienced by the crew of the yacht Sardam, in their course along this coast.

At last the fourth voyage was undertaken (in our government) in the month of April 1636, from Banda, with the yachts Clyn Amsterdam and Wesel, under the command of Gerrit Tomasz Pool, for the discovery of the east and south lands; when they first discovered the coast of Nova Guinea in 3½° south latitude, and coasted about 60 miles (240´) to the eastward to 5° S.; when the commodore Pool, with three of the crew (by the barbarous inhabitants) was murdered, at the same place where the skipper of the yacht Arnhem was killed in the year 1623.

Notwithstanding which the voyage was assiduously continued, under the supercargo Pieter Pietersz, and the islands Key and Aroum visited; by very strong easterly winds they could not reach the west coast of Nova Guinea, but shaping their course very near south, descried the coast of Arnhem or Van Diemen’s Land, in 11° south latitude, and sailed along the coast for 30 miles (120), without seeing any people, but many signs of smoke; when, turning towards the north, they visited the unknown islands of Timor Laut,^[16] and the known islands of Tenimber, Kauwer, etc., but without ever being able to converse with the inhabitants, who were a very timid people; when, after three months cruising, they returned in July to Banda, without (in this voyage) having done or discovered anything of consequence; which may be seen by the journals and maps.

After the little success in these voyages, nothing further 47was attempted on discovery to the eastward; but last year (under your direction) the discovery of the remaining unknown south lands was assiduously re-attempted; and in that remarkable voyage was that great unknown Staten^[17] and Van Diemen’s Land discovered from 35° to 43° south latitude, and at the same time the (so long wished for) passage to the South Sea; but it is unnecessary to relate more here, as you are perfectly acquainted with all particulars.

But to obtain a thorough knowledge of these extensive countries, the discovery whereof has been begun (in consequence of the intention of the Company and the recommendation of our masters), now only remains for the future to discover whether Nova Guinea is one continent with that great south land, or separated by channels and islands lying between them; and also whether that New Van Diemen’s Land is the same continent with these two great countries, or with one of them; or, if separated from them, what islands may be dispersed between Nova Guinea and the unknown south land, when, after more experience and knowledge of all the said known and unknown countries, we shall be better enabled for further undertakings.

After considering well what is above related, and by our estimate of the present strength of the Company’s naval forces, it is found that, without prejudice to the ordinary trading and warlike expeditions, two or three yachts could be spared, it is therefore resolved in the Council of India, to equip the yachts Limmen, the Zeemeuw, and the Brak, for the further discovery of the east and south lands, to furnish them well with all necessaries, and to commit them to your conduct, in confidence that you will with courage, vigilance, prudence, good order, and the requisite perseverance, skilfully direct this important voyage, in such a manner as to be capable to give an account, on your return, fully to our contentment.

481st. You shall early to-morrow morning, after mustering your men, proceed to sea in company, and steer your course to Macassar, Amboina, and Banda; as the service of the Company shall require, and by separate instructions you are commanded, by which you are entirely to regulate your voyage to the above places.

On your arrival at Amboina and Banda, you shall plentifully stock your yachts with water, fuel, and all other necessaries; in the time you are there the crews are to be supplied with all sorts of fresh provisions, and well provided for the voyage; for which purpose this shall be an order to the vice-governors^[18] Gerrit Demmer and Cornelis Witzen, to whom you have to communicate your instructions, and demand, in writing, the further knowledge they may have of the countries situated to the east of Banda; and particularly the journal of the commodore Carstens, which we think may still be found there, and be of some service to you on the voyage.

But by this we by no means intend you shall spend any time unprofitably, but dispatch everything so assiduously that you may leave Banda in the latter end of February, when the west monsoon has set in, fixing, with the advice of the council, instructions for the signals at the beginning of your voyage, in which particularly is to be inserted by what method the yachts may join, in case (which God prevent) they by storm or other accidents were separated, upon which event the good success of the intended voyage chiefly depends.

After fulfilling your orders at Amboina and Banda, you shall (as is mentioned) in the latter end of February (or sooner, if possible) undertake, in the name of God, the voyage you are ordered upon, and steer your course eastward, between and in view of the islands Tenimber, Key, and 49Aroum, to the point Ture, or False Cape, situated in 8° on the south coast of Nova Guinea: from which place you are to continue eastward along the coast till 9° south latitude, crossing prudently the cove at that place; looking about the high islands or Speult’s River with the yachts for a harbour, and to inspect into the state of the country; dispatching the tender Brak for two or three days into the cove, in order to discover whether, within the great inlet, there is not to be found an entrance into the South Sea; which soon may be determined by the current of the streams. From this place you are to coast along the west coast of Nova Guinea, to the farthest discoveries in 170° S. latitude, following this coast farther as it may run west or southward.

But it is to be feared you will meet in these parts with the S.E. trade winds, by which it will be difficult to keep the coast on board, if stretching to the S.E.; but notwithstanding this, endeavour by all means to proceed, by reason that we may be sure whether this land is divided from the great known south continent or not, which by the great and slow swell from the S.E. may well be perceived; in which case you shall try (if possible) to run so far to the S.E. as the New Van Diemen’s Land, and from thence to the islands of St. Peter and St. François, to learn the situation of these to the northward, and at the same time to be assured (which is much wished for) of a passage to the South Sea, between them and the known south land, which found (as we presume, and hope) you ought, returning through the discovered passage, to steer along the east coast of the known south land, according to its trending; following its direction to the westward, to De Wit’s Land and William’s River, in 22° south latitude, when the known south land would be entirely circumnavigated, and discovered to be the largest island of the globe.

But if (as we presume) the land of Nova Guinea is joined to the south land, and in consequence is one continent; you 50will be enabled by the S.E. trade wind to run along the north coast from 17° to 22° S., and thus entirely to discover this land, from whence (if wind and weather by any means will permit) you shall steer along the land of De Endragt to Houtman’s Abrolhos, and come to an anchor at a fit place thereabout; and endeavour to find a chest containing eight thousand rixdollars, that remained in the wreck of the ship Batavia, a brass half cartow^[19] having fallen on that chest when it foundered at that place in the year 1629, and which the crew of the yacht Sardam dragged for in vain. At the same time you shall (if possible) recover that piece, by this you will render service to the Company, for which reason be not negligent in the discharge of your duty.

Likewise inquire, at the continent thereabout, after two Dutchmen, who, having forfeited their lives, were put on shore by the commodore Francisco Pelsert, if still alive, in which case you may make your inquiries of them about the situation of those countries; and, if they entreat you to that purpose, give them passage hither; on this occasion you ought to search for a good water and refreshing-place, about the 26° or 28 S. latitude, which would be a desirable thing for the outward bound ships.

But if the late time of the year and the appearance of storms will not permit you to reach Houtman’s Shoal, which after experience we leave to yours and the council’s own judgment, consider how you have to sail again from William’s River to the east, along the coast of the south land and from De Wit’s Land, by the help of the S.E. trade wind, to run across very near eastward to complete the discovery of Arnhem’s and Van Diemen’s Lands; and to ascertain perfectly whether these lands are not one and the same island, and what these places produce; likewise what other islands besides Baly, Sumbava, and Timor, may be situated about the south land.

51After all this (by the help of God) shall be fortunately transacted, which we hope can be done before the end of the month of June (having either reached Houtman’s Abrolhos or Van Diemen’s Land), you have to steer your course to the south coast of Java, and along the coast through the Strait of Sunda, to return to Batavia: at which place we shall expect you in July following attended with good success.

Of all the lands, countries, islands, capes, points or coves, inlets, bays, rivers, shoals, reefs, sands, cliffs, rocks, etc., which you meet with and pass in this discovery, as well upon the coast of Nova Guinea and the south land, as in the Indian Ocean and the inland seas, you are to make accurate maps and circumstantial descriptions, and to draw perfectly the views and form, for which purpose a draughtsman is to go along with you.

Be particularly careful about longitude and latitude, in what direction and at what distances the coasts, islands, capes, points, bays and rivers are situated from one and other, and what are the marks by which they may be known, as mountains, hills, trees, or buildings to be seen thereupon.

Take a thorough survey of the depth of the water near shore, and of the sunken rocks, the rapid current of the rivers at the points, how and by what marks they are to be avoided, and if the bottom is hard, soft, sharp, flat, sloping, or steep, and if they may be approached or not, by the soundings; upon what marks the best anchoring places in harbours and bays are to be found, how the inlets and rivers are to be entered, what winds usually blow in the different parts; the course of the streams, whether ebb and flood are regulated by the moon or wind; what alterations of monsoon, rain or dry weather you experience; and observe farther diligently to remark and note down (which is the duty of all able pilots) whatever may be of service in future voyages to the discovered countries.

52The time of the year will doubtless not permit, by the shortening of the days, to lose any time, but carefully and diligently to proceed; for the above reason it is of consequence to discover as much, and in as short a time as possible.

Nevertheless, to discover in a proper manner the coasts of the east and south lands, it will be necessary in good time, now and then, to anchor in proper places, always looking for and choosing such bays and harbours as with the least danger may be entered and left, where you may lye in safety, and which by accidental winds, or for other reasons, you may soon quit.

But be particularly careful, circumspect and prudent in landing with small craft, because (as above is mentioned) at several times Nova Guinea has been found to be inhabited by cruel wild savages, and as it is uncertain what sort of people the inhabitants of the south lands are, it may rather be presumed that they are also wild and barbarous savages, than a civilized people, for which reason you ought always to be upon your guard and well armed; because in all countries of the globe experience has taught us no savages are to be trusted, by reason they always suppose people who appear so unexpectedly and strangely to them, are only come to invade their country: all which is proved in the discovery of America and the Indies, by the surprize and murdering many careless and unwary discoverers, many times to the ruin of their voyages.

When you meet and converse with any of these savages, behave well and friendly to them; do not take notice of little affronts or thefts which they practise upon you, because resentment might create disgust; but try by all means to engage their affection to you, the better to learn from them the state of their country, particularly if any thing for the service of the Company may be done there.

You are also to inquire, as much as time will permit, into 53the productions of their country, the fruits and animals, the buildings, the shape and faces of the people, their clothing, arms, morals, manners, food, trade, religion, government, war, and everything worthy of remark; particularly whether they are peaceable or malicious.

You are to show the samples of the goods which you carry along with you, to inquire what materials and goods they possess, and what is wanted of ours; all which you are closely to observe, well to annotate, and correctly to describe; for which reasons you are to keep a very circumstantial journal, wherein all particulars may be perfectly inserted, by which, upon your return, you may give a satisfactory report to us.

If any country be discovered peopled by a civilized nation (as apparently will not be the case), you may depend more upon them than upon the wild savages; try to converse with their governors and subjects, and to establish an acquaintance; inform them you come there to trade, show them the goods in proper order; for this purpose laden on board of both the yachts and the tender, amounting to the sum of 2,809 guilders, 17 stivers, and 3 penningen, of all which the junior merchants have to keep books in proper order, by which they (when called upon) may be enabled to give a satisfactory account.

Shewing the samples and goods, you and the junior merchants are carefully to remark what goods the strange nations most esteem, and to which they are most inclined; likewise inquire what merchandize and goods they possess, particularly after gold and silver, and whether these metals are held in great esteem; to keep them ignorant of the precious value, seem not greedy after it; if they offer to barter for your goods, seem not to covet these minerals, but shew them copper, tutenag,^[20] pewter and lead, as if these were of more value to us. If you find them inclined to trade, keep the 54goods which they seem most greedy after at so high a value that none may be sold, nor bartered without great profit. Likewise take nothing but what you are convinced will turn out profitable to the Company, which in trading you will learn. It will be particularly necessary to bring samples of the most rare things to be found there, and of all the rest exact account, to see what returns from thence can be made, and for the future may be serviceable.

You are prudently to prevent all insolences and maltreatment of the ship’s crew against the discovered nations, and to take care by no means to insult them, in their houses, gardens, ships, possessions, nor women, etc. Likewise not to carry away any inhabitants against their will, but if a few voluntarily should be inclined to go along with you, then you are permitted to bring them to this place.

We have herein expressed in general our intentions respecting the voyage you are to undertake, but as upon all that may occur no precise orders can be given, we leave the rest to your zeal, vigilance and good conduct, likewise to the council’s prudent dispositions, in a full hope and confidence you will in this expedition be so vigilant as to succeed to the service of the Company, when we will not be backward to recompense your endeavours as you may merit; for if in this voyage are discovered any countries, islands or passages profitable to the Company, we promise you by this to reward the conductors and well-behaving ships’ crew, with such premiums as we shall find their good service to have merited, upon which you all may depend. Likewise you are to fix a competent premium to those who first shall perceive an unknown country, island, shoal, rock, or dangerous foul ground, in order to avoid as much as possible all misfortunes.

To prevent any other European nation from reaping (perhaps) the fruits of our labour and expences in these discoveries, you are everywhere to take possession, in the name 55and by orders of the Dutch East India Company, of the countries and islands you may arrive at not inhabited by savages; to put up some signs, for instance, plant trees, sow some fruit trees, erect a stone or post, and to cut or carve in them the arms of the Netherlands or of the Company, and in what year and at what time such a land was discovered and taken in possession, declaring further in intention by the first opportunity to send people thither from hence, and to establish a colony, to secure the property nearer to us.

But if it so happeneth (which is not likely) that you discover some countries or islands that may have a polished government, you are to endeavour with its chiefs or governors (in the name as above) to make contract upon the most advantageous terms you possibly can obtain, including a resignation (if they are inclined to do such); or permission to frequent the place exclusive of all other nations; or other advantages for the Company: all which you must note down circumstantially in your journals, expressing the names and qualities of those with whom you shall have treated, to serve the Company when it may be wanted.

In order this dangerous voyage, according to these instructions and our good intentions, may be well regulated and finished, good order kept amongst the crew, right and justice administered conformable to the general articles; and everything (which upon so dangerous and long a voyage may happen and be required) be done and transacted to the greatest service of the Company; we appoint by this the Honourable Abel Jansz Tasman, commodore of the three yachts and the crew which sail with them: we authorise him to hoist the pendant on board the yacht Limmen, to assemble the council, whereof he is to be constantly president: command, in consequence, the officers, soldiers, and sailors (no body excepted) appointed upon the yachts Limmen, De Zeemeuw, and De Brak, to acknowledge and obey 56him as their chief and commander; to support him, by good advice and assiduity, to the forwarding of the voyage and the ordered discovery of the unknown countries, as is the duty of vigilant and faithful servants, in such a manner as, upon return, every one may be able to answer.

The council of the three yachts shall consist of the following persons:—

By this council shall all occurring business towards forwarding the voyage, fulfilling of our orders, and administering of justice, be concluded upon and transacted: if it so happen there is an equal number of votes the commodore is to have two votes; but in cases of navigation and discovery of countries, the second mates shall also assist with advising votes, all which the commodore shall collect, and determine by the majority of the concluding votes, taking care to have all resolutions instantly triply registered and strictly complied with for the service of the Company.

In the council of each particular yacht, the junior merchant or bookkeeper and high boatswains, shall be called as directed in the orders of our masters.

If the commodore Tasman (which God forbid) should decease, such a person shall succeed him as in our sealed act is nominated, which in every respect, conformable to this instruction, in manner his predecessor commanded, and (as is right) he shall be obeyed.

57The yachts are manned with 111 persons, and amongst them one officer and 16 soldiers. Namely:—

Are well provided with all necessary ammunition, tools and utensils, and for eight months plentifully victualled. Manage everything well and orderly, take notice you see the ordinary portion of two meat and two pork days, and a quarter of vinegar, a half quarter of sweet oil per week, and a half-quarter of arrack per day, regularly distributed. Each yacht carries a leaguer and 120 quarts of strong arrack (the Brak is to be provided from the Zeemeuw), which must be carefully distributed in the cold climate for the health of the people. Notwithstanding you are plentifully stocked with waterbuts, manage particularly fresh water and fuel to prevent wanting it; as you would then be obliged to search after it, to the retarding of your voyage, or return without success, to your shame and the great detriment of the Company, which has been at great expense in equipping these yachts; and for these reasons, by industry and prudence, ought to be prevented from suffering.

We give then no further instructions, and leave to your and the council’s good conduct and advice what you will have more to do upon this voyage; only recommending seriously in all emergencies, to use such prudence as may keep the Company’s valuable ships and people out of all dangers as much as can be done. For the better to answer this purpose, we do not approve the commodore much to leave shipboard, but to stay in the yacht, unless (with advice of the council) the Company’s service may require the contrary, in order to avoid the object being neglected, by any unforseen misfortune in this important voyage.

58To conclude this instruction, we wish you the protection and blessings of Omnipotence, which we pray to inspire you with manly courage for the intended discoveries, and after finishing to return in safety, to the expanding of His glory, reputation to the mother country, the service of the Company, our contentment, and to your own everlasting honour.

Out of the castle, Batavia, this 29th day of January, 1644, signed

Antonio van Diemen, Cornelis van der Lyn, Joan Maatsüiker, Justus Schouten, and Salomon Sweers.

In consideration of the uncertainty of life in the human race, and the disorders which many times arise from the loss of those in command, and to prevent as much as possible all evils, we have found good to order, as we do by this: that if the skipper, commodore Abel Jansz Tasman, upon this voyage of discovery should decease (which God forbid), the skipper of the yacht the Zeemeuw, Dirk Cornelisz Haan, shall succeed in his place, shall be acknowledged and obeyed as chief, and receive and follow this our instruction given to Tasman as given to himself.

In this case, for the service of the Company, is this our meaning and desire.

Out of the castle, Batavia, day and date as above.

The Directors of the East India Company, encouraged by the successful return of the five ships of General Carpenter, richly laden, caused eleven vessels to be equipped the very same year, 1628, for the same voyage: amongst which, there was one ship called the Batavia, commanded by Captain Francis Pelsart. He sailed from the Texel on the 28th of October 1628; and, as it would be tedious to the reader to give him a long account of a passage so well known as that to the Cape of Good Hope, I shall pass over in silence that portion of his journal, and content myself with observing, that on the 4th of June in the following year, 1629, this vessel, the Batavia, being separated from the fleet in a storm, was driven on some rocks which lie in the latitude of 28° south, and which are called by the Dutch the Abrolhos of Frederick Houtman. Captain Pelsart, who was sick in bed when this accident happened, perceived at once that his ship had struck. It was night, indeed; but the moon shone very brightly, and the weather was fair. He immediately ran upon deck, and found that all the sails were set; their course was north-east by north; and the sea appeared covered with a white froth as far as the eye could reach. He summoned the master, and charged him with the loss of the ship; who excused himself by saying, he had taken all the 60care he could; and that, having discerned the froth at a distance, he asked his shipmate, what he thought of it; who told him, that this whiteness was occasioned by the rays of the moon. The captain then asked him, what was to be done; and in what part of the world they were. The master replied, that God only knew that, and that the ship was on an unknown reef. They sounded, and found eighteen feet of water abaft, and much less foreward. They immediately agreed to throw their cannon overboard, in hopes that, when the ship was lightened, she might be brought to float again. They dropped an anchor, however; but meanwhile there arose a storm of wind and rain, which soon convinced them of the danger they were in; for, being surrounded with rocks and shoals, the ship was perpetually striking.

They then resolved to cut away the mainmast, which they did, but this increased the shock; for though they cut the mast close by the board, they could not get it clear, because it was much entangled with the rigging. They could see no land, except an island, which, as far as they could judge, was at about the distance of three leagues, and two smaller islands, or rather rocks, which lay nearer. The master was sent to examine them. He returned about nine in the morning, and reported that the sea, at high water, did not cover them; but that the coast was so rocky and full of shoals, that it would be very difficult to land upon them. They resolved, however, to run the risk, and to send most of their company on shore, to pacify the women, children, sick people, and such as were out of their wits with fear, whose cries and noise served only to disturb them. They put these on board their shallop and skiff; and about ten o’clock in the morning, they perceived that their vessel began to break. They redoubled their exertions to get up their bread upon deck, but they did not take the same care of the water, not reflecting, in the extremity of their danger, that 61they might be much distressed for want of it on shore; but what embarrassed them most of all was the brutal behaviour of some of the crew, who made themselves so drunk with the wine, upon which no check was now kept, that they were able to make only three trips that day, in which they landed one hundred and eighty persons, twenty barrels of bread, and some small casks of water. The master returned on board towards evening, and told the captain, that it was of no use to send more provisions on shore, for the crew only wasted those they had already. Pelsart then went in the shallop to put things into some order, and discovered that there was no water to be found upon the island. He endeavoured to return to the ship, in order to bring off a supply, together with the most valuable part of their cargo; but a storm suddenly arising, he was forced to return.

The whole of the fifth day of the month was spent in removing the water, and some of the merchandise, on shore; and afterwards, the captain in the skiff, and the master in the shallop, endeavoured to return to the vessel, but found the sea running so high, that it was impossible to get on board. In this extremity, the carpenter threw himself out of the ship, and swam to them, in order to inform them to what hardships those left in the vessel were reduced; and he was sent back, with orders for them to make rafts, by tying the planks together, and endeavour on these to reach the shallop and skiff; but before this could be done, the weather became so rough, that the captain was obliged to return, leaving, with the utmost grief, his lieutenant and seventy men on the very point of perishing on board the vessel. Those who had reached the little island were not in much better condition; for, upon taking an account of their water, they found they had not above eighty pints for forty people; and on the larger island, where there were one hundred and eighty, the stock was still less. Those who were on the little island began to murmur, and to complain of their 62officers, because they did not go in search of water on the neighbouring islands; and they represented the necessity of this to Captain Pelsart, who yielded to their remonstrances, but told them that before he went, he wished to communicate this resolution to the rest of the people. It was with difficulty that he gained their consent to this, for the master was afraid that the other party would keep the captain with them. At length they consented, but not till the captain had declared, that without the consent of the company on the large island that he should go in search of water, he would, rather than leave them, perish on board his ship. When he got near to the island, he who commanded the boat told the captain, that if he had anything to say, he must call out to the people; for that they would not suffer him to go out of the boat. The captain then attempted to throw himself overboard, in order to swim to the island; but he was prevented, and the order given to pull off from the shore. Thus he was obliged to return, having first left these words written on a leaf of a tablet, that he was gone in the skiff to look for water in the nearest country or islands that he could find.

They first sought along the coasts of the islands, and certainly found water in the holes of the rocks, but the sea had dashed into it, and rendered it unfit for use; they therefore determined to seek farther on. They made a deck to their boat, as it would have been impracticable to navigate those seas in an open vessel. A few more of the crew joined themselves to the company for the same purpose; and after the captain had obtained the signature of his people to that resolution, they immediately put to sea, having first taken an observation, by which they found themselves in latitude 28° 13´ south. A short time afterwards, they had sight of the continent, which appeared, according to their estimation, to lie about sixteen miles north by west from the place where they had suffered shipwreck. They found the water 63about twenty-five or thirty fathoms deep; and, as night drew on, kept out to sea, standing in for the land again after midnight. On the morning of the 9th (of June) they found themselves, according to their reckoning, about three miles from the shore; this day they made four or five miles by many tacks, sailing sometimes north, sometimes west, the coast lying north-quarter-west, the coast appearing low, naked, and excessively rocky, being nearly of the same height as that near Dover. At last they saw a little creek, with sandy bottom, into which they were anxious to enter, but upon approaching it, they found that the sea ran high, and the weather becoming more threatening, they were obliged to haul off the coast.

On the 10th, they remained in the same parts, tacking first on one side and then on the other, but the sea being still rough, they determined to abandon their shallop, and even to throw a part of the bread which remained in the vessel overboard, since it hindered them from clearing themselves of the water, which the vessel made upon every side. It rained much that night, and afforded them hopes that their people who remained upon the islands would derive great relief therefrom. On the eleventh day, the wind, which was west-south-west, began to sink, and they steered their course towards the north, for the sea, which still ran high, obliged them to keep at a distance from the land. On the 12th, they made an observation, by which they found themselves in the latitude of 27°. The wind being south-east, they bordered the coast, but were unable to land on account of its steepness, there being no creek, or low land, in advance of the rocks, as is usually found on sea coasts. From a distance, the country appeared fertile and full of vegetation. On the 13th, they found themselves by observation in the latitude of 25° 40´; by which they discovered that the current had carried them towards the north, and over against an opening, the coast lying to the north-east. 64This day their course lay towards the north, but the coast presented one continuous rock of a red colour, and of an equal height, without any land in advance, and the waves broke against it with such force that it was impossible for them to land.

The wind blew very fresh on the morning of the 14th, but towards noon it became calm, the latitude being 24°, and the wind at east, but the tide still carried them farther north than they desired, for their design was to make a descent as soon as possible; with which view they sailed slowly along the coast, till, perceiving smoke at a distance, they rowed towards the spot from whence it proceeded, hoping to find inhabitants and consequently water. They found the coast steep, full of rocks, and the sea very high, which caused them to lose all hope of effecting a landing. At length, six of the men, trusting to their skill in swimming, threw themselves into the sea, and at last with much trouble and danger reached the shore, the boat remaining at anchor in twenty-five fathoms water. These men passed the entire day in seeking for water; and, whilst thus employed, they perceived four men, who approached them upon all-fours; but one of our people advancing towards them upon a rising ground, they immediately raised themselves and took to flight, so that they were distinctly seen by those who were in the skiff. These people were savages, black and quite naked, not having so much even as the covering worn by nearly all other savage people. The sailors, having no longer any hope of finding water there, swam on board again, wounded and bruised by the blows which they received from the waves and rocks. The anchor being weighed, they continued their course along the shore, in the hopes of finding some spot more adapted for landing.

On the 15th, in the morning, they discovered a cape, from the point of which there ran a reef or chain of rocks a mile into the sea, whilst another reef extended itself along the 65coast. As the sea there appeared but little agitated, they ventured between the rocks, but found that they formed only a cul-de-sac, and that there was no place for exit. About noon, they saw another opening, where the sea was smooth, but it appeared dangerous to attempt it, there being no more than two feet of water, and many stones. In front of the whole length of this coast is a table of sand one mile in breadth. As soon as they landed, they fell to digging wells in this advanced coast, but the water which they found there was brackish. At length, they discovered some soft rain-water in the clefts of the rocks, which was a great relief to them, for they were dying of thirst, having had for some days previously little more than half a pint of water apiece. Of this, they collected during the night that they remained there about twenty gallons. It was evident that some savages had been there a short time before, as they found the remains of crayfish and some ashes.

On the morning of the 16th, they resolved to return again to the shore, in the hopes of being able to collect a greater quantity of water from the rocks, since there remained no chance of their finding it elsewhere. But no rain had fallen for some time, for they discovered no more, and the land which they found beyond the rocks which skirted the coast held out no promise to them. The country was flat, without vegetation or trees, with nothing in view but ant-hills, and these so large that, from a distance, they were taken to be the habitations of the Indians. They found there such a wonderful quantity of flies, that they were compelled to defend themselves from them. At some distance they perceived eight savages, each of whom carried a club in his hand; these came up within musket shot, but when they saw our people advancing to meet them, they took to flight. At length, finding that there was no longer hope of obtaining water, our people determined, about mid-day, to leave the coast, and accordingly departed by another opening in this 66reef, more to the northward. Finding by observation that they were in 22° 17´, they formed the idea of seeking the river of Jacob Remmessens, but the wind blowing from the north-east, they found they could no longer follow the coast; when, taking into consideration that they were distant more than one hundred miles from the place of shipwreck, and that they had with difficulty found sufficient water for their subsistance, they resolved to make the best of their way to Batavia, to inform the governor of their misfortune, and to solicit assistance for the people they had left in the islands.

On the 17th, they were prevented by fog from taking an observation at mid-day. This day they made about fifteen miles, the wind being north-west by north, fresh, and dry, and their route north-east.

On the 18th, they were still unable to take an observation at mid-day, but, by their reckoning, they made ten miles upon a wind, west north-west; the weather rough with much rain and wind, which, towards mid-day, veered from north-east slightly towards the north, their course lying to the west. The same weather continued the whole of the 19th, so that they were again unable to take an observation; but by their reckoning they made about seven leagues, their course lying north north-east, and the wind being due west.

On the 20th, they found themselves by an observation in 19° 22´ of latitude, having made, by reckoning, twenty-two miles, their course lying northerly, and the wind west south-west, fresh, with a slight rain.

The 21st, they reckoned to have made twenty-three miles in a northerly direction, the wind varying from south-west to south-east, sometimes fresh, followed by a calm.

An observation on the 22nd showed them to be in latitude 16° 10´, which greatly surprised them, as they could not imagine how, in so short a time, they had been enabled to pass so many degrees; the current apparently carried them 67strongly towards the north. By their reckoning they were found to have made twenty-four miles, the course northerly, with a fresh breeze at times from the south-east.

They found it impossible to take an observation upon the 23rd, but, by their reckoning, they had made sixteen miles, their course lying north by west, the wind this day sometimes veering from east to west, weather variable, rainy and occasionally calm. In the evening the wind stood at south south-east.

On the 24th, the weather was dry, fresh, with the wind south-east by south. About mid-day they found themselves in latitude 13° 10´, the course twenty-five miles north by west.

On the 25th, the wind blew from the south-east, the weather dry, and fresh, and the latitude 13° 30´. This day they had advanced by their reckoning thirty-one miles, north by west, and saw much sea-weed.

The 26th day they were in latitude 9° 56´, the wind south-east, and the weather dry. This day they advanced twenty-four miles in the same direction.

On the 27th day the wind blew from the south-east, and the weather being rainy they were unable to take an observation. After mid-day they saw the land of Java, in latitude 8° according to their calculations, and distant about four or five miles. They changed their course to west north-west, hugging the coast until evening, when they discovered a point beyond which lay an island abounding with trees. Having made for this point they found, towards dusk, a bay, into which they entered, following a course towards the north north-west, and casting anchor in eight fathoms water, with a hard bottom, they passed the night there.

On the morning of the 28th, they weighed anchor, and rowed towards shore to look for water, for they were reduced to extremity by thirst. Happily they discovered a spring, at which they quenched their thirst and refilled 68their casks, and towards mid-day resumed their course for Batavia.

After midnight in the second watch of the 29th, they perceived an island before them, which they left on their starboard or right side, and at day-break found themselves near the cove which lies upon the west side thereof, from whence they continued their course towards the west north-west. By pursuing this route one gives a wide berth to the shore at the bottom of this cove, but nears it again before the Trowuen Islands are reached. About mid-day they found themselves in latitude 6° 48´, and that by reckoning they had made thirty miles, the course lying west north-west, about three o’clock in the afternoon. They passed between these two islands, and saw upon the more westerly one a great quantity of cocoa-nut trees. About evening they were still distant one mile from the south point of Java, and at the third bell of the second watch found themselves exactly between Java and Prince’s Island. On the morning of the thirtieth day they were near the coast of Prince’s Island, and made only two miles that day. Towards evening a slight breeze sprung up from the land.

The weather moderated on the 1st of July, and at mid-day they were still full three leagues distant from the island called Dwaers-inden-wegh,^[22] the wind being inconstant. About evening the wind blew from the north-west, so that they gained the island of which I speak. The night was calm, and they were constrained to row.

On the morning of the second, being opposite to the island called Toppers-hoëtien, they were forced to remain at anchor till nigh eleven o’clock, expecting the sea breeze; but it rose so slightly that they were compelled to continue rowing, and found by the evening that they had only advanced two miles. At sunset they perceived a sail astern opposite to 69the island Dwaers-inden-wegh, whereupon they reached the coast and cast anchor there, resolved to await its coming. When the morning came they boarded this vessel, hoping to obtain assistance and arms for their defence against the Javanese in case they were at war with the Dutch. They found the vessel accompanied by two others of the Company, in one of which was Ramburgh, counsellor to the Company. Pelsart went on board his vessel, and having recounted to him with grief the accident that had befallen him, sailed with him to Batavia.

Whilst he is soliciting assistance, I will return to those of the crew who remained upon the island; but I should first inform you that the supercargo, named Jerome Cornelis, formerly an apothecary at Harlem, had conspired with the pilot and some others, when off the coast of Africa, to obtain possession of the ship and to take her to Dunkirk, or to avail themselves of her for the purposes of piracy. This supercargo remained upon the wreck ten days after the vessel had struck, having discovered no means of reaching the shore. He even passed two days upon the mainmast, which floated, and having from thence got upon a yard, at length gained the land. In the absence of Pelsart he became commander, and deemed this a suitable occasion for putting his original design into execution, concluding that it would not be difficult to become master of that which remained of the wreck, and to surprise the commander when he should arrive with the assistance which he had gone to Batavia to seek, and afterwards to cruise in these seas with his vessel. To accomplish this it was necessary to get rid of those of the crew who were not of his party; but before embruing his hands with blood, he caused his accomplices to sign a species of compact, by which they promised fidelity one to another. The entire crew was divided between three islands; upon that of Cornelis, which they had named the graveyard of Batavia, was the greatest number of men. One of them, 70by name Weybehays, had been dispatched to another island to seek for water, and having discovered some after a search of twenty days, he made the preconcerted signal by lighting three fires, but in vain, for they were not seen by the people of Cornelis’s company, the conspirators having, during that time, murdered those who were not of their party. Of these they killed thirty or forty; some few saved themselves upon pieces of wood, which they joined together, and going in search of Weybehays informed him of the horrible massacre that had taken place. Having with him forty-five men he resolved to keep upon his guard, and to defend himself from these assassins if they should make an attack upon his company, which, in effect, they designed to do, and to treat the other party in the same manner; for they feared lest their company, or that which remained upon the third island, should inform the commander upon his arrival, and thus prevent the execution of their design. They succeeded easily with the party last mentioned, which was the weakest, killing the whole of them, excepting seven children and some women. They hoped to succeed as easily with Weybehays’ company, and in the meanwhile broke open the chests of merchandise which had been saved from the vessel. Jerome Cornelis caused clothing to be made for his company out of the rich stuffs which he found therein, choosing to himself a body guard, each of whom he clothed in scarlet, embroidered with gold and silver. Regarding the women as part of the spoil, he took one for himself, and gave one of the daughters of the minister to a principal member of his party, abandoning the other three for public use; he drew up also certain rules for the future conduct of his men.

After these horrible proceedings, he caused himself to be elected captain-general by a document, which he compelled all his companions to sign. He afterwards sent twenty-two men in two shallops to destroy the company of Weybehays, but they met with a repulse. Taking with him thirty-seven 71men he went himself against Weybehays, who received him at the water’s edge as he disembarked, and forced him to retire, although he had no other weapons but clubs, the ends of which he had armed with spikes. Finding force unavailing he had recourse to other means. He proposed a treaty of peace, the chaplain who remained with Weybehays drawing up the conditions; it was agreed to with this proviso, that Weybehays’ company should remain unmolested, who, upon their part, agreed to deliver up a little boat in which one of the sailors had escaped from the island where Cornelis was located to that of Weybehays, receiving in return some stuffs for clothing his people. During the negotiations, Cornelis wrote to certain French soldiers who belonged to the company, offering to each six thousand pounds to corrupt them, with the hope that with this assistance he might easily compass his design. His letters, which were without effect, were shown to Weybehays, and Cornelis, who was ignorant of their disclosure, having arrived the next day with three or four others to find Weybehays and bring him the apparel, the latter caused him to be attacked, killed two or three of his company, and took Cornelis himself prisoner. One of them, by name Wouterlos, who escaped from this rout, returned the following day to renew the attack, but with little success.

Pelsart arrived during these occurrences in the frigate Sardam; as he approached the wreck he observed smoke from a distance, rising from one of the islands, a circumstance that afforded him great consolation, since he perceived by it that his people were not all dead. He cast anchor, and threw himself immediately into a skiff with bread and wine, and proceeded to land in one of the islands. Nearly at the same time a boat came alongside armed with four men. Weybehays, who was one of the four, ran to him, informed him of the massacre, and advised him to return as speedily as possible to his vessel, for that the conspirators designed 72to surprise him—having already murdered twenty-five persons—and to attack him with two shallops; adding, that he himself had that morning been at close quarters with them. Pelsart perceived at the same time the two shallops coming towards him, and had scarcely got on board his own vessel before they came alongside. He was surprised to see the people covered with embroidery of gold and silver, and weapons in their hands, and demanded of them why they approached the vessel armed. They replied that they would inform him when they came on board. He commanded them to cast their arms into the sea, or otherwise he would sink them. Finding themselves compelled to submit, they threw away their weapons, and, being ordered on board, were immediately placed in irons. One of them, named Jan de Bremen, who was the first examined, confessed that he had put to death, or assisted in the assassination of twenty-seven persons. The same evening Weybehays brought his prisoner on board.

On the 18th day of September, the captain and the master-pilot, taking with them ten men of Weybehays’ company, passed over in boats to the island of Cornelis. Those who still remained thereon lost all courage as soon as they saw them alongside, and allowed themselves to be placed in irons. The captain’s first care was to make search for the jewels, which had been distributed here and there. The whole of these were discovered at the first search, with the exception of a chain of gold and a ring, the latter of which was afterwards recovered. The wreck was afterwards visited. The vessel was broken into a hundred pieces; the keel upon one side aground upon a sandbank, the forepart of the vessel resting upon a rock, and other pieces scattered here and there, holding out little hope to Pelsart of saving any part of the Company’s merchandise. The steward informed him, that about one month previous, upon the only fine day they had had during their residence there, having gone out fishing 73near the wreck, he had struck against one of the chests filled with silver with the end of a pike.

On the 19th, they conveyed the other accomplices to the island for the purpose of examining them.

On the 20th, they sent various necessaries to Weybehays’ company, and brought away water from them; for, after being ten days upon the island without discovering any, they thought of tasting some which was in two wells, but which they had believed to be salt, because it rose and fell with the tide, but they afterwards found it to be good to drink.

On the 21st, they found the tide very low, and the wind so strong from the east south-east, that the boat could not go out this day.

On the 22nd, they again wished to examine the wreck, but the sea broke upon it so roughly that the swimmers themselves did not venture to approach it.

On the 25th, the master and pilot approached it at a favourable moment, and those who remained on shore perceiving that there was something that they were unable to remove therefrom, sent assistance to them, the captain going in person, and they found that they had discovered a chest full of silver. A second chest was afterwards found, and the two were placed on dry land; but they were unable to obtain more that day on account of the bad weather, although the divers of Guzarat assured them they had found six other chests which they could easily remove.

On the 26th, after they had dined, the weather being fine and the tide very low, the master set out for the spot where the chests had been seen and recovered three, placing an anchor and a piece of artillery to mark the spot where a fourth remained, which, after great endeavours, they found themselves unable to move.

On the 27th, the wind blew very cold from the south.

On the 28th, the wind continued from the same quarter, 74and as it did not suffer them to work near the wreck, the captain assembled a council to advise whether he should bring the prisoners to trial there, or carry them to Batavia, to be there tried by the officers of the Company. The great number of them, and the temptation offered by the great treasures which they had recovered from the wreck, and with which the frigate was loaded, caused the majority to vote for their immediate trial and execution, which was there and then carried into effect.

On the 26th of March, 1636, there arrived two shallops, the Amsterdam and the Weasel, sent from Amboina, with orders to Governor Acoley at Banda, to give to the commander of these ships, Gerard Thomasz Pool, such information concerning the South Land as might be necessary for him to perform a voyage thither, under the orders of the honourable Company.

After he had received the desired instructions, and had been furnished with sufficient provisions and other necessaries, he sailed with those vessels on the 17th of April.

On the 30th of June following both these vessels returned, and informed the governor that, having reached the Flat Point in about 4½ degrees of south latitude on the 18th of April, they had determined to send some of their people on shore to take a view of the country. The Commander Pool, desirous to see everything himself, resolved to be of the party, and took with him his steward, Andries Schiller, a native of Nuremberg. They were scarcely landed, when a large body of wild Southlanders, who at first appeared friendly, but acted afterwards in a hostile manner, surrounded them, in so much that it was not in their power to escape. The Commander Pool perceiving the danger greater 76than he at first expected, was still in hopes to escape; but he found himself attacked one of the first, and received a blow with a hazegay, which immediately brought him to the ground. When he recovered his senses and saw that his steward was still defending himself, he called out to him that he would do better to try to make his escape, as otherwise he would not be able to do it, for the savages were coming on in yet greater numbers. He did so, but was likewise soon knocked down.

The wild Southlanders, perceiving the hanger which the Commander Pool had in his hand, forced it from him and cut these two men to pieces, and carried them into the wood; but it never could be discovered what they did with them, nor what became of the two sailors who were likewise missing.

The crew could only tell, that these Southlanders have a very black skin, much like the Caffers of Angola, but with long black hair on their head, and were much stouter and taller in stature than any Europeans, and quite naked, with the exception of their middle. They also reported that one of them, appearing to be a chief, had a rough skin of some wild beast wrapped round his neck; and that they were armed partly with hazegays, and a kind of javelins with sharp iron points; and partly with bows and arrows.

The ship De Vergulde Draeck, equipped by the Chamber of Amsterdam, having sailed on the 4th of October, 1655, from Tessel to East India, with a rich cargo, including 78,600 guilders in cash, in eight boxes, was wrecked very suddenly on the 28th of April, at night, at the beginning of the first day-watch, on the coast of the Southland, on a reef stretching out to sea about one mile and a half, latitude 30⅔°. Of one hundred and ninety-three souls only seventy-five, among whom were the skipper Pieter Aberts and the under-steersman, reached the shore alive. Nothing was saved from the ship, which foundered and sunk at once, except a small quantity of provisions washed on shore by the waves. The news was brought to Batavia by one of the ship’s boats, with the above-mentioned steersman and six sailors, after beating about for a month, on the 7th of June, with the account that the sixty-eight persons who remained behind were exerting themselves to get their boat afloat again, which lay deeply embedded in the sand, that they might send it also with some of their number to 78Batavia. The General and Council resolved, for the rescue both of the above-mentioned unfortunate men, and also of the Company’s specie and merchandise, to get ready without delay a quick-sailing fly-boat, the Witte Valck, provisioned for five months, with some further supplies for the above-mentioned men at the Southland; as also some expert divers, with hatchets and other necessary implements. This they ordered to join company with the yacht the Goede Hoop, then cruizing in the Straits of Sunda, with instructions that they should both proceed together without loss of time from the Straits southwards, as far as 32° or 33° latitude, or until they met a strong westerly trade-wind, in which case they would steer towards the coast of the Southland. They were, moreover, to explore the said coast with particular attention, near the part where the ship had been wrecked, further than it had been already known, and to lay it down on a map, with its capes, inlets, bays, rocks, sands, and shoals.

The Witte Valck set sail on the 8th of June, in order to join company with the yacht Goede Hoop, in the Sunda Straits. They sailed out together, but returned without having succeeded in their object; the former, on the 14th of September, and the yacht a month afterwards, having been forced by a severe storm to part company on the 18th of July, on their way out. According to the captain’s journals lying at Batavia, they had reached the coast just in the winter time, during which season the sea is so boisterous there, that an approach to the coast is a matter of extreme danger. Thus, as these documents inform us, they were compelled, after experiencing great danger and exhausting every effort, to put off from the coast and to return to Batavia, leaving behind them eleven men of the yacht Hoop, three of them having wandered too far into the woods and eight having been sent in search of them, but not one of the number returned. As the boat in which they had rowed to land was found dashed to pieces on the shore, the whole 79number, most probably, came to an untimely end. According to the reports which were made, some men or some signs of the wreck had been noticed, although the Goede Hoop, which had been at the place where the ship was supposed to have been wrecked, gave a different statement.

Subsequently the commander at the Cape of Good Hope, according to instructions sent to him, gave orders in the year 1657 to the fly-boat Vinck, bound thence to Batavia, to touch en passant at the same place where the above-mentioned disaster had occurred, that search might be made for the unfortunate men. But his vessel also having arrived at the unfavourable season, found no means of landing either with fly-boat or boat, so as to make a proper search. According to its reports, having, on the 8th of June, 1657, during the daytime, seen signs of land in 29° 7´ south latitude, and the weather being very favourable, they anchored at night in twenty-five fathoms water, the bottom being coarse sand mixed with coral. In the morning, when day dawned, they saw the surf breaking over the reef at the foot of which they lay, and on one side of them the Southland, presenting a low sandy shore, on which their anchor lifted. They continued their course along the coast in order to observe the land, which was still kept in sight the following day. The weather, however, became so boisterous, and the breakers rolled all along the coast with such violence, that they were compelled to put out a little further to sea, yet, throughout the 10th and 11th of June, they still followed the coast line in forty or fifty fathoms water. However, the chance of landing grew gradually less as they proceeded, for the weather continued stormy, with thunder and lightning, so that it became necessary to get clear of the coast. They allowed their ship to drive before the wind under bare poles until the 12th, when they loosened sail a little, the wind shifting between S., S.S.W., and S.S.E., and stood out towards Batavia, where they arrived on the 27th.

80

81Notwithstanding all this, and although, as the statement of the General and Council shows, the rescue of these men seemed hopeless, since it was evident that they must either have perished from hunger and misery, or been murdered by the barbarous natives; they resolved afterwards, as there might be still some hope left, however small, to despatch, for a third time, two galliots, the Waeckende Boey and Emeloort, the former with a crew of forty, the latter of twenty-five men, provisioned for six months. They set sail from Batavia on the 1st of January, 1658, with distinct orders both as to how to reach the Southland and as to their conduct during the voyage: amongst them these; that after passing the Straits of Sunda they should steer towards the S.W., and as much further south as the wind would allow, so as to meet the S.E. trade winds, when they would proceed at once as far southwards as they could by crowding all sail until the west winds were encountered, when again they should immediately steer as much south as east, in order that, without loss of time and before encountering land, they might reach the latitude of 32° or 33°, when, directing their course eastwards, they should make the attempt to land at the Southland. It was enjoined that every possible precaution should be used, as the coast in that quarter was not much known or properly explored. It was added, that their arrival would be in summer or the most favourable season of the year; with other matters, set forth in the instructions given to them by the General and Council on the last day of December, 1657. On the 19th of April they returned to Batavia, having each of them separately, after parting company by the way, sailed backwards and forwards again and again, and landed parties at several points along the coast. They had also continually fired signal guns night and day, without, however, discovering either any Dutchmen or the wreck of the vessel. The only things seen were some few planks and blocks, with a piece of the mast, a taffrail, fragments of barrels, and other objects scattered here and there along the coast, and supposed to be remnants of the wreck. The crew of the Emeloort also saw at different points five black men of extremely tall stature, without however daring to land there. Thus of this expedition again the only result was, that the crew of the Waeckende Boey abandoned a boat with fourteen of their comrades, including the upper steersman, and that in a manner but too reckless, as it afterwards proved and as we shall presently show. The boat having been sent to land, and not returning within twenty-four hours, they concluded that it must have been dashed against the cliffs and all hands perished; the more so as, on returning to the same place five days afterwards, and firing several signal-guns landwards, no men or signs of men were seen. But from the report of four of their number who afterwards arrived at Japara by way of Mataram, it appeared that the unfortunate men, seeing themselves abandoned by their ship and finding no other resource left, resolved at last to steer for the coast of Java. Accordingly having repaired their boat, as best they might, with sealskins, and provided themselves with a little water and seals’ flesh, they set out on the 10th of April, and arrived on the 28th of the same month on the south side of that island. But of their number at that time eleven only remained, three having perished of thirst on the way, whilst four others in the first instance, and afterwards two, who had been made to swim ashore in search of water, had not returned, either from obstinacy or because they were killed by the natives. On the following day the boat was dashed to pieces on the beach by a heavy sea, when the above four men, without having met either with the seven above-mentioned or any other men, took their way westward along the coast and continued to march for two months in a very weak and exhausted condition, until they at last met with men who brought them to Mataram.

Among the number of those who returned was the upper 82steersman, Abraham Leeman van Santwigh. Of the remaining seven nothing more was heard.

It afterwards appeared from the diaries of the before-mentioned galliots that, notwithstanding the strong injunctions to that effect laid down in their instructions, proper care had not been taken by them to keep together, so as to render assistance to each other in case of accident, and to combine in using the most effectual means for landing and exploring the coast.

The Fiscal of India was ordered to consult further with the Council of Justice on the subject, but the General and Council were of opinion that the unfortunate men from the ship De Draeck must one and all have perished long ago, since no traces of them had been discovered throughout the whole length of the coast. Consequently all thoughts of any further special expeditions were given up, the more so as the two former ones had proved so disastrous. Orders, however, were given that any galliot or light fly-boat should seize any opportunity of touching there in favourable weather once more on their way from this country, to see if any clue to the missing men might perchance be found.

The log-books of the galliots were sent over, together with an extract from that of the fly-boat Elburgh, as far as related to the Southland, together with the small charts of the coast.

We shall now enter into a few further particulars with a view to the fuller elucidation of the subject. According to the journal of Aucke Pietersz Jonck, skipper of the galliot Emeloort, they sighted land while at a distance of four miles from the shore, on the 8th of March, at 30° 25´ south latitude, the south point lying E.S.E., and the north point N.E. by N. They also saw smoke rising towards the E.S.E. and E., whereupon they fired three guns and hoisted a large flag on the mainmast. At night a fire was again seen at N.E. by E.

83On the 9th, a fire on shore was again seen and answered with a signal of three guns, and the boat was launched with a crew of nine hardy men and the steersman, provisioned for eight days; on their approach the smoke or fire disappeared, whereupon they returned on board. This fire was at a distance of two miles from the former one. Nine signal-guns were then fired from the ship, and afterwards three at night. A light was also hung aloft during the night, but no signs were observed on land.

On the 10th, the boat was again sent ashore, and a large fire again seen on the beach, at the same place as on the previous day, upon which a gun was fired every hour from the ship and a flag hoisted. About two hours elapsed before the boat could reach the shore. Fires at four different points were again seen from the ship during the night, one of which continued burning throughout the night, and several musket-shots were fired.

The boat’s crew related that they had come across three huts, and had encountered five persons of tall stature and imposing appearance, who made signs to them to approach; this, however, from distrust of their intentions, they did not venture to do. On their returning again to the boat these people followed them down to the beach, but were afraid to enter the boat. Much brushwood was seen on shore by this party, and in some places crops of growing grain which they set fire to, also portions of land under cultivation; no fruits, however, were noticed, but merely a few herbs of an agreeable smell. Further inland they saw neither fresh water nor trees, but numerous sandy downs; at night also many fires. After having gone three miles along the shore as well as inland without meeting any misadventure, they again proceeded with the ship under sail, but saw no signs of anything remarkable along the coast from latitude 33° 30´ to 30° 25´. There they went again on shore with the same result. This prolonged investigation proved altogether fruitless 84with regard both to the lost ship and the crew. The natives they encountered were men of stalwart frame, naked, and very dark-skinned; they wore a headdress forming a kind of crown, but with no covering on any part of their bodies except their middle. They then returned, the crew beginning to suffer very much, chiefly from sore eyes. They left the cliff Tortelduyf on the starboard side. On the 15th of March they saw many gulls, entirely black but of small size, and on the 17th, several wag-tails. On the 26th, the point Wynkoopsbergen lay to the W.N.W. of them, distant three miles. They continued to coast along at a distance of four, five, six, or seven miles, and would have again touched land had the weather permitted.

On the 14th of April they made for the west point of Java, and there fell in again with the Waeckende Boey, which had lost its boat and schuyt and fourteen men, and had got some timber from the Vergulde Draeck at 31° 15´ south latitude, without having perceived anything else.

Further, from the journal of the Waeckende Boey it appears, that having arrived on the 23rd of February 1658, at 31° 40´, they saw land at a distance of eight miles from them, bore down upon it, and found it to be an island about three miles distant from the mainland. On the 24th, they came to anchor in seventeen fathoms water and launched the boat, there being a bar between the ship and the shore. On the 25th, they still lay at 31° 20´.

On the 26th, on the return of the boat from the shore, the steersman reported many signs of the lost ship Draeck, but neither footpaths nor any places where traces of human beings had been left were discovered, notwithstanding they had been in all directions both inland and along the coast. They further reported that wood and other objects, portions of boxes, etc., a barrel, and other things had been found; also a number of pieces of plank, standing upright in a circle. Having weighed anchor they sailed along the 85coast, and on that occasion their schuyt was capsized and lost.

On the 27th, when about two miles from the coast, latitude 31° 14´, the boat was sent on shore, and returned with the report that nothing had been observed but a reef about ⅔ [of a mile?] off the coast seawards.

On the 28th, having arrived at 30° 40´, and several fires having been seen on land, the boat was again sent out. The steersman reported that nothing had been observed but a great smoke, and that they had been unable to land with the boat owing to the violence of the surf. Having descried the Emeloort in the offing, they returned with her.

March 2nd, at 30° 6´, the Emeloort was separated from them in the night and was lost sight of. On the 5th, they were driven by stormy weather round the south.

The weather continuing cold and wet, they resolved to serve out extra rations of rum to each man.

On the 8th, the weather grey and cold. They supposed themselves to be in 31° 47´. The 18th, saw land to the eastward, being about 31° 49´. At sunset they came to anchor under a north-easterly point of the island, half a mile from land.

On the 19th, a boat was put off in the direction of the island; the steersman reported its being well wooded, but that no good landing place had been met with, the coast being surrounded by rocky reefs. Two seals were seen there, also one wild cat, and the excrements of other animals. On the 20th, a boat was sent on shore well manned; the following day several signal-guns were fired, and in the evening the boat returned to the ship, bringing with it a piece of the mast of the Draeck, and again returning to land after taking in a supply of provisions, brought back a part of the round-top, a block, and other trifling objects.

On the 22nd, they again sent to shore. At night it blew hard, the waves running very high. A gun was fired, and a 86light hung out as a guide to the boat on its return. They ran great risk of driving upon the rocks. At midnight, the cable parting, another anchor was dropped.

On the 23rd, the weather being still boisterous, and they themselves in great distress and nothing seen of the boat, fears were entertained that it might have capsized or been dashed against the rocks. They were afterwards compelled to cut their cable and run out to sea.

On the 27th, they sighted the island again, and ran so near the coast that they might have been seen by a man on the beach. Several guns were fired toward the place where the boat had last gone to land, but neither sign nor sound being observed, it was taken for certain that they had been lost, and resolved that they should sail along the coast toward Batavia. The fire was again seen at dusk close to the sea-line, which they supposed to have been lighted by the crew of the Draeck or the Waeckende Boey, as no such fire had been seen before. A gun was fired, whereupon another fire close to the first became visible. But having neither boat nor schuyt, it was impossible to land and equally so to come to anchor; the bottom being coral-rock.

On the 29th, they found themselves at some distance to the north of the point where the fire was seen. The coast became more level as they proceeded, and they sailed along the shore till sunset, when they again run further out to sea; in the course of the second watch they passed the Tortelduyf cliff, the surf breaking on it being plainly visible.

On the 30th, the weather not permitting them to run close in, they remained at some distance off shore. On the 31st, they were distant five miles from the Dirck Hertogs Reede, and on April 10th, arrived at Java.^[23]

87From the journal of the above-mentioned Abraham Leeman, steersman of the Waeckende Boey, it appears that they first sighted the Southland on the 22nd of February, 1656, went several times on shore with the boat, and on one occasion, on the 20th of March, having again landed, they went inland in a northerly direction, and in searching along the beach found there pieces of plank, lids of boxes, staves of water-barrels and butter-casks, and other objects of trifling importance. The heat on that day was excessive, so much so that one of the men fainted. They also found similar planks, staves, etc., in an enclosure. They then encountered a very heavy sea, which prevented their returning on board their vessel, and were obliged to sail along the cliffs in the utmost peril. Owing to the dangerous nature of the coast they were obliged to keep themselves alive by eating seals’ flesh, gulls, etc., and, from want of fresh water, they were compelled to supply its place by sea-water and their own urine. At last they were compelled to undertake a perilous voyage across the ocean in their little shallop, and at length reached Batavia by way of Mataram and Japara.

Moreover the General and Council recount, in their general letter of the 14th of December, 1658, that the fly-boat Elburg, when on its way hence, had come upon the Southland in 31½° latitude, and had been obliged, on account of wind and the heavy sea, to anchor about two miles and a half off the coast in twenty-two fathoms water, not without great danger. Twelve days afterwards they again got into open sea, and in latitude 33° 14´ found a commodious anchorage 88under a projecting corner of the island in twenty fathoms water. The skipper, steersman, with the sergeant and six soldiers went ashore, and found three black men round a fire, dressed in skins, like the natives of the Cape of Good Hope. They could not, however, get to speak to them. Three small hammers were also found there, with wooden handles and heads of hard stone, fastened to the stem by a sort of gum-lack, strong enough to break a man’s skull. A little further inland stood some huts, but no more men were seen. In several places they found fresh water, and here and there a great quantity of this gum. The small hammer brought here was found, when rubbed, to be of an agreeable odour and of a reddish colour.

Lastly, we have to notice, that, according to certain printed accounts, the ship Batavia, having sailed hence to Batavia, ran very unexpectedly, on the 4th of June of the following year, 1659, in the morning hours, latitude 28⅓°, on the dangerous shoals of the Abrolhos, commonly called with us Frederick Houtman’s Cliffs, and was wrecked. The crew, however, reached in safety some small islands which lay near. No fresh water was found there, but the boat with some men having left the island, saw, in 24° latitude, smoke rising, and observed black men on the shore.

The South Land has, on its coasts, downs covered with grass and sand so deep, that, in walking, one’s foot is buried ankle-deep, and leaves great traces behind it. At about a league from the shore there runs a reef of rock, on which here and there the sea is seen to break with great force. In some places there is a depth of from one, one and a half, to two fathoms, so that a boat can pass, after which the depth becomes greater up to the shore; but it is everywhere a dangerous coral bottom, on which it is difficult to find holding for an anchor. There is only one spot, about nine leagues to the north of the island, and where three rocks are joined by a reef, that shelter is afforded for a boat, and there one can effect a landing, but the ground is everywhere rocky. Further from the coast there is a raised ground, tolerably level, but of a dry and barren aspect, except near the island, where there is some foliage. In nearly thirty-two degrees south latitude there is a large island, nearly three leagues from the continent, with some rather high mountains, covered 90with wood and thickets, which render it difficult to pass across. It is dangerous to land there, on account of the reefs of rock along the coast; and, moreover, one sees many rocks between the continent and this island, and also a smaller island somewhat to the south. This large island, to which I have not chosen to give a name myself, thinking it right to leave the choice of name to the governor-general, may be seen from the sea at seven or eight leagues distance on a clear day. I presume that both fresh water and wood will be found there in abundance, though not without considerable trouble.

Two certain signs of the proximity of the west coast of the South Land.

1st. When a variation is perceived in the compass in these countries to about eleven degrees, it may be taken for certain that the land is not more than eighteen to twenty leagues distant.

2ndly. When one sees sea-weed floating, soundings will be found in 70, 60, 50, 40, 30 fathoms, or even less.

“The north-west part of New Guinea, in 1½° south latitude, and beyond it to the south-east, was for the first time rightly explored in the year 1678, by order of the Dutch East India Company, and found almost everywhere to be enriched with very fine rivers, lakes, bays, etc., but, judging from its outward aspect, the country itself seems to be barren and uncultivated, being in few spots either planted or fenced in. In many parts of the interior there are extremely high mountains, which are seen by sailors at a great distance at sea as if towering above the clouds. The air is not very mild, but very often damp and foggy, so much so that most frequently in the afternoons the land is entirely hidden, which has caused the Dutch East India Company the loss of many ships.

“About the north-western parts, the natives are in general lean and of the middle size, jet black, not unlike the Malabars, but the hair of the head shorter and somewhat less curly than the Caffres. In the black pupil of their eyes gleams a certain tint of red, by which may in some measure be observed that bloodthirsty nature of theirs which has at different times caused us so much grief, from the loss of several of our young men, whom they have surprised, 92murdered, carried into the woods, and then devoured.

“They go entirely naked without the least shame, except their rajahs or petty kings, and their wives, which are not native Papoos, but mostly Ceram-Mestizoes, and are richly dressed after the manner of Ceram. Their weapons are bows of bamboo, with arrows of the same, to whose ends are fastened sharp pointed fish bones with dangerous barbs, which, when shot into the body, cannot be extracted without great difficulty. They likewise use lances, made of certain very heavy wild Penang wood: these they throw at their mark with great accuracy at a distance of six or seven fathoms. Some of them, living near the shore, use a certain kind of swords, sold to them by the people of Ceram, the hilt of which is tied to their hand by a rattan.

“Of their manners and religion, nothing else can be said than that, in many respects, they are more like wild beasts than reasonable human beings. Their women are delivered in the fields, or roads, or wherever they may happen to be taken in labour. After the birth they instantly put the infant in a bag, in which they carry their provisions, made of beaten bark of a tree. The women of the better class rub their faces with bruised coals, by which they make themselves look more like devils incarnate than human creatures; though it cannot be denied that they seem to possess, by the law of nature, a knowledge of the existence of a God, which they show by pointing with folded hands towards the heavens. For when any one lands at any place frequented by these people of Ceram, they require of us to raise our hands as they do: and with a sharp bamboo they cut both their own arms and those of their visitors. The mutual sucking of the blood from these wounds constitutes their oath, and implies a promise to do each other no mischief. Amongst them are found some letters or characters, written with a sort of red chalk on a rock. On this rock, also, were still to be seen 93some skulls and the bust of a man, looking as if put up as an ornament, with a shield and other weapons near it, the meaning of all which may be guessed at, but not fixed with certainty.

Their food consists of roots, tree fruits, herbs, etc., but chiefly fish, caught by them at low water in holes in the bed of the river, as we, when lying at anchor thereabouts, could distinctly see by the motion of the thousands of little lights which they used. They know very little of cooking or drying their food, but generally eat it raw, except pork, which they eat when it has been a little smoked, and is less than half roasted.

“In about 8° or 9° south latitude, we found a tall, terrible, and disgusting race of people, whose chiefs have the inside of the upper lip slit from the nose downwards, the two parts being kept asunder by what they call a gabbe-gabbe. The two sides of the nose, also, are bored through with sasappen, or thin awls, which gives their voices a frightful and hollow sound, as if coming out of a deep cellar.

“It is believed that Nova Guinea is divided from Hollandia Nova, or the south land, at about the latitude of 10° south. Of the country further south we have up to the present day no certain information, except that supplied by Abel Tasman, who sailed round the whole land and the coasts of the Dutch East India Company’s possessions, and who testifies to have found trees (beams) in which at intervals footsteps were cut to climb up by, about seven feet apart, and also with footsteps in the sand about fourteen or fifteen Dutch inches long, and every footstep six or six and a half feet from the other. I am informed by a mate who, about thirty or thirty-four years ago, lost his ship on the most westerly promontory of the south land, that he with some of the crew reached Batavia in the ship’s boat, and was despatched from thence to the place where he was shipwrecked with provisions, and in order to deliver their shipmates 94they left these; but they found none of them, though they saw impressions of large footsteps.^[24]

“The Ceramers are subjects, and likewise allies, of the Dutch Company, and for the most part expert sailors; and by them, and none else, is the coast of New Guinea visited. The inhabitants of New Guinea have for many years suffered from the treachery and murders of this people, who, not by force of arms but by cunning, have subdued the Papoos. Under the cloak of friendship they take their women (in which they are not very choice) for wives, and the children thus born, being very carefully instructed in the Mahomedan faith, are easily able to control these simple inhabitants of the woods. By this connection, also, the Ceramers, having gained the attachment of the women, always know how to escape the evil intentions which, for all that, the Papoos cannot restrain themselves from trying to put in practice against their visitors.

“The fruits of the country of New Guinea are very few, consisting chiefly in some few yams, cocoa nuts, betel nuts, and plantain trees, which are planted here and there, in the neighbourhood of their own places, by the Ceramers. The land does not seem to bring forth any wild plants; the inhabitants live on leaf zajor,^[25] roots of trees and herbs, but the bread of the Moluccas, in general called sagou, is not produced here, as far as I could learn. Only one sort of it is brought here by the Ceramers for their own provision, and also for barter. Fish of all sorts is everywhere so plentiful along the shore that they may be caught with the greatest ease in uncommon abundance; but they want nets and other fishing tackle, though they supply this defect in a masterly manner by their art in making their fish 95baskets, in which, at each spring tide, numbers of fish are caught. It is not known that any large animals are found here, except hogs, which are plentiful; but vermin, and in particular snakes, scorpions, and millepedes, are here in great numbers.

“The woods are filled with a variety of birds, making all day such an uncommon noise that it is really astonishing. They are seldom, if ever, shot by the inhabitants, as is sufficiently shown by their uncommon tameness; for, one being shot, the other remains sitting next to it. But our sportsmen must be careful in not entering too far into the woods, for the Papoos imitate the birds very accurately, in order to trepan and murder them, which has happened several times.

“They covet hatchets, cloaths, and beads, which are bartered for slaves. When a slave is sold, they cut off a lock of his hair, believing that in doing this they shall have more slaves. Those slaves are either prisoners of war, or trepanned in the woods; many of them are sold in Ternate and thereabouts. At the first they are so greedy in their eating that they would nearly burst, if not checked in their gluttony.

“The heathens of Nova Guinea and Hollandia Nova believe there is some divinity in the serpent, for which reason they represent them upon their vessels.

“The following is an extract from a letter written to me from Amboina, as an account of New Guinea and Hollandia Nova, otherwise called the South Land.

“‘The inhabitants of all New Guinea are a tall, ugly, and misshapen people, not so much by nature as choice; for they cut their nostrils asunder, that you may nearly see into their throats, from which it may be conceived what fine faces those must be, after having their promontories demolished in this manner. They go mostly naked, except those who live upon the islands, who, by their intercourse 96with the Ceram Lauers, are become a little more polished. Of them they get some little clothing, with which they cover themselves, though but scantily; but on the continent they are altogether a savage barbarous people, who can on no account be trusted. They are addicted to thieving and murder, so that the Ceram Lauers cannot trade with them except at a distance. They lay their goods down upon the beach, being put up in heaps, when the most venturesome among the strange traders comes forward and makes it understood by gestures and signs how much he wants for them. Their commerce consists in Tamboxe swords, axes to cut the trees down with, bad cloths, sagoe-bread, rice, and black sugar; but the rice and black sugar must be given beforehand, to induce them to trade. No traces of government, order, or religion are discernible amongst them. They live together like beasts: those upon the islands erect houses, and a kind of villages, placing their houses commonly upon posts, raised to a considerable height above the ground. On the continent they have slight huts, covered with leaves, like hog-styes: in them lie indiscriminately men, dogs, and hogs, upon the bare sand, otherwise they lie down in any place where they can but find white sand. They mourn more for the loss of a dog or hog than for their mothers. They bury their dead hogs and dogs, but not their deceased relations, whom they lay down upon high rocks to decay under the rain and sun, till nothing remains but the white bones, which at length they bury when they think proper. Their food consists chiefly of fishes, with which their seas abound, and of yams and plantains. They have no sagoe trees, neither do they know how to prepare the bread from it if they had any. Their arms are hasagays, clumsy and long arrows, and also a weapon formed from a sort of blue stone or slate, pointed at both ends, having a hole in the middle, in which a stick is put for a handle. With this they attack one another in such a manner, that with one stroke 97the skull is crushed to pieces: the farther you go to the south the more savage, tall, and ugly the people are, in particular from Lacca-iha to Oero-goba.

“‘A certain shallop from Banda, being on the coast, which stretches nearly east from Arou, they found there such large people, that one of our sailors was taken by his sleeve by one of them and shaken like a little boy; but he was rescued by his shipmates. To the south of this place a great promontory stretches itself to the west, called in the map Cape Falso, and again, to the south of this, is laid down the shallow bight, where it is supposed that Nova Guinea is divided from the South Land by a strait terminating in the South Sea, though, by reason of the shallowness, our people could not pass it; and thus it remains uncertain whether this strait goes through or not, but in the old Portuguese maps New Guinea is laid down as an island under the name of Ceira.^[26]

“‘I must here remark a circumstance which is but little noticed in European writings, which is, that in some logbooks the sea between Banda and the South Land is called the Milk Sea; the reason for this is, that twice a-year the sea thereabouts turns white, and is called by our people the white water. The so-called little white water comes first, with a dark or new moon, in the latter end of June; the great or second white water also comes in with a similar dark moon in August, sooner or later according as the south-east wind sets in fresh. This wind at that time brings with it in those parts unsettled rainy weather. By daytime the sea looks natural, but in the night as white as milk or snow, and so bright that it is nearly impossible to distinguish the water from the sky. At that time it is dangerous to navigate here in small vessels, the sea making, even in calm weather, a great swell, which, from the brightness of the water, cannot be discovered before they reach it. This white water comes first entirely from the south-east, about 98where lie the islands of Babba, Tenimmer, and Timor Laut, and, perhaps, wholly from that great bay made by the South Land and New Guinea. It continues thus till September, when it is gradually carried by the wind and currents towards the west, in large broad stripes, passing by Amboina and Boero till about Bouton, when it gradually loses itself; this water keeps itself always distinct from the sea water, as if it were divided by a band, a fact which often frightens inexperienced sailors at night, as they think they are running suddenly upon a great bank. No one has yet been able to explain this wonder of nature, nor give the cause of this quality of the water to glitter at night. It is thought most probable that it arises from sulphurous exhalations from the bottom of the sea, rising in this rough weather to the surface; for that it is impregnated with sulphur is shown to be likely by the number of sulphur mountains and volcanos found every where in the south-eastern islands, and which, perhaps, exist in greater number in the South Land. All this, however, is as yet uncertain; perhaps the chemists might be able to supply some explanation upon the subject, as they have the art of preparing waters which give light in the night time.

“‘It may also here be asked, what countries are Lucach, Beach, and Maletur, names inscribed in some of our maps, on some parts of that country which we call South Land, or Hollandia Nova. I reply that these names are, perhaps, taken from the uncertain and ambiguous narratives of voyages by Marcus Paulus and Vertomannus, who, perhaps, being led astray by the relations of others, have taken the large island of Timor for the South Land; for in Timor the traces of the word Maletur remain in Maleto, situated near Keylako, on the north side of Timor.’ Thus far the above-mentioned letter.”

Being now clear of all the islands, we stood off south, intending to touch at New Holland, a part of Terra Australis Incognita, to see what that country would afford us. Indeed, as the winds were, we could not now keep our intended course (which was first westerly and then northerly) without going to New Holland, unless we had gone back again among the islands; but this was not a good time of the year to be among any islands to the south of the equator, unless in a good harbour.

The 31st day we were in latitude 13° 26´, still standing to the southward, the wind bearing commonly very hard at west, and we keeping upon it under two courses, and our myen, and sometimes a main-top-sail rift. About ten a clock at night we tackt and stood to the northward, for fear of running on a shoal, which is laid down in our drafts in latitude 13° 50´ or thereabouts: it bearing south by west from the east end of Timor: and so the island bore from us by our judgments and reckoning. At three a clock we tackt again, and stood S. by W. and S.S.W.

In the morning, as soon as it was day, we saw the shoal right ahead: it lies in 13° 50´ by all our reckonings. It is 100a small spit of land, just appearing above the water’s edge, with several rocks about it, 8 or 10 feet above high water. It lies in a triangular form, each side being about a league and a half. We stemm’d right with the middle of it, and stood within half a mile of the rocks, and sounded; but found no ground. Then we went about and stood to the north two hours; and then tackt and stood to the southward againe, thinking to weather it; but could not. So we bore away on the north side till we came to the east point, giving the rocks a small berth: then we trimb’d sharp, and stood to the southward, passing close by it, and sounded again, but found no ground.

This shoal is laid down in our drafts not above sixteen or twenty leagues from New Holland; but we did runne afterwards sixty leagues due south before we fell in with it: and I am very confident that no part of New Holland hereabouts lyes so far northerly by forty leagues as it is laid down in our drafts. For if New Holland were laid down true, we must of necessity have been driven near forty leagues to the westward of our course; but this is very improbable, that the current should set so strong to the westward, seeing that we had such a constant westerly wind. I grant that when the monsoon shifts first, the current does not presently shift, but runs afterwards near a month; but the monsoon had been shifted at least two months now. But of the monsoons and other winds, and of the currents, elsewhere, in their proper place. As to these here, I do rather believe that the land is not laid down true, than that the current deceived us; for it was more probable we should have been deceived before we met with the shoal than afterward: for on the coast of New Holland we found the tides keeping their constant course, the flood running N. by E. and the ebb S. by W.

The 4th day of January, 1688, we fell in with the land of New Holland, in the latitude of 16° 50´, having, as I said 101before, made our course due south from the shoal that we past by the 31st day of December. We ran in close by it, and finding no convenient anchorage, because it lies open to the N.W., we ran along shore to the eastward, steering N.E. by E., for so the land lies. We steered thus about twelve leagues; and then came to a point of land, from whence the land trends east and southerly for ten or twelve leagues: but how afterwards I know not. About three leagues to the eastward of this point there is a pretty deep bay, with abundance of islands in it, and a very good place to anchor in or to hale ashore. About a league to the eastward of that point we anchored January the 5th, 1688, two miles from the shore, in twenty-nine fathom, good hard sand and clean ground.

New Holland is a very large tract of land. It is not yet determined whether it is an island or a main continent; but I am certain that it joyns neither to Asia, Africa, nor America. This part of it that we saw is all low even land, with sandy banks against the sea, only the points are rocky, and so are some of the islands in this bay.

The land is of a dry sandy soil, destitute of water, except you make wells: yet producing divers sorts of trees: but the woods are not thick, nor the trees very big. Most of the trees that we saw are dragon-trees as we supposed; and these, too, are the largest trees of any where. They are about the bigness of our large apple trees, and about the same height: and the rind is blackish, and somewhat rough. The leaves are of a dark colour; the gum distils out of the knots or cracks that are in the bodies of the trees. We compared it with some gum dragon, or dragon’s blood, that was aboard; and it was of the same colour and taste. The other sorts of trees were not known by any of us. There was pretty long grass growing under the trees, but it was very thin. We saw no trees that bore fruit or berries.

We saw no sort of animals, nor any track of beast, but 102once, and that seemed to be the tread of a beast as big as a great mastiff dog. Here are a few small land-birds, but none bigger than a blackbird: and but few sea-fowls. Neither is the sea very plentifully stored with fish, unless you reckon the manatee and turtle as such. Of these creatures there is plenty, but they are extraordinarily shy, though the inhabitants cannot trouble them much, having neither boats nor iron.

The inhabitants of this country are the miserablest people in the world. The Hodmadods of Monomatapa, though a nasty people, yet for wealth are gentlemen to these; who have no houses and skin garments, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth, ostrich eggs, etc., as the Hodmadods have; and setting aside their human shape, they differ but little from brutes. They are tall, straight-bodied, and thin, with small long limbs. They have great head, round foreheads, and great brows. Their eyelids are always half closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes, they being so troublesome here that no fanning will keep them from coming to ones face; and without the assistance of both hands to keep them off, they will creep into ones nostrils, and mouth, too, if the lips are not shut very close. So that, from their infancy, being thus annoyed with these insects, they do never open their eyes as other people do; and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold up their heads as if they were looking at somewhat over them.

They have great bottle-noses, pretty full lips, and wide mouths. The two fore-teeth of their upper jaw are wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young: whether they draw them out I know not: neither have they any beards. They are long-visaged, and of a very unpleasing aspect, having no one graceful feature in their faces. Their hair is black, short, and curl’d, like that of the negroes; and not long and lank, like the common Indians. The colour of their skins, both of their faces and the rest of their body, is coal black, like that of the negroes of Guinea.

103They have no sort of clothes, but a piece of the rind of a tree ty’d lyke a girdle about their waists, and a handful of long grass, or three or four small green boughs, full of leaves, thrust under their girdle to cover their nakedness.

They have no houses, but lye in the open air without any covering, the earth being their bed and the heaven their canopy. Whether they cohabit one man to one woman, or promiscuously, I know not; but they do live in companies, twenty or thirty men, women and children together. Their only food is a small sort of fish, which they get by making wares of stone across little coves or branches of the sea; every tide bringing in the small fish, and there leaving them for a prey to these people, who constantly attend there to search for them at low water. This small fry I take to be the top of their fishery: they have no instruments to catch great fish, should they come, and such seldom stay to be left behind at low water, nor could we catch any fish with our hooks and lines all the while we lay there. In other places at low water they seek for cockles, mussels, and periwincles. Of these shell-fish there are fewer still, so that their chiefest dependance is upon what the sea leaves in their wares, which, be it much or little, they gather up, and march to the places of their abode. There the old people, that are not able to stir abroad by reason of their age, and the tender infants, wait their return; and what Providence has bestowed on them, they presently broil on the coals and eat it in common. Sometimes they get as many fish as makes them a plentiful banquet, and at other times they scarce get every one a taste; but, be it little or much that they get, every one has his part, as well the young and tender as the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad as the strong and lusty. When they have eaten they lie down till the next low water, and then all that are able march out, be it night or day, rain or shine, ’tis all one; they must attend the wares or else they must fast, for the earth affords them no 104food at all. There is neither herb, root, pulse, nor any sort of grain for them to eat that we saw; nor any sort of bird or beast that they can catch, having no instruments wherewithal to do so.

I did not perceive that they did worship anything. These poor creatures have a sort of weapon to defend their ware or fight with their enemies, if they have any that will interfere with their poor fishery. They did endeavour with their weapons to frighten us, who, lying ashore, deterr’d them from one of their fishing places. Some of them had wooden swords, others had a sort of lances. The sword is a piece of wood, shaped somewhat like a cutlass. The lance is a long strait pole, sharp at one end, and hardened afterwards by heat. I saw no iron, nor any other sort of metal; therefore it is probable they use stone hatchets, as some Indians in America do, described in chapter iv.

How they get their fire I know not, but probably, as Indians do, out of wood. I have seen the Indians of Bon-Airy do it, and have myself tryed the experiment. They take a flat piece of wood, that is pretty soft, and make a small dent in one side of it; then they take another hard round stick, about the bigness of one’s little finger, and sharpening it at one end like a pencil, they put that sharp end in the hole or dent of the flat soft juice, and then rubbing or twirling the hard piece between the palms of their hands, they drill the soft piece till it smokes, and at last takes fire.

These people speak somewhat through the throat, but we could not understand one word that they said. We anchored, as I said before, January the 5th, and seeing men walking on the shore, we presently set a canoe to get some acquaintance with them, for we were in hopes to get some provisions among them. But the inhabitants, seeing our boat coming, run away and hid themselves. We searched afterwards three days, in hopes to find their houses; but 105found none; yet we saw many places where they had made fires. At last, being out of hopes to find their habitations, we searched no farther; but left a great many toys ashore, in such places where we thought that they would come. In all our search we found no water, but old wells on the sandy bays.

At last we went over to the islands, and there we found a great many of the natives: I do believe there were forty on one island, men, women, and children. The men, at our first coming ashore, threatened us with their lances and swords; but they were frighted by firing one gun, which we fired purposely to scare them. The island was so small that they could not hide themselves; but they were much disordered at our landing, especially the women and children, for we went directly to their camp. The lustiest of the women snatching up their infants ran away howling, and the little children run after squeaking and bawling, but the men stood still. Some of the women, and such people as could not go from us, lay still by a fire, making a doleful noise as if we had been coming to devour them; but when they saw that we did not intend to harm them they were pretty quiet, and the rest that fled from us at our first coming returned again. This, their place of dwelling, was only a fire, with a few boughs before it, set up on that side the wind was of.

After we had been here a little while the men began to be familiar, and we cloathed some of them, designing to have some service of them for it; for we found some wells of water here, and intended to carry two or three barrels of it aboard. But being somewhat troublesome to carry to the canoes, we thought to have made these men to have carried it for us, and therefore we gave them some cloathes; to one an old pair of breeches, to another a ragged shirt, to a third a jacket that was scarce worth owning, which yet would have been very acceptable at some places where we had 106been, and so we thought they might have been with these people. We put them on them, thinking that this finery would have brought them to work heartily for us; and our water being filled in small long barrels, about six gallons in each, which were made purposely to carry water in, we brought these our new servants to the wells, and put a barrel on each of their shoulders for them to carry to the canoa. But all the signs we could make were to no purpose, for they stood like statues, without motion, but grinned like so many monkeys, staring one upon another; for these poor creatures seem not accustomed to carry burthens, and I believe that one of our ship-boys of ten years old would carry as much as one of them. So we were forced to carry our water ourselves, and they very fairly put the cloathes off again and laid them down, as if cloathes were only to work in. I did not perceive that they had any great liking to them at first, neither did they seem to admire anything that we had.

At another time, our canoa being among these islands seeking for game, espy’d a drove of these men swimming from one island to another; for they have no boats, canoes, or bark-logs. They took up four of them and brought them aboard; two of them were middle aged, the other two were young men about eighteen or twenty years old. To these we gave boiled rice, and with it turtle and manatee boiled. They did greedily devour what we gave them, but took no notice of the ship or any thing in it, and when they were set on land again they ran away as fast as they could. At our first coming, before we were acquainted with them or they with us, a company of them who lived on the main came just against our ship, and standing on a pretty high bank, threatened us with their swords and lances by shaking them at us; at last the captain ordered the drum to be beaten, which was done of a sudden with much vigour, purposely to scare the poor creatures. They hearing the noise ran away as fast as they could drive, and when they ran 107away in haste they would cry, Gurry, Gurry, speaking deep in the throat. Those inhabitants also that live on the main would always run away from us, yet we took several of them. For, as I have already observed, they had such bad eyes that they could not see us till we came close to them. We did always give them victuals and let them go again, but the islanders, after our first time of being among them, did not stir for us.

When we had been here about a week, we hal’d our ship into a small sandy cove, at a spring-tide, as far as she would float; and at low water she was left dry, and the sand dry without us near half a mile, for the sea riseth and falleth here about five fathoms. The flood runs north by east, and the ebb south by west. All the neep-tides we lay wholly aground, for the sea did not come near us by about a hundred yards. We had therefore time enough to clean our ship’s bottom, which we did very well. Most of our men lay ashore in a tent, where our sails were mending; and our strikers brought home turtle and manatee every day, which was our constant food.

While we lay here, I did endeavour to perswade our men to go to some English factory, but was threatened to be turned ashore and left here for it.

This made me desist, and patiently wait for some more convenient place and opportunity to leave them than here; which I did hope I should accomplish in a short time, because they did intend, when they went from hence, to bear down towards Cape Comorin. In their way thither they design’d to visit also the Island Cocos, which lieth in latitude 12° 12´ north, by our drafts: hoping there to find of that fruit, the island having its name from thence.

Wee stood away to the southward, intending to see New Holland, and mett nothing worth observing till the first day of December, and then, being in latit. 13° 50´, wee were close aboard a showle, which wee lay by for in the night; it lyes S. by W. from the N.W. end of Timore about seventy leagues. Wee steered to weather it but could not, therefore bore away to the eastward of it; it lyes in a triangle, with many sharp rocks about water, and on the south side is a small spitt of land.

This showle is laid downe within twenty leagues of New Holland due south, but wee made our course south, yett run into latitude 16° 50´ before wee made land, which is forty odd leagues; so that by our runn, except wee had a current against us, which wee did not perceive, New Holland is laid downe nearer then it should be to those islands in the south seas by forty leagues.

The fourth day of January 1687–88 wee fell in with the land of New Holland in latitude 16° 50´, the land low and a deepe sandy bay, but no shelter for us, therefore wee runn downe along the shore which lyes N.E. by E., about twelve 109leagues; then wee came to a point with an iland by it, but soe neare the maine that wee could not goe within it a league; to the westward of this pointe is a showle a league from the maine.

From this pointe the land runs more easterly and makes a deepe bay with many ilands in it; the sixth day wee came into this bay, and anchored about foare miles to the eastward of the forementioned pointe, in eighteen fathome water, a mile from the shoare, good clean sand.

I drew a drafte of this land and the bay where we road, but at the Necquebar,^[27] when we oversett our prows, I lost it and some others that were not in my book; those that I had placed in my book were all preserved, but all wett.

Wee sent our boate ashoare to speak with the natives, but they would not abide our comeing, soe wee spent three dayes in seekeing their houses, being in hopes to allure them with toyes to a comerce.

For wee begun to be scarce of provision, and did not question but these people could relieve us; but after all our search neare the sea side and in the country wee found ourselves disapointed, for the people of this country have noe houses nor any thing like a house, neither have they any sorte of graine or pulse; flesh they have not, nor any sorte of cattle, not soe much as catt or dog, for, indeed, they have noe occasion of such creatures unless to eat them, for of that food which they have they leave no fragments. They have noe sorte of fowle, neither tame nor wild, for the latter I saw very few in the country, neither did wee see any kind of wilde beast in the country, but the track of one.

I believe there are not any of the natives in the country farr from the sea, for they gett their living out of sea without nett or hooke; but they build wares with stones cross 110the bays, and every low water, whether night or day, they search those wares for what the sea hath left behinde, which is all that they have to depend on for a livelyhood; some times they are bountyfully rewarded for their paines, and at other times providence seemes to be nigardly, scarce giving them a taste instead of a belly full. The fish which they take they carry home to their famelyes, whoe lye behinde a few boughs stuck up to keepe the wind from them. All that are of age to search those wares goe downe at the time of low water, leaving only the old sicke weake people and children at home, who make a fire against the coming of their friends to broyle their fish, which they soone devoure without salt or bread. Their habitations are neare those wares and remove as occasion serves, for they are not troubled with household goods nor clothes, all that they weare is only a piece of rine [rind] about their wastes, under which they thrust either a hand full of long grasse or some small boughs before to cover their privityes.

They are people of good stature, but very thin and leane, I judge for want of foode. They are black, yett I believe their haires would be long if it was comed out, but for want of combs it is matted up like a negroes haire. They have, all that I saw, two fore teeth of their upper jaw wanting, both men, women, and children.

They swim from one iland to the other or toe and from the maine, and have for armes a lance sharpned at one end and burned in the fire to harden it, and a sword made with wood, which is sharpe on one side; these weapons, I judge, are cutt with stone hatchetts, as I have seene in the West India.

The country is all low land, with sand hills by the sea side; within it is a wood, but not extraordinary thicke; the chiefest trees are dragon trees, which are bigger then any other trees in the woods: wee found neither river, brooke, nor springs, but made wells in the sand, which aforded as good water, where wee watered our ships.

111The first spring after wee came hither wee hail’d our ship into a sandy bay, where shee lay dry all the neepe tides, for it flows there right up and downe above five fathome; the flood setts north by east, and the ebb setts S. by W.

There are many turtle and manatoe in this bay, which our strikers supplyed us with all the time we lay here, and one time they mett some of the natives swimming from one iland to the other, and tooke up foure of them and brought aboard, whoe tooke noe notice of any thing that wee had noe more than a bruite would; wee gave them some victualls, which they greedily devoured, and being sett out of the ship ran away as fast as their leggs (for the ship was now dry on the sand) could carry them. Wee mett divers of them on the ilands, for they could not run from us there, but the women and children would be frighted at our approach.

Wee tarried here till the twelfth day of February, in which time wee cleaned our ship, mended our sailes, and filled our water; and when our time drew neare to depart from thence, I motioned goeing to Fort St. George, or any settlement where the English had noe fortification, and was threatened to be turned a shoare on New Holland for it; which made me desist, intending, by God’s blessing, to make my escape the first place I came neare, for wee were now bound into India for Cape Comorin, if wee could fetch it.

Of this expedition, which owes its origin to the loss of the ship De Ridderschap van Hollandt, between the Cape of Good Hope and Batavia, in the year 1685, reports are to be found in various works, as in Witsen, Valentijn, the Historische Beschrijving der Reizen, perhaps also in some others. No coherent account, however, appears to exist, although we read in the last-mentioned work that a narrative of the voyage was published in 1701, at Amsterdam.^[28]

The project originally formed was, that the expedition should set out from Batavia, and the Directors of the Council of the Seventeen write on this understanding in their dispatch of November 10th, 1695, to the Governor-General and Council of India; but in the assembly of December 8th and 10th of that year^[29] that plan was abandoned, and it was 113resolved that, “for various reasons,” the expedition should be undertaken from the Cape of Good Hope, under the command of William de Vlamingh, with orders to land at the islands of Tristan d’Acunha, on this side of the Cape, and also at the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, to examine and to survey them.

For this purpose three ships were fitted out: the frigate De Geelvinck, commodore Willem de Vlamingh; the hooker De Nijptang, Captain Gerrit Collaert; and the galiot Weseltje, Captain Cornelis de Vlamingh, son of the commodore.

“On Thursday, the 3rd of May, 1696, at one o’clock in the morning, the noble Burgomaster Hinlopen sent the Company’s boat, having on board the Commander Barent Fockesz, with orders that we should put to sea at daybreak.” They accordingly weighed anchor, and set sail northwards towards England.

On the result of this expedition the Governor-General and Council of India report to the Directors of the Council of Seventeen as follows:—

“For the result of the voyage of the three above-mentioned ships, which, according to the order of the Gentlemen Seventeen of the 10th of November 1695, and 16th of March 1696, and according to your instruction of the 23rd of April of the same year, have prosperously completed their journey over the islands of Tristan d’Acunha, the Cape, islands of Amsterdam and St. Paulo, and have also arrived here, both crew and vessels in a tolerably good condition, we shall principally have to refer you to their journals and notes, together with their maps and some drawings of those places; all of which, with the draughtsman himself, the overseer of the infirmary Victor Victorsz, will reach you by the ship’s Lants Welvaren; the drawings, packed up in one box, consisting of eleven pieces, viz.:—

In addition to these we also enclose some big and small chips of wood, brought by Willem de Vlamingh from the before mentioned South Land, and described in his journal under the 30th and 31st of December 1696, also 2nd of January 1697, as a kind of scented wood. Upon this we have not been able to come to any distinct decision; we have, however, had a portion of it distilled, and forward a small bottle of the oil for your examination by Commander Bichon. Likewise we send a little box containing shells, fruits, plants, etc., gathered on the coast; these specimens, however, are of less importance, and such as are to be found in a better condition elsewhere in India. So that, generally speaking, with respect to the South Land, along which, in conformity with their instructions, they have coasted, and to which their accurate observations have been devoted, nothing has been discovered but a barren, bare, desolate region; at least along the coast, and so far as they have penetrated into the interior. Neither have they met with any signs of habitation, some fires excepted, and a few black naked men, supposed to have been seen on two or three occasions at a distance; whom, however, they could neither come up with nor speak to. Neither, again, were any remarkable animals or birds observed, except principally in the Swan River, a species of black swans, three of which they brought to us alive, and should have been sent to Your Nobilities, had they not died one by one shortly after their arrival here. Neither, so far as we know, have any traces been discovered of the missing ship De Ridderschap van Holland or of other vessels, either there or at the islands Amsterdam and St. Paul. Consequently in this voyage and investigation nothing of any importance has been discovered. A singular memorial, however, was seen by them. On an island situated on or near the South Land, in 25° latitude, 115was found a pole, nearly decayed, but still standing upright, with a common middle-sized tin plate, which had been beaten flat and attached to the pole, and which was still lying near it. On this plate the following engraved words were still legible:—

“Anno 1616, the 25th of October, arrived here the ship De Eendraght, from Amsterdam, the upper-merchant Gilles Mibais from Luijck, Captain Dirck Hartog from Amsterdam; the 27th ditto set sail for Bantam, under-merchant Jan Hijn, upper-steersman Pieter Dockes from Bil. Anno 1616.”

This old plate, brought to us by Willem de Vlamingh, we have now handed over to the commander, in order that he might bring it to Your Nobilities, and that you may marvel how it remained there through such a number of years unaffected by air, rain, or sun. They erected on the same spot another pole, with a flat tin plate as a memorial, and wrote on it as to be read in the journals.^[30]

And since we are desirous to afford Your Nobilities all possible information and satisfaction with respect to this voyage, we have given permission to its former chief, Captain Willem de Vlamingh the elder, with his upper-steersman Michel Blom, to return with the last return ships. As they have not come back yet from Bengal with their vessels the Geelvinch and Nijptang, but are expected daily, we shall leave this for the present and refer you for further information to their own verbal reports.

116We also found recorded in the notes of the above-mentioned skipper, Willem de Vlamingh, that on the island of Mony, lying 10° south latitude and 60–70 miles without Sunda Strait, by which he steered on his way from the South Land hither, trees are to be found fit for masts of ships. No further explanation, however, being given as to their abundance or scarcity, or the kind of the wood,—a small piece only, about two spans in length and less than a finger’s breadth in thickness, having been brought to us, and the skipper of the Nijptang, and the gezaghebber of the Weseltje, son of the old Vlamingh, knowing nothing whatever about the subject, we, in order to settle the point once for all, thought it not unadvisable to set on foot a further investigation, and accordingly once more despatched the galiot Weseltje on the 11th of May, in order that a more minute survey might be taken of the island, adding at the same time a reinforcement of eight native soldiers, with such instructions for the steersman Cornelis de Vlamingh, as are to be found in the letter-book under that date, and also under Batavia. According to the diary of the same steersman from May 12 to June 17, kept in the journey, in which they nearly got wrecked, and owing to the heavy breakers could nowhere effect a landing, and from the vessel and boat could not perceive anything else but thick brushwood and a few small crooked trees, none of which was either straight or more than three fathoms long; so that no expectation remained of finding there anything useful.

The Commissioners of the Chamber of Amsterdam have reported, how the said Chamber, in accordance with and to fulfil what their Nobilities have by resolution of the 10th of last month been ordered to do, concerning the sending of a ship to the South Land, or the land of d’Eendracht, having examined and also heard and taken the advice of Commander Hendrich Pronck and Skipper Willem de Vlamingh, is of opinion; firstly, as regards the South Land, that for certain reasons it should not be undertaken from Batavia, as previously thought proper, and in favour of which this Assembly has declared itself by its missive of Nov. 10 last, to the General and Council, but from the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 1st of Oct. next year; that for this purpose should be equipped and prepared, in order to go to sea next March, a frigate and two galiots, under command of and accompanied by the before-mentioned skipper De Vlamingh, with such instructions as should be deemed necessary. That the said frigate should be provided with a Greenland shallop—supposed to be better adapted for putting into harbour and landing than the ordinary shallops in the use of the Company. Secondly, that De Vlamingh should be directed in his instructions to touch at the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, as lying directly on his track, on his way from the cape to the South Land, to examine their situation, and also, whether any traces of the crew of missing vessels, especially of the Ridderschap van Hollandt, are to be found.

After deliberation, the resolution was passed:—That all the above written shall be further examined by Commissioners, and report be made of their considerations and resolutions; 118and for which hereby are requested and commissioned: from the Chamber Amsterdam, Messrs. Hooft, Geelvinck, Fabritius, and Velsen; from the Chamber Zeelandt, Messrs. Boddart and Schorer; and from the other Chambers, those who shall be commissioned by them; with the addition of Mr. van Spanbrock from the principal participators.

Touching the report of the Commissioners, who, in compliance with the Commissarial resolution of the 8th c., have given due attention to the subject of the search and inquiry after the ship De Ridderschap van Hollandt, and to the inquiry to be connected therewith, viz., as to the nature of the South Land, and of the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, and matters connected therewith, together with the sending of an expedition thither for the purpose of the inquiry;—on deliberation and in conformity with the advice of the above-mentioned Commissioners, it has been resolved and found good:—that the said voyage shall be undertaken not from Batavia, as has been heretofore thought good, and in favour of which this Assembly had given instructions in its missive to the General and Council from the 10th of last month, and which is hereby altered in so far—but from the Cape of Good Hope, and in the beginning of October next; that for this purpose the Chamber Amsterdam shall equip and get ready for sea by March next, a suitable frigate, 110–112 feet long, to be built by the said Chamber, and which is to have the name of Geelvinck, together with two sailing galiots, under the command of and accompanied by the skipper Willem de Vlamingh, provided with such necessaries as shall be thought proper.

119That furthermore, the said De Vlamingh shall, if he can do so without much loss of time, and as it were en passant, touch at the islands of Tristan d’Acunha, on this side of the Cape, in 37´ south latitude, to examine them as much as he can, and under such instructions as shall be handed over to him. The Chamber Amsterdam being hereby once more requested and authorized, to arrange and carry into execution what has been said above with regard to the South Land and Tristan d’Acunha, and to prepare such instructions as shall be thought proper.

Lastly, that De Vlamingh shall in his instructions be ordered to touch on the islands St. Paul and Amsterdam, lying directly on his track in ... degrees south latitude, and to examine their situations; also, whether any signs of men from wrecked ships are to be found, especially from the Ridderschap van Hollandt.

On the morning of the 29th December (1696) at half-past two o’clock, we discovered the South Land, to east north-east of us at from four to five miles distance. We found the country low, the main coast stretching from south to north. Our people observed a remarkable fish here, about two feet long, with a round head and a sort of arms and legs and even something like hands. They found also several stems of plants. They cast anchor in from fourteen to fifteen fathoms. At nearly half a league from the island on the south side they had good holding ground. The wind south-west by south.

On the 30th December we took counsel, and then with our guns on our arms put the shallop afloat and with the chief pilot I went on shore to look round the island. We rowed round to the east corner of the island about a cannon shot distance from the coast, and found there two fathoms water with muddy bottom, filled with shells, and occasionally a sandy bottom. Proceeding a little further, we sounded the little island bearing to the south of us, and the westernmost 121point of the large one bearing north-west of us; and we found five fathoms, and good and bad bottom by turns. We afterwards sounded north, the westernmost point bearing N. W. and by W. of us, and the little island S. W., and had as before five fathoms. At nearly a gun shot from the shore we found on the south-east coast of the island seven or eight great rocks, the island being on this side of a rocky and stony aspect, bearing north-east from us; then we had eight fathoms both good and bad ground; with here and there a gulf, where was a straight bank stretching from the coast up to the nearest rock nearly three quarters of a mile from the coast. Along the east side there are many capes and gulfs, with white sand, which is found also round the greater part of the island. It stretches lengthwise from east to west nearly four leagues, and is about nine leagues in circumference.

On the 31st of December I again put on shore with our skipper, and directing my steps into the interior of the island, I found several sorts of herbs, the greater part of which were known to me, and some of which resembled in smell those of our own country. There were also a variety of trees, and among them one sort, the wood of which had an aromatic odour nearly like that of the Lignum Rhodii. The ground is covered with little or no soil, but chiefly with white and rocky sand, in my opinion little adapted for cultivation. There are very few birds there and no animals, except a kind of rat as big as a common cat, whose dung is found in abundance over all the island. There are also very few seals or fish, except a sort of sardine and grey rock bream. In the middle of the island, at about half an hour’s distance, we found several basins of excellent water, but brackish, and six or seven paces further a fountain of fresh water fit to drink. In returning to the shore, the crew found a piece of wood from our own country, in which the nails still remained. It was probably from a shipwrecked vessel, and three or four 122leagues from us some smoke was seen to rise at different points of the main land. The country has the appearance of being higher than it really is. The coast is like that of Holland.

On the 1st of January, 1697, the crew went to seek for fuel, and again saw smoke rising at different points on the mainland. They observed also the flow and ebb; and our sail-master found on the shore a piece of planed wood about three feet long and a span broad.

On the 2nd I again went on shore, with our skipper, to examine the island on the west side, which we found similar to the last. It is to be avoided for about a league, on account of the great numbers of rocks along the coast; otherwise it is easily approachable, as from six to seven leagues from the shore there are soundings at a hundred fathoms. On the mainland we again saw smoke arising.

On the 3rd, after sunset, we saw a great number of fires burning, the whole length of the coast of the mainland.

On the 4th, De Vlaming’s boat made sail for the mainland. On its return a council was held with the view of making an expedition on shore on the morrow. N.B.—Here we have the headlands inaccurately indicated.

At sunrise on the morning of the 5th, the resolution which had been taken was put into execution; and I, in company with the skipper, pushed off to the mainland with the boats of the three South Land navigators. We mustered, what with soldiers and sailors, and two of the blacks that we had taken with us at the Cape, eighty-six strong, well armed and equipped. We proceeded eastwards; and, after an hour’s march, we came to a hut of a worse description than those of the Hottentots. Further on was a large basin of brackish water, which we afterwards found was a river; on the bank of which were several footsteps of men, and several small pools, in which was fresh water, or but slightly brackish. In spite of our repeated searches, however, we found no men. 123Towards evening we determined to pass the night on shore, and pitched our camp in the wood, in a place where we found a fire which had been lighted by the inhabitants, but whom, nevertheless, we did not see. We fed the fire by throwing on wood, and each quarter of an hour four of our people kept watch.

On the morning of the 6th, at sunrise, we divided ourselves into three companies, each taking a different route, to try if we could not, by this means, find some men. After three or four hours we rejoined each other near the river, without discovering anything beyond some huts and footsteps. Upon which we betook ourselves to rest. Meanwhile they brought me the nut of a certain fruit tree, resembling in form the drioens,^[31] having the taste of our large Dutch beans; and those which were younger were like a walnut. I ate five or six of them, and drank of the water from the small pools; but, after an interval of about three hours, I and five others who had eaten of these fruits began to vomit so violently that we were as dead men; so that it was with the greatest difficulty that I and the crew regained the shore, and thence, in company with the skipper, were put on board the galliot, leaving the rest on shore.

On the 7th the whole of the crew returned on board with the boats, bringing with them two young black swans. The mouth of the said river lies in 31 degrees 46 minutes; and at eleven, nine, and seven gunshots from the mainland, are five and a half fathoms of water on good bottom. Between the river and Rottenest Island, which is at nearly five leagues distance, Captain De Vlaming had the misfortune to break his cable.

On the 9th, De Vlaming made sail for the mainland.

On the 10th we followed him with the galliot, and cast anchor off the mainland, in thirteen fathoms. A council was 124immediately held, and orders forthwith given to proceed to explore the river with two of the galliot’s boats. The galliot remained in the neighbourhood before the river, while we went up it with three boats well supplied with guns and ammunition. We found, at the mouth, from five to six feet of water. We remained a little time on the shore, and put ourselves on the alert, not to be surprised by the natives. After sunset we ascended the river, and overcame the current with our oars; seeing several fires, but no men. About midnight we threw out our kedge, as we saw no opening although it was moonlight.

On the 11th, at break of day, we again ascended the river, and saw many swans (our boat knocked over nine or ten), some rotganzen, geese, some divers, etc.; also a quantity of fish, which were frisking on the water. We also heard the song of the nightingale. Here we thought we saw a crowd of men; but after rowing on shore we found none, but lighted on a little pool of fresh water, and within it, at the bottom, a certain herb smelling like thyme; which was, perhaps, put into it by the inhabitants, to give the water a more agreeable taste, and make it more wholesome. All around we saw many footsteps of men, and the impression of a hand on the sand; the marks of the thumb and fingers shewing plainly that it was quite recently done. Proceeding further, we found a fire which had been just lighted, and three small huts, one of which was made with a quantity of bark of a tree known in India under the name of liplap, which, I think, was intended for a battery. For want of water, we could not go any further south, and being nearly high and dry with the boats in the sand, we resolved to return, having already ascended the river six or seven leagues (some thought it was ten) without having discovered anything of importance. Towards the evening we again went on shore to see if, towards midnight, we could take the inhabitants by surprise; but not having been able to attain our object, 125and the moon meanwhile rising, we allowed ourselves to glide gently along the river.

On the 12th, two hours before sunrise, seeing several fires, I again went on shore with our chief pilot, some sailors, and the two blacks above mentioned. We observed eight, and around each of them a heap of branches of trees, but no men. As it was, therefore, evident that there was no good to be done here, we returned to our vessel, which we reached about noon. As regards the country, it is sandy, and in the place where we were had been planted with a good many shrubs, among which were some quite three and four fathoms (vademen) thick, but bearing no fruit,—in short, full of prickles and thorns. Several of these yielded a gum nearly like wax, of a brownish red colour. The men, the birds, the swans, the rotganzen, koopganzen, the geese, the cockatoos, the parroquets, etc., all fled at the sight of us. The best of it is that no vermin is found there; but in the day time one is terribly tormented with the flies.

On the 13th, in the morning before daybreak, we held a council; and in order to be able to take soundings nearer the coast, the galliot and two boats made sail at about three o’clock in the morning watch. We took our course, therefore, along the coast most frequently N.N.W., sometimes a little north and west. We were in 31 degrees 43 minutes latitude, and sounded generally at a cannon-shot or a cannon-shot and a half from the coast. Here and there we came to several large rocks, and had fifteen, twelve, nine, and eight fathoms water. Towards noon we passed an opening which might well have been a river; and towards sunset we again made sail for the coast.

On the morning of the 14th we again made sail for the coast, and found the same depth as before, but principally fifteen fathoms of brackish water; being then in 30 degrees and 40 minutes latitude.

On the 15th, after having held a council, we made sail 126along the coast, and found the latitude 30 degrees 17 minutes. In different places towards the south we saw a great smoke and vapour arising, and we went with our two boats on shore, and found, nearly a league from the shore, a rock; and a gunshot from thence two fathoms water, and from that to the coast four, five, six, three, two and a half, three, five, eight, five, three, and two fathoms; mostly foul bottom, not adapted for anchoring; and on the south-west side there are generally breakers. These two corners extend south and north from the gulf; the soil dry and sandy, and but little adapted for the habitation of animals, still less of men. We had nearly proceeded a league and a half inland; but we saw no men nor fresh water, but several footsteps of men, and steps like those of the dog and of the cassowary. Nor did we see any trees, but only briars and thorns. One of our people said that he had seen a red serpent. Some others said that as soon as we reached the shore, they saw a yellow dog leaping from the wild herbage, and throwing itself into the sea, as if to amuse himself with swimming. What truth there was in these statements, I do not know. At all events I did not see either of these things myself. At two o’clock we returned with our chief pilot on board.

On the 16th my companion went with the boats ashore, and marched onwards with his crew in order for one hour and a half; but returned on board in the evening without having made any discovery.

On the 17th the boats returned on shore, and directed their course then more towards the south than they had hitherto done, and brought on board from an island a quantity of sea-mews. The latitude 30 degrees 42 minutes. Nothing new.

The 20th, returning to the shore, I found nothing but a great plain very barren; many rocks on the coast; and the depth sixteen, fourteen, eleven, eight, six, five, three, and two fathoms; the anchorage difficult.

127On the 21st our boat once more went on shore, but without learning anything new. The latitude was 29 degrees 47 minutes. Along the coast, the wind south; the course N. and N.N.W. Towards evening we saw breakers ahead, and sounded twenty-six, twenty, sixteen, and suddenly three fathoms. We held close on the wind, and immediately got greater depth. It was a reef, which stretched four or five leagues from the coast.

On the 22nd I started for the shore with our under-pilot. Being nearly three leagues from the coast, and sailing along it for some leagues, we found, close under the shore, ten and nine fathoms; a steep coast with constant breakers. On landing we found, at two hundred paces from the shore, a brackish stream, along which we walked landwards for a quarter of an hour. The middle was rather deep, and the fish pretty plentiful. We should have followed it further, but, the time being too short, we returned, and on the road saw many footprints like those of a dog; but saw no men, nor animals, nor trees, the country here being twice as barren as what we had before seen. Towards evening we returned together on board.

On the 21st (sic) our boat again made sail for the land, and keeping along the shore, we found that here, in between 28 and 29 degrees, tolerably good anchorage might be found. The land is tolerably high. Our chief pilot returning on board after dinner, informed us that he had seen on the shore three or four men, and several more on the little downs beyond, all quite naked, black, and of our own height; but that he had not been able to get near them on account of the current; that afterwards, rowing a little further, they had landed and found a lake, which extended far into the country like a river. It was of brackish taste, and though white had a reddish tinge caused by the bottom, which was of red sand and mud. At noon we were in latitude 28 degrees 16 minutes; and at five o’clock, after dinner, we 128anchored in a gulf, in eighteen fathoms water, good holding ground, sand and mud, at about a cannon’s-shot from the shore.

On the 25th, early in the morning, I landed with nine of our crew, our under pilot, together with the commandant of De Vlaming’s soldiers, his Dardewaak, and thirty-one soldiers. On reaching the shore, we found a good many oysters; we put ourselves in marching order, but from the fatigue occasioned by the excessive heat, and the obstructions on the road from brushwood, we were obliged occasionally to rest ourselves, till we reached the mountains, where we took our rest. But if the road had been difficult, a greater trouble was yet in store for us; for, finding no fresh water, we thought we should have fainted with thirst. From this point we could see our vessels, and wished a thousand times over that we were on board again. However, the commandant of the soldiers, with two men, went down, and soon came up to us again, with a look of satisfaction, bringing news that he had discovered some fresh water, and also a little hut, and about an hour’s distance from our camp, some footsteps, of the length of eighteen inches; upon which we resolved, although it was beginning to be dark, to bend our steps in that direction, an effort which, from the quantity of brushwood and the approach of night, could not be made without much difficulty. On arriving at the drinking place, we found a great pool, but the water was slightly brackish. We encamped there, and having arranged that there should be a soldier constantly on the watch as sentry, we passed the night there in the best manner we could.

On the 26th, in the morning before sunrise, we continued our journey, and shortly reached the aforesaid little hut, which had a good many egg-shells around it, but the eighteen inch footsteps changed into ordinary ones. This night also we remained on shore, and encamped again near the pool. 129Although we were divided, we met with no men nor cattle, but nothing but wild brushwood.

On the 27th, at the point of day, we betook ourselves to the shore, and thence to our vessels, which we reached near noon: the crew complained greatly of sore eyes.

On the 28th, having held a council before sunrise, we braced our sails, and put to sea an hour and a half after dinner, the wind being S.S.W. quarter W. in latitude, in 27 degrees 50 minutes. Shortly after, we again steered for the coast N.E., and by N. to N.W. and N.N.W., hugging the shore.

The 29th we still kept along the shore, the land high and rocky. Latitude 27 degrees 40 minutes.

The 30th the land rather high, until five o’clock in the afternoon watch, when we cast anchor in an extensive gulf, which probably must have been that named “Dirk Hartog’s Reede.”

On the 31st, two boats entered the gulf to explore it, and two others to go fishing, which brought back in the evening a good quantity. The same evening the chief pilot reported that they had been in the gulf, but had seen nothing further to shew whether the part to the north of the gulf were an island or not. They saw there a number of turtles.

On the 1st of February, early in the morning, our little boat went to the coast to fish: our chief pilot, with De Vlaming’s boat, again went into the gulf, and our skipper went on shore to fix up a commemorative tablet.

On the 2nd, we took three great sharks, one of which had nearly thirteen little ones, of the size of a large pike. The two captains (for De Vlaming had also gone on shore) returned on board late in the evening, having been a good six or seven leagues up the country. Our captain brought with him a large bird’s head, and related that he had seen two nests, made of boughs, which were full three fathoms in circumference.

130On the 3rd, Vlaming’s chief pilot returned on board; he reported that he had explored eighteen leagues, and that it was an island. He brought with him a tin plate, which in the lapse of time had fallen from a post to which it had been attached, and on which was cut the name of the captain, Dirk Hartog, as well as the names of the first and second merchants, and of the chief pilot of the vessel De Eendragt, which arrived here in the year 1616, on the 25th October, and left for Bantam on the 27th of the same month.

On the 4th of February, before daylight, we set sail, steering our course along the island, and at half-past two in the afternoon, we cast anchor in sixteen fathoms on the N.E. of Dirk Hartog’s Reede, the gulf above mentioned in the latitude of 25 degrees 40 minutes. The two boats took soundings all along the coast, N.E. and by N., and N.W., but could not see the country for the fog.

On the 5th, we took five turtles on the island, and having then held a council, and prepared and provisioned our vessel and that of De Vlaming, we, that is, our captain, under-pilot, and myself, and De Vlaming with his Dardewaak and under-master and oarsmen, with close-reefed sails, the wind being at south and rather high, set sail, steering along the island, where we landed at nightfall at nearly four or five leagues distance from our vessels.

The 6th, still a good deal of wind. This day we made but little progress and returned on shore at night. We saw a great many turtles, and in the corner of a rock a very large nest, made like a stork’s nest.

On the 7th, a good wind. In the evening we took a fish of immense size, of which twenty-four of us partook. It had exactly the natural taste of the ray. There remained enough for thirty more persons to feed on. We slept on shore.

The 8th, in the morning, fair weather. We set sail for what the chief pilot had pointed out to us as a river, and up which we proceeded full three leagues, but found it to be different 131from what it appeared. There were, in fact, two rivers, which, for some time invisible, afterwards reappeared and formed an island eastwards, a full half league from the coast, in three, two, and one feet of water, surrounded on all sides by rocks, and sand, and stones. We presently returned, being prevented by the drought from approaching within half a league of the shore. We had a heavy storm, and received the first rain of the South Land. In the evening we returned on shore and encamped in a very unpropitious spot, at once barren and wild.

On the 9th we steered for the mainland, which we reached near noon. This coast extends with a winding N.E. to N. and S.W. to S. The coast is steep, the sand of a reddish colour, rocky, dry and forbidding. In order to get some good water, we made the crew dig several holes, but the water was so salt that it could not be drunk without injury to health. We saw several ducks. Sailing along the coast, we reached a basin of water, like a river, which gave us great hope of getting some fresh water. Therefore with the flow we weathered the cape, and after sailing half-an-hour reached a basin of round form, but in which we only found salt water. All round it we dug several holes, but, in spite of all our labour, we could find no fresh water. This night we spent in the boat and De Vlaming on shore. Thunder, lightning, and rain.

On the 10th of February, after midnight, with the high tide, we set sail from the above-mentioned basin of water, and then, as before, kept along the coast at the distance of three or four leagues. Again we went ashore, ascended a mountain, saw a valley, and beyond it a water course. Two men immediately ran in haste to dig, but nowhere found fresh water, although they saw all about several footprints of men. Setting sail from hence we returned on board three hours after sunset, and learned that on Friday, the 8th of the month, our vessels had been compelled by the driving of 132the sea to put out a league and a half from the shore, and had cast anchor in seventeen fathoms; the shallop of the galliot had upset and the carpenter was drowned, and De Vlaming’s boat damaged. From De Vlaming’s vessel two dead men had been cast into the sea on the same day.

On the 11th, De Vlaming came on board in the morning. Having passed all the night in a stormy sea, in latitude 25 degrees 22 minutes, and being unable to cast anchor, we were compelled to make sail.

On the 12th we held a council; and before noon made sail, holding our course toward the north north-east and north along the coast, and in the evening giving it a wide berth.

On the morning of the 13th we made sail for the coast, which bore off us S. and N., and before noon saw a cape and three islands, two of which were but small. Turning the cape, we held close on the wind in a great winding of the coast, on the southward tack, and on various tacks 17, 15, 12, and 9 to 4 fathoms water. At five o’clock in the afternoon we made our course W. to S. with a south wind, latitude 24 degrees, 40 minutes. In the evening we cast anchor.

During the 14th we tacked continually all day, and in the evening cast anchor.

On the morning of the 15th, in weighing anchor our cable would not hold, but we saved our anchor. We set sail and cast anchor in the evening.

On the 16th we were tacking till the afternoon, steering towards the north with a south wind, the shore bearing from us to the west, but we kept afloat that night.

On the 17th we again neared the coast, which we held close, sailing smartly with a south wind. The coast stretched south and north. We were in 24 degrees latitude, and the compass was laid at 5 degrees.

On the 18th, in the morning, we braced our sails and 133steered along the coast N.N.W. and N.W. Towards noon we saw breakers ashore. We were in latitude 22 degrees, 26 minutes, and we were tacking the whole day.

On the 19th, in the morning, we again kept along the coast, the land more or less steep, but very low towards the south. Our course N.E. We saw a considerably larger cape, from which a bank stretched out into the sea. We kept close on to the wind, which was at S.W., and found ourselves in latitude 21 degrees, 34 minutes. When we had passed the cape we came to the end of the coast, and reached the river known as William’s River, and sailing up it, found ground but little suited for anchoring. We therefore put out again for the sea.

On the 20th we tacked towards De Vlaming, and in the evening cast anchor near him. Latitude 21 degrees, 28 minutes. We held a council.

On the 21st, in the morning, we put to sea towards the N.W. Latitude 21 degrees. Held once more a council. Received from De Vlaming three half barrels of water. Half-an-hour after sun-rise, our captain came from on board De Vlaming’s vessel, from which five cannon shot were fired and three from our vessel, as a signal of farewell to the miserable South Land; and we steered our course N.N.W., in 135 degrees of longitude from the South Land.

From the date of the 22nd February to the 10th March inclusive, the journal only gives the points of the wind, the time and course of the ship towards Java.

Having fair weather, and the winds hanging southerly, I jog’d on to the eastward to make the Cape. On the third of June we saw a sail to leeward of us, shewing English colours. I bare away to speak with her, and found her to be the Antelope, of London, commanded by Captain Hammond, and bound for the Bay of Bengal, in the service of the New East India Company. There were many passengers aboard, going to settle there under Sir Edward Littleton, who was going chief thither: I went aboard, and was known by Sir Edward and Mr. Hedges, and kindly received and treated by them and the commander, who had been afraid of us before, though I had sent one of my officers aboard. They had been in at the Cape, and came from thence the day before, having stock’d themselves with refreshments. They told me that they were by reckoning sixty miles to the west of the Cape. While I was aboard them, a fine small westerly wind sprang up; therefore I shortned my stay with them, because I did not design to go into the Cape. When I took leave I was presented with half a mutton, twelve cabbages, twelve pumpkins, six pound of butter, six couple 135of stock-fish, and a quantity of parsnips; sending them some oatmeal, which they wanted.

From my first setting out from England I did not design to touch at the Cape, and that was one reason why I touch’d at Brazil, that there I might refresh my men, and prepare them for a long run to New Holland. We had not yet seen the land; but about two in the afternoon, we saw the Capeland bearing east, at above sixteen leagues distance: and Captain Hammond being also bound to double the Cape, we jog’d on together this afternoon and the next day, and had several fair sights of it; which may be seen [Table iii, No. 6, 7, 8.]

To proceed: having still a westerly wind, I jog’d on in company with the Antelope, till Sunday, June the 4th, at four in the afternoon, when we parted, they steering away for the East Indies, and I keeping an E.S.E. course, the better to make my way for New Holland. For tho’ New Holland lies north-easterly from the Cape, yet all ships bound towards that coast, or the streights of Sundy, ought to keep for a while in the same parallel, or in a latitude between 35 and 40, at least a little to the south of the east, that they may continue in a variable winds way; and not venture too soon to stand so far to the north, as to be within the verge of the trade wind, which will put them by their easterly course. The wind increased upon us; but we had yet sight of the Antelope, and of the land too, till Tuesday, the sixth of June. And then we saw also by us an innumerable company of fowls of divers sorts; so that we look’d about to see if there were not another dead whale, but saw none.

The night before, the sun set in a black cloud, which appeared just like land; and the clouds above it were gilded of a dark red colour. And on the Tuesday, as the sun drew near the horizon, the clouds were gilded very prettily to the eye, tho’ at the same time my mind dreaded 136the consequences of it. When the sun was now not above 2 degrees high, it entered into a dark smoaky-coloured cloud that lay parallel with the horizon, from whence presently seem’d to issue many dusky blackish beams. The sky was at this time covered with small hard clouds (as we call such as lye scattering about, not likely to rain), very thick one by another; and such of them as lay next to the bank of clouds at the horizon, were of a pure gold colour, to 3 or 4 degrees high above the bank. From these, to about 10 degrees high, they were redder, and very bright; above them they were of a darker colour still, to about 60 or 70 degrees high, where the clouds began to be of their common colour. I took the more particular notice of all this, because I have generally observed such colour’d clouds to appear before an approaching storm. And this being winter here, and the time for bad weather, I expected and provided for a violent blast of wind, by reefing our topsails, and giving a strict charge to my officers to hand them or take them in, if the wind should grow stronger. The wind was now at W.N.W. a very brisk gale. About twelve o’clock at night we had a pale whitish glare in the N.W., which was another sign, and intimated the storm to be near at hand; and the wind increasing upon it, we presently handed our top-sails, furled the main-sail, and went away only with our fore-sail. Before two in the morning, it came on very fierce, and we kept right before wind and sea, the wind still increasing. But the ship was very governable, and steered incomparably well. At eight in the morning we settled our fore-yard, lowering it four or five foot, and we ran very swiftly; especially when the squalls of rain or hail, from a black cloud, came over head, for then it blew excessive hard. These, tho’ they did not last long, yet came very thick and fast one after another. The sea also ran very high; but we running so violently before wind and sea, we ship’d little or no water, tho’ a little wash’d into our 137upper deck-ports; and with it a scuttle or cuttle-fish was cast upon the carriage of a gun.

The wind blew extraordinary hard all Wednesday, the 7th of June, but abated of its fierceness before night; yet it continued a brisk gale till about the 16th, and still a moderate one till the 19th day; by which time we had run about six hundred leagues: for the most part of which time the wind was in some point of the west, namely, from the W.N.W. to the S. by W. It blew hardest when at W., or between the W. and S.W., but after it veered more southerly the foul weather broke up. This I observed at other times also in these seas, that when the storms at west veered to the southward they grew less; and that when the wind came to the east of the south we had still smaller gales, calms, and fair weather. As for the westerly winds on that side the Cape, we like them never the worse for being violent, for they drive us the faster to the eastward; and are therefore the only winds coveted by those who sail towards such parts of the East Indies as lye south of the equator, as Timor, Java, and Sumatra; and by the ships bound for China, or any other that are to pass through the Streights of Sundy. Those ships having once passed the Cape, keep commonly pretty far southerly, on purpose to meet with those west winds, which in the winter season of these climates they soon meet with; for then the winds are generally westerly at the Cape, and especially to the southward of it: but in their summer months they get to the southward of 40 degrees, usually ere they meet with the westerly winds. I was not at this time in a higher latitude than 36 degrees, 40 minutes, and oftentimes was more northerly, altering my latitude often as winds and weather required; for in such long runs ’tis best to shape one’s course according to the winds. And if, in steering to the east, we should be obliged to bear a little to the N. or S. of it, ’tis no great matter; for ’tis but sailing two or three points from the wind, when ’tis 138either northerly or southerly; and this not only easeth the ship from straining, but shortens the way more than if a ship was kept close on a wind, as some men are fond of doing.

The 19th of June, we were in latitude 34 degrees, 17 minutes S., and longitude from the Cape 39 degrees, 24 minutes E., and had small gales and calms. The winds were at N.E. by E., and continued in some part of the east till the 27th day. When, it having been some time at N.N.E. it came about at N., and then to the W. of the N., and continued in the west-board (between the N.N.W. and S.S.W.) till the 4th of July; in which time we ran seven hundred and eighty-two miles; then the winds came about again to the east, we reckoning ourselves to be in a meridian 1100 L. east of the Cape; and, having fair weather, sounded, but had no ground.

We met with little of remark in this voyage, besides being accompanied with fowls all the way, especially pintado-birds, and seeing now and then a whale; but as we drew nigher the coast of New Holland, we saw frequently three or four whales together. When we were about ninety leagues from the land we began to see sea-weeds, all of one sort; and as we drew nigher the shore we saw them more frequently. At about thirty-leagues distance we began to see some scuttle-bones floating on the water, and drawing still nigher the land we saw greater quantities of them.

July 25th, being in latitude 26 degrees, 14 minutes S., and longitude east from the Cape of Good Hope 85 degrees, 52 minutes, we saw a large gar-fish leap four times by us, which seemed to be as big as a porpose. It was now very fair weather, and the sea was full of a sort of very small grass or moss, which, as it floated in the water, seem’d to have been some spawn of fish; and there was among it some small fry. The next day the sea was full of small round things like pearl, some as big as white peas; they 139were very clear and transparent, and upon crushing any of them a drop of water would come forth: the skin that contain’d the water was so thin that it was but just discernable. Some weeds swam by us, so that we did not doubt but we should quickly see land. On the 27th also some weeds swam by us, and the birds that had flown along with us all the way almost from Brazil now left us, except only two or three shear-waters. On the 28th we saw many weeds swim by us, and some whales blowing. On the 29th we had dark cloudy weather, with much thunder, lightning, and violent rains in the morning, but in the evening it grew fair. We saw this day a scuttle-bone swim by us, and some of our young men a seal, as it should seem by their description of its head. I saw also some bonetas and some skipjacks, a fish about eight inches long, broad, and sizeable, not much unlike a roach, which our seamen call so from their leaping about.

The 30th of July, being still nearer the land, we saw abundance of scuttle-bones and sea-weed, more tokens that we were not far from it; and saw also a sort of fowls, the like of which we had not seen in the whole voyage, all the other fowls having now left us. These were as big as lapwings, of a grey colour, black about their eyes, with red sharp bills, long wings, their tails long and forked like swallows, and they flew flapping their wings like lapwings. In the afternoon we met with a ripling like a tide or current, or the water of some shoal or over-fall; but were past it before we could sound. The birds last mention’d and this were further signs of the land. In the evening we had fair weather, and a small gale at west. At eight a clock we sounded again, but had no ground.

We kept on still to the eastward, with an easy sail, looking out sharp; for, by the many signs we had, I did expect that we were near the land. At twelve a clock in the night I sounded, and had forty-five fathom, coarse sand and small 140white shells. I presently clapt on a wind and stood to the south, and the wind at W., because I thought we were to the south of a shoal call’d the Abrohles (an appellative name for shoals, as it seems to me), which in a draught I had of that coast is laid down in 27 degrees, 28 minutes latitude, stretching about seven leagues into the sea. I was the day before in 27 degrees, 38 minutes by reckoning. And afterwards steering E. by S. purposely to avoid it, I thought I must have been to the south of it: but sounding again at one a clock in the morning, August the 1st, we had but twenty-five fathom, coral rocks; and so found the shoal was to the south of us. We presently tack’d again, and stood to the north, and then soon deepned our water; for at two in the morning we had twenty-six fathom, coral still: at three, we had twenty-eight, coral ground: at four, we had thirty fathom, coarse sand, with some coral: at five, we had forty-five fathom, coarse sand and shells; being now off the shoal, as appear’d by the sand and shells, and by having left the coral. By all this I knew we had fallen into the north of the shoal, and that it was laid down wrong in my sea-chart: for I found it lye in about 27 degrees latitude, and by our run in the next day I found that the outward edge of it, which I sounded on, lies sixteen leagues off shore. When it was day we steered in E.N.E. with a fine brisk gale, but did not see the land till nine in the morning, when we saw it from our topmast head, and were distant from it about ten leagues, having then forty fathom water and clear sand. About three hours after we saw it on our quarter-deck, being by judgment about six leagues off, and we had then forty fathom, clean sand. As we ran in, this day and the next, we took several sights of it, at different bearings and distances. This morning, August the 1st, as we were standing in we saw several large sea fowls, like our gannets on the coast of England, flying three or four together; and a sort of white sea-mews, but black about the 141eyes, and with forked tails. We strove to run in near the shore to seek for a harbour to refresh us after our tedious voyage; having made one continued stretch from Brazil hither of about 114 degrees, designing from hence also to begin the discovery I had a mind to make on New Holland and New Guinea. The land was low, and appear’d even, and as we drew nearer to it, it made (as you see in Table iv, No. 3, 4, 5)^[32] with some red and some white clifts; these last in latitude 26 degrees, 10 minutes south, where you will find fifty-four fathom within four miles of the shore.

About the latitude of 26 degrees south we saw an opening and ran in, hoping to find a harbour there; but when we came to its mouth, which was about two leagues wide, we saw rocks and foul ground within, and therefore stood out again: there we had twenty fathom water within two mile of the shore. The land every where appear’d pretty low, flat and even, but with steep cliffs to the sea; and when we came near it there were no trees, shrubs, or grass to be seen. The soundings in the latitude of 26 degrees south, from about eight or nine leagues off till you come within a league of the shore, are generally about forty fathom; differing but little, seldom above three or four fathom. But the lead brings up very different sorts of sand, some coarse, some fine, and of several colours, as yellow, white, grey, brown, blueish and reddish.

When I saw there was no harbour here, nor good anchoring, I stood off to sea again, in the evening of the second of August, fearing a storm on a lee-shore, in a place where there was no shelter, and desirous at least to have sea-room; for the clouds began to grow thick in the western board, and the wind was already there, and began to blow fresh almost upon the shore, which at this place lies along N.N.W. and S.S.E. By nine a clock at night we had got a pretty 142good offin, but the wind still increasing I took in my main top-sail, being able to carry no more sail than two courses and the mizen.

At two in the morning, August 3rd, it blew very hard, and the sea was much raised, so that I furled all my sails but my main-sail. Tho’ the wind blew so hard, we had pretty clear weather till noon; but then the whole sky was blackned with thick clouds, and we had some rain, which would last a quarter of an hour at a time, and then it would blow very fierce while the squalls of rain were over our heads; but as soon as they were gone the wind was by much abated, the stress of the storm being over. We sounded several times, but had no ground till eight a clock, August the 4th, in the evening, and then had sixty fathom water, coral ground. At ten, we had fifty-six fathom, fine sand. At twelve, we had fifty-five fathom, fine sand, of a pale blueish colour. It was now pretty moderate weather, yet I made no sail till morning; but then, the wind veering about to the S.W., I made sail and stood to the north; and at eleven a clock the next day, August 5th, we saw land again, at about six leagues distance. This noon we were in latitude 25 degrees, 30 minutes, and in the afternoon our cook died, an old man, who had been sick a great while, being infirm before we came out of England.

The 6th of August, in the morning, we saw an opening in the land, and we ran into it, and anchored in seven and a half fathom water, two miles from the shore, clean sand. It was somewhat difficult getting in here, by reason of many shoals we met with, but I sent my boat sounding before me. The mouth of this sound, which I call’d Shark’s Bay, lies in about twenty-five degrees south latitude, and our reckoning made its longitude from the Cape of Good Hope to be about 87 degrees; which is less by about one hundred and ninety-five leagues than is usually laid down in our common draughts, if our reckoning was right, and our glasses 143did not deceive us. As soon as I came to anchor in this bay, I sent my boat ashore to seek for fresh water; but in the evening my men returned, having found none. The next morning I went ashore myself, carrying pick-axes and shovels with me to dig for water, and axes to cut wood. We tried in several places for water, but finding none after several trials, nor in several miles compass, we left any farther search for it, and spending the rest of the day in cutting wood, we entered aboard at night.

The land is of an indifferent height, so that it may be seen nine or ten leagues off. It appears at a distance very even; but as you come nigher you find there are many gentle risings, though none steep nor high. ’Tis all a steep shore against the open sea, but in this bay or sound we were now in, the land is low by the sea side, rising gradually within the land. The mould is sand by the sea side, producing a sort of sampier, which bears a white flower. Farther in the mould is reddish, a sort of sand, producing some grass, plants, and shrubs. The grass grows in great tufts, as big as a bushel, here and there a tuft; being intermix’d with much heath, much of the kind we have growing on our commons in England. Of trees or shrubs here are divers sorts, but none above ten feet high: their bodies about three foot about, and five or six foot high before you come to the branches, which are bushy and composed of small twigs there spreading abroad, tho’ thick set and full of leaves, which were mostly long and narrow. The colour of the leaves was on one side whitish, and on the other green; and the bark of the trees was generally of the same colour with the leaves, of a pale green. Some of these trees were sweet scented and reddish within the bark, like sassafras, but redder. Most of the trees and shrubs had at this time either blossoms or berries on them. The blossoms of the different sort of trees were of several colours, as red, white, yellow, etc., but mostly blue; and these generally smelt very sweet 144and fragrant, as did some also of the rest. There were also beside some plants, herbs, and tall flowers, some very small flowers growing on the ground, that were sweet and beautiful, and for the most part unlike any I had seen elsewhere.^[33]

There were but few land fowls; we saw none but eagles, of the larger sorts of birds, but five or six sorts of small birds. The biggest sort of these were not bigger than larks, some no bigger than wrens, all singing with great variety of fine shrill notes; and we saw some of their nests with young ones in them. The water fowls are ducks (which had young ones now, this being the beginning of the spring in these parts), curlews, galdens, crab-catchers, cormorants, gulls, pelicans, and some water fowl, such as I have not seen any where besides.

The land animals that we saw here were only a sort of raccoons, different from those of the West Indies, chiefly as to their legs; for these have very short fore legs, but go jumping upon them as the others do (and like them are very good meat); and a sort of guanos, of the same shape and size with other guanos, describ’d (vol. i, p. 57), but differing from them in three remarkable particulars: for these had a larger and uglier head, and had no tail, and at the rump, instead of the tail there, they had a stump of a tail, which appear’d like another head; but not really such, being without mouth or eyes: yet this creature seem’d by this means to have a head at each end, and, which may be 145reckon’d a fourth difference, the legs also seem’d all four of them to be fore-legs, being all alike in shape and length, and seeming by the joints and bending to be made as if they were to go indifferently either head or tail foremost. They were speckled black and yellow, like toads, and had scales or knobs on their backs like those of crocodiles, plated on to the skin, or stuck into it as part of the skin. They are very slow in motion, and when a man comes nigh them they will stand still and hiss, not endeavouring to get away. Their livers are also spotted black and yellow, and the body when opened hath a very unsavoury smell. I did never see such ugly creatures any where but here. The guanos I have observ’d to be very good meat, and I have often eaten of them with pleasure; but tho’ I have eaten of snakes, crocodiles, and allegators, and many creatures that look frightfully enough, and there are but few I should have been afraid to eat of if prest by hunger, yet I think my stomach would scarce have serv’d to venture upon these New Holland guanos, both the looks and the smell of them being so offensive.^[34]

The sea fish that we saw here (for here was no river, land or pond of fresh water to be seen), are chiefly sharks. There are abundance of them in this particular sound, that I therefore give it the name of Shark’s Bay, There are also skates, thornbacks, and other fish of the ray kind (one sort especially like the sea devil), and gar-fish, bonetas, etc. Of shell fish we got here muscles, periwinkles, limpits, oysters, both of the pearl kind and also eating oysters, as well the common sort as long oysters, beside cockles, etc. The shore was lined thick with many other sorts of very strange and beautiful shells, for variety of colour and shape, most finely spotted with red, black, or yellow, etc., such as I have not seen any where but at this place. I brought away a 146great many of them; but lost all except a very few, and those not of the best.

There are also some green turtle, weighing about two hundred pounds. Of these we caught two, which the water ebbing had left behind a ledge of rock, which they could not creep over. These served all my company two days, and they were indifferent sweet meat. Of the sharks we caught a great many, which our men eat very savourily. Among them we caught one which was eleven foot long. The space between its two eyes was twenty inches, and eighteen inches from one corner of his mouth to the other. Its maw was like a leather sack, very thick, and so tough that a sharp knife could scarce cut it; in which we found the head and bones of a hippopotamus, the hairy lips of which were still sound and not putrified; and the jaw was also firm, out of which we pluckt a great many teeth, two of them eight inches long, and as big as a man’s thumb, small at one end, and a little crooked; the rest not above half so long. The maw was full of jelly, which stank extremely: however, I saved for a while the teeth and the shark’s jaw. The flesh of it was divided among my men, and they took care that no waste should be made of it.

’Twas the 7th of August when we came into Shark’s Bay, in which we anchor’d at three several places, and stay’d at the first of them (on the west side of the bay), till the 11th. During which time we searched about, as I said, for fresh water, digging wells, but to no purpose. However, we cut good store of fire wood at this first anchoring place, and my company were all here very well refreshed with raccoons, turtle, shark, and other fish, and some fowls; so that we were now all much brisker than when we came in hither. Yet still I was for standing farther into the bay, partly because I had a mind to increase my stock of fresh water, which was began to be low, and partly for the sake of discovering this part of the coast. I was invited to go further, by 147seeing from this anchoring place all open before me, which therefore I designed to search before I left the bay. So on the 11th, about noon, I steer’d farther in, with an easy sail, because we had but shallow water: we kept therefore good looking out for fear of shoals, sometimes shortning, sometimes deepning the water. About two in the afternoon we saw the land a-head that makes the S. of the bay, and before night we had again sholdings from that shore: and therefore shortned sail and stood off and on all night, under two topsails, continually sounding, having never more than ten fathom, and seldom less than seven. The water deepned and sholdned so very gently, that in heaving the lead five or six times we should scarce have a foot difference. When we came into seven fathom either way, we presently went about. From this S. part of the bay, we could not see the land from whence we came in the afternoon: and this land we found to be an island of three or four leagues long; but it appearing barren, I did not strive to go nearer it; and the rather, because the winds would not permit us to do it without much trouble, and at the openings the water was generally shoal. I therefore made no farther attempts in this S.W. and S. part of the bay, and steered away to the eastward, to see if there was any land that way, for as yet we had seen none there. On the 12th, in the morning, we pass’d by the N. point of that land, and were confirm’d in the persuasion of its being an island, by seeing an opening to the east of it, as we had done on the W. Having fair weather, a small gale, and smooth water, we stood further on in the bay, to see what land was on the E. of it. Our soundings at first were seven fathom, which held so a great while, but at length it decreas’d to six. Then we saw the land right a-head, that in the plan makes the E. of the bay. We could not come near it with the ship, having but shoal water; and it being dangerous lying there, and the land extraordinary low, very unlikely to have fresh 148water (though it had a few trees on it, seemingly mangroves), and much of it probably covered at high water, I stood out again in that afternoon, deepning the water, and before night anchored in eight fathom, clean white sand, about the middle of the bay. The next day we got up our anchor, and that afternoon came to an anchor once more near two islands, and a shoal of coral rocks that face the bay. Here I scrubb’d my ship; and finding it very improbable I should get out to sea again, sounding all the way; but finding by the shallowness of the water that there was no going out to sea to the east of the two islands that face the bay, nor between them, I return’d to the west entrance, going out by the same way I came in at, only on the east instead of the west side of the small shoal to be seen in the plan: in which channel we had ten, twelve, and thirteen fathom water, still deepning upon us till we were out at sea. The day before we came out I sent a boat ashore to the most northerly of the two islands, which is the least of them, catching many small fish in the meanwhile with hook and line. The boat’s crew returning, told me that the isle produces nothing but a sort of green, short, hard, prickly grass, affording neither wood nor fresh water; and that a sea broke between the two islands, a sign that the water was shallow. They saw a large turtle, and many skates and thornbacks, but caught none.

It was August the 14th, when I sail’d out of this Bay or Sound, the mouth of which lies, as I said, in 25° 5´ designing to coast along to the N. E. till I might commodiously put in at some other part of N. Holland. In passing out we saw three water-serpents swimming about in the sea, of a yellow colour, spotted with dark brown spots. They were each about four foot long, and about the bigness of a man’s wrist, and were the first I saw on this coast, which abounds with several sorts of them. We had the winds at our first coming out at N., and the land lying north-easterly. We 149plied off and on, getting forward but little till the next day: when the wind coming at S. S. W. and S., we began to coast it along the shore to the northward, keeping at six or seven leagues from the shore; and sounding often, we had between forty and forty-six fathom water, brown sand, with some white shells. This 15th of August, we were in lat. 24° 41´. On the sixteenth day at noon, we were in 23° 22´. The wind coming at E. by N., we could not keep the shore aboard, but were forc’d to go farther off, and lost sight of the land. Then sounding, we had no ground with eighty fathom line; however, the wind shortly after came about again to the southward, and then we jogg’d on again to the northward, and saw many small dolphins and whales, and abundance of scuttle-shells swimming on the sea; and some water-snakes every day. The 17th we saw the land again, and took a sight of it.

The 18th, in the afternoon, being three or four leagues off shore, I saw a shoal-point, stretching from the land into the sea, a league or more. The sea broke high on it; by which I saw plainly there was a shoal there. I stood farther off, and coasted along shore, to about seven or eight leagues distance; and at 12 a clock at night we sounded, and had but twenty fathom, hard sand. By this I found I was upon another shoal, and so presently steered off W. half an hour, and had then forty fathom. At one in the morning of the 18th day, we had eighty-five fathom: by two we could find no ground; and then I ventured to steer along shore again, due N., which is two points wide of the coast (that lies N. N. E.) for fear of another shoal. I would not be too far off from the land, being desirous to search into it wherever I should find an opening, or any convenience of searching about for water, etc. When we were off the shoal-point I mention’d where we had but twenty fathom-water, we had in the night abundance of whales about ship, some a-head, others a-stern, and some on each side blowing and making a very dismal noise; 150but when we came out again into deeper water they left us. Indeed, the noise that they made by blowing and dashing of the sea with their tails, making it all of a breach and foam, was very dreadful to us, like the breach of the waves in very shoal-water, or among rocks. The shoal these whales were upon had a depth of water sufficient, no less than twenty fathom, as I said; and it lies in latitude 22° 22´. The shore was generally bold all along; we had met with no shoal at sea since the Abrohlo-shoal, when we first fell on the New Holland coast in the latitude of 28°, till yesterday in the afternoon, and this night. This morning also, when we expected by the draught we had with us, to have been eleven leagues off shore, we were but four; so that either our draughts were faulty, which yet hitherto and afterwards we found true enough as to the lying of the coast; or else here was a tide unknown to us that deceived us; tho’ we had found very little of any tide on this coast hitherto. As to our winds in the coasting thus far, as we had been within the verge of the general trade (tho’ interrupted by the storm I mentioned) from the latitude of 28°, when we first fell in with the coast: and by that time we were in the latitude of 25°; we had usually the regular trade-wind (which is here S. S. E.), when we were at any distance from shore: but we had often sea and land breezes, especially when near shore, and when in Shark’s Bay; and had a particular N. west wind, or storm, that set us in thither. On this 18 of August, we coasted with a brisk gale of the true trade-wind at S.S.E., very fair and clear weather; but haling off in the evening to sea, were next morning out of sight of land; and the land now trending away N. easterly, and we being to the northward of it, and the wind also shrinking from the S. S. E. to the E. S. E. (that is, from the true trade-wind to the sea-breeze, as the land now lay); we could not get in with the land again yet a-while, so as to see it, tho’ we trim’d sharp and kept close on a wind. We were this 19th day, in latitude 15121° 42´. The 20th, we were in latitude 19° 37´, and kept close on a wind to get sight of the land again, but could not get to see it. We had very fair weather; and tho’ we were so far from the land as to be out of sight of it, yet we had the sea and land-breezes. In the night we had the land-breeze at S. S. E. a small gentle gale; which in the morning about sun-rising would shift about gradually (and withal increasing in strength), till about noon we should have it at E. S. E. which is the true sea-breeze here. Then it would blow a brisk gale, so that we could scarce carry our top-sails double rift; and it would continue thus to three in the afternoon, when it would decrease again. The weather was fair all the while, not a cloud to be seen; but very hazy, especially nigh the horizon. We sounded several times this 20th day, and at first had no ground; but had afterwards from fifty-two to forty-five fathom, coarse brown sand, mixt with small brown and white stones, with dints besides in the tallow.

The 21st day, also, we had small land-breezes in the night, and sea-breezes in the day: and as we saw some sea-snakes every day, so this day we saw a great many, of two different sorts or shapes. One sort was yellow, and about the bigness of a man’s wrist, about four foot long, having a flat tail about four fingers broad. The other sort was much smaller and shorter, round and spotted, black and yellow. This day we sounded several times, and had forty-five fathom, sand. We did not make the land till noon, and then saw it first from our top-mast head. It bore S. E. by E. about nine leagues distance, and it appeared like a cape or head of land. The sea-breeze this day was not so strong as the day before, and it veered out more; so that we had a fair wind to run in with to the shore, and at sunset anchored in twenty fathom, clean sand, about five leagues from the bluff point; which was not a cape (as it appear’d at a great distance, but the easternmost end of an island, about) five or six leagues in length and one in breadth. There were three 152or four rocky islands about a league from us, between us and the bluff point; and we saw many other islands both to the east and west of it, as far as we could see either way from our topmast-head: and all within them to the S. there was nothing but islands of a pretty heighth, that may be seen eight or nine leagues off. By what we saw of them they must have been a range of islands of about twenty leagues in length, stretching from E. N. E. to W. S. W. and for ought I know, as far as to those of Shark’s Bay; and to a considerable breadth also (for we could see nine or ten leagues in among them) towards the continent or main land of New Holland, if there be any such thing hereabouts: and by the great tides I met with a while afterwards, more to the N. east; I had a strong suspicion that here might be a kind of archipelago of islands, and a passage possibly to the S. of New Holland and New Guinea into the great S. sea eastward; which I had thoughts also of attempting in my return from new Guinea (had circumstances permitted), and told my officers so: but I could not attempt it at this time, because we wanted water, and could not depend upon finding it there. This place is in the latitude of 20° 21´, but in the draught that I had of this coast, which was Tasman’s, it was laid down in 19° 50´, and the shore is laid down as all along joining in one body or continent, with some openings appearing like rivers; and not like islands, as really they are. See several sights of it. This place lies more northerly by 40´ than is laid down in Mr. Tasman’s draught: and beside its being made a firm continued land, only with some openings like the mouths of rivers, I found the soundings also different from what the prick’d line of this course shows them, and generally shallower than he makes them; which inclines me to think that he came not so near the shore as his line shews, and so had deeper soundings, and could not so well distinguish the islands. His meridian or difference of longitude from Shark’s Bay agrees well enough with my account, 153which is two hundred and thirty-two leagues tho’ we differ in latitude. And to confirm my conjecture that the line of his course is made too near the shore, at least not far to the east of this place, the water is there so shallow that he could not come there so high.

But to proceed; in the night we had a small land breeze, and in the morning I weighed anchor, designing to run in among the islands, for they had large channels between them, of a league wide at least, and some two or three leagues wide. I sent in my boat before to sound, and if they found shoal water to return again; but if they found water enough, to go ashore on one of the islands, and stay till the ship came in: where they might in the mean time search for water. So we followed after with the ship, sounding as we went in, and had twenty fathoms, till within two leagues of the Bluff head, and then we had shoal water, and very uncertain soundings: yet we ran in still with an easy sail, sounding and looking out well, for this was dangerous work. When we came abreast of the Bluff head, and about two mile from it, we had but seven fathom: then we edg’d away from it, but had no more water; and running in a little farther, we had but four fathoms; so we anchored immediately; and yet when we had veered out the third of a cable, we had seven fathom water again; so uncertain was the water. My boat came immediately aboard, and told me that the island was very rocky and dry, and they had little hopes of finding water there. I sent them to sound, and bade them, if they found a channel of eight or ten fathom water, to keep on and we would follow with the ship. We were now about four leagues within the outer small rocky islands, but still could see nothing but islands within us; some five or six leagues long, others not above a mile round. The large islands were pretty high; but all appeared dry, and mostly rocky and barren. The rocks look’d of a rusty yellow colour, and therefore I despaired of getting water on any of them; but was in some 154hopes of finding a channel to run in beyond all these islands, could I have spent time here, and either get to the main of New Holland, or find out some other islands that might afford us water and some other refreshments: besides, that among so many islands, we might have found some sort of rich mineral, or ambergreece, it being a good latitude for both of these. But we had not sailed above a league farther before our water grew shoaler again, and then we anchored in six fathom hard land.

We were now on the inner side of the island, on whose outside is the Bluff-point. We rode a league from the island, and I presently went ashore, and carried shovels to dig for water, but found none. There grew here two or three sorts of shrubs, one just like rosemary; and therefore I called this Rosemary Island. It grew in great plenty here, but had no smell. Some of the other shrubs had blue and yellow flowers; and we found two sorts of grain like beans: the one grew on bushes; the other on a sort of a creeping vine that runs along on the ground, having very thick broad leaves, and the blossom like a bean blossom, but much larger, and of a deep red colour, looking very beautiful. We saw here some Cormorants, Gulls, Crabcatchers, etc., a few small land birds, and a sort of white Parrots, which flew a great many together. We found some shell fish, viz., limpits, perriwinkles, and abundance of small oysters growing on the rocks, which were very sweet. In the sea we saw some green turtle, a pretty many sharks, and abundance of water snakes of several sorts and sizes. The stones were all of rusty colour, and ponderous.

We saw a smoak on an island three or four leagues off; and here also the bushes had been burned, but we found no other sign of inhabitants: ’twas probable that on the island where the smoak was there was inhabitants, and fresh water for them. In the evening I went aboard, and consulted with my officers whether it was best to send thither, or to 155search among any other of these islands with my boat; or else go from thence, and coast along shore with the ship, till we could find some better place than this was to ride in, where we had shoal water, and lay exposed to winds and tides. They all agreed to go from hence; so I gave orders to weigh in the morning as soon as it should be light, and to get out with the land breeze.

Accordingly, August the 23rd, at five in the morning, we ran out, having a pretty fresh land breeze at S.S.E. By eight o’clock we were got out, and very seasonably, for before nine the sea breeze came on us very strong, and increasing, we took in our topsails and stood off under two courses and a mizen, this being as much sail as we could carry. The sky was clear, there being not one cloud to be seen; but the horizon appeared very hazy, and the sun at setting the night before, and this morning at rising, appeared very red. The wind continued very strong till twelve, then it began to abate: I have seldom met with a stronger breeze. These strong sea breezes lasted thus in their turns three or four days. They sprung up with the sunrise; by nine a clock they were very strong, and so continued till noon, when they began to abate; and by sunset there was little wind, or a calm till the land breezes came; which we should certainly have in the morning about one or two a clock. The land breezes were between the S.S.W. and S.S.E. In the night while calm, we fish’d with hook and line, and caught good store of fish, viz., snappers, breams, old wives and dog fish. When these last came we seldom caught any others; for if they did not drive away the other fish, yet they would be sure to keep them from taking our hooks, for they would first have them themselves, biting very greedily. We caught also a monk-fish, of which I brought home the picture.

On the 25th of August, we still coasted along shore, that we might the better see any opening; kept sounding, and had about twenty fathom clean sand. The 26th day, being 156about four leagues off shore, the water began gradually to sholden from twenty to fourteen fathom. I was edging in a little towards the land, thinking to have anchored; but presently after the water decreas’d almost at once, till we had but five fathoms. I durst therefore adventure no farther, but steer’d out the same way that we came in; and in a short time had ten fathom (being then about four leagues and a half from the shore) and even soundings. I steer’d away E.N.E. coasting along as the land lies. This day the sea breezes began to be very moderate again, and we made the best of our way along the shore, only in the night edging off a little for fear of sholes. Ever since we left Shark’s Bay we had fair clear weather, and so for a great while still.

The 27th day we had twenty fathom water all night, yet we could not see land till one in the afternoon, from our topmast-head. By three we could just discern land from our quarter deck; we had then sixteen fathom. The wind was N. and we steer’d E. by N. which is but one point in on the land; yet we decreas’d our water very fast; for at four we had but nine fathom; the next cast but seven, which frighted us; and we then tackt instantly and stood off: but in a short time the wind coming at N.W. and W.N.W. we tackt again and steer’d N.N.E. and then deepned our water again, and had all night from fifteen to twenty fathom.

The 28th day we had between twenty and forty fathom. We saw no land this day, but saw a great many snakes and some whales. We saw also some boobies, and noddy-birds; and in the night caught one of these last. It was of another shape and colour than any I had seen before. It had a small long bill, as all of them have, flat feet like ducks’ feet; its tail forked like a swallow, but longer and broader, and the fork deeper than that of the swallow, with very long wings; the top or crown of the head of this noddy was coal black, having also black streaks round about and close to the eyes; and round these streaks on each side, a pretty broad white 157circle. The breast, belly, and under-part of the wings of this noddy were white; and the back and upper-part of its wings of a faint black or smoak colour. Noddies are seen in most places between the tropicks, as well as in the East Indies, and on the coast of Brazil, as in the West Indies. They rest ashore a nights, and therefore we never see them far at sea, not above twenty or thirty leagues, unless driven off in a storm; when they come about a ship they commonly perch in the night, and will sit still till they are taken by the seamen. They build on cliffs against the sea, or rocks, as I have said.

The 30th day, being in latitude 18° 21´, we made the land again, and saw many great smoaks near the shore; and having fair weather and moderate breezes, I steer’d in towards it. At four in the afternoon I anchor’d in eight fathom water, clear sand, about three leagues and a half from the shore. I presently sent my boat to sound nearer in, and they found ten fathom about a mile farther in; and from thence still farther in the water decreased gradually to nine, eight, seven, and two mile distance to six fathom. This evening we saw an eclipse of the moon, but it was abating before the moon appear’d to us; for the horizon was very hazy, so that we could not see the moon till she had been half an hour above the horizon: and at two hours, twenty-two minutes after sunset, by the reckoning of our glasses, the eclipse was quite gone, which was not of many digits. The moon’s center was then 33° 40´ high.

The 31st of August betimes in the morning, I went ashore with ten or eleven men to search for water. We went armed with muskets and cutlasses for our defence, expecting to see people there; and carried also shovels and pickaxes to dig wells. When we came near the shore we saw three tall black naked men on the sandy bay a-head of us: but as we row’d in, they went away. When we were landed, I sent the boat with two men in her to lie a little from the shore at 158an anchor, to prevent being seized; while the rest of us went after the three black men, who were now got on the top of a small hill, about a quarter of a mile from us, with eight or nine men more in their company. They seeing us coming, ran away. When we came on the top of the hill where they first stood, we saw a plain savannah, about half a mile from us, farther in from the sea. There were several things like hay cocks, standing in the savannah; which at a distance we thought were houses, looking just like the Hottentots’ houses at the cape of Good Hope: but we found them to be so many rocks. We searched about these for water, but could find none, nor any houses; nor people, for they were all gone. Then we turned again to the place where we landed, and there we dug for water.

While we were at work, there came nine or ten of the natives to a small hill a little way from us, and stood there menacing and threatning of us, and making a great noise. At last one of them came towards us, and the rest followed at a distance. I went out to meet him, and came within fifty yards of him, making to him all the signs of peace and friendship I could; but then he ran away, neither would they any of them stay for us to come nigh them, for we tried two or three times. At last I took two men with me, and went in the afternoon along by the sea side purposely to catch one of them, if I could, of whom I might learn where they got their fresh water. There were ten or twelve of the natives a little way off, who seeing us three going away from the rest of our men, followed us at a distance. I thought they would follow us; but there being for a while a sandbank between us and them, that they could not then see us, we made a halt, and hid ourselves in a bending of the sandbank. They knew we must be thereabouts, and being three or four times our number, thought to seize us. So they dispers’d themselves, some going to the sea shore, and others beating about the sand hills. We knew by 159what rencounter we had had with them in the morning that we could easily outrun them; so a nimble young man that was with me, seeing some of them near, ran towards them, and they for some time ran away before him. But he soon overtaking them, they faced about and fought him. He had a cutlass and they had wooden lances, with which, being many of them, they were too hard for him. When he first ran towards them, I chas’d two more that were by the shore; but fearing how it might be with my young man, I turn’d back quickly and went up to the top of a sandhill, whence I saw him near me closely engaged with them. Upon their seeing me one of them threw a lance at me, that narrowly miss’d me. I discharg’d my gun to scare them, but avoided shooting any of them; till finding the young man in great danger from them, and myself in some; and that tho’ the gun had a little frighted them at first, yet they had soon learnt to despise it, tossing up their heads and crying “Pooh, pooh, pooh,” and coming on afresh with a great noise; I thought it high time to charge again and shoot one of them, which I did. The rest seeing him fall made a stand again, and my young man took the opportunity to disengage himself and come off to me; my other man also was with me, who had done nothing all this while, having come out unarm’d; and I returned back with my men, designing to attempt the natives no farther, being very sorry for what had happened already. They took up their wounded companion, and my young man, who had been struck through the cheek by one of their lances, was afraid it had been poison’d, but I did not think that likely. His wound was very painful to him, being made with a blunt weapon; but he soon recover’d of it.

Among the N. Hollanders whom we were thus engaged with, there was one who by his appearance and carriage, as well in the morning as this afternoon, seem’d to be the chief of them, and a kind of prince or captain among them. He 160was a young brisk man, not very tall, nor so personable as some of the rest, tho’ more active and couragious: he was painted (which none of the rest were at all) with a circle of white paste or pigment (a sort of lime, as we thought) about his eyes, and a white streak down his nose from his forehead to the tip of it. And his breast and some part of his arms were also made white with the same paint; not for beauty or ornament one would think, but as some wild Indian warriors are said to do, he seem’d thereby to design the looking more terrible; this his painting added very much to his natural deformity, for they all of them have the most unpleasant looks and the worst features of any people that ever I saw, tho’ I have seen great variety of savages. These New Hollanders were probably the same sort of people as those I met with on this coast in my voyage round the world (see vol. i, p. 464, etc.); for the place I then touched at was not above forty or fifty leagues to the N.E. of this: and these were much the same blinking creatures (here being also abundance of the same kind of flesh-flies teizing them), and with the same black skins, and hair frizled, tall and thin, etc., as those were: but we had not the opportunity to see whether these, as the former, wanted two of their fore-teeth.

We saw a great many places where they had made fires, and where there were commonly three or four boughs stuck up to the windward of them; for the wind (which is the sea breeze) in the daytime blows always one way with them, and the land breeze is but small. By their fireplaces we should always find great heaps of fish shells of several sorts; and ’tis probable that these poor creatures here lived chiefly on the shell fish, as those I before describ’d did on small fish, which they caught in wires or holes in the sand at low water. These gather’d their shell fish on the rocks at low water, but had no wires (that we saw) whereby to get any other sorts of fish: as among the former I saw not any heaps 161of shells as here, though I know they also gather’d some shell fish. The lances also of those were such as these had; however, they being upon an island, with their women and children, and all in our power, they did not there use them against us as here on the continent, where we saw none but some of the men under head, who come out purposely to observe us. We saw no houses at either place; and I believe they have none, since the former people on the island had none, tho’ they had all their families with them.

Upon returning to my men I saw that tho’ they had dug eight or nine foot deep, yet found no water. So I return’d aboard that evening, and the next day, being September 1st, I sent my boatswain ashore to dig deeper, and sent the sain with him to catch fish. While I staid aboard I observed the flowing of the tide, which runs very swift here, so that our nun-buoy would not bear above the water to be seen. It flows here (as on that part of N. Holland I described formerly) about five fathom; and here the flood runs S.E. by S. till the last quarter; then it sets right in towards the shore (which lies here S.S.W. and N.N.E.) and the ebb runs N.W. by N. When the tides slackned we fish’d with hook and line, as we had already done in several places on this coast, on which in this voyage hitherto we had found but little tides; but by the heighth, and strength, and course of them hereabouts, it should seem that if there be such a passage or streight going through eastward to the great South Sea, as I said one might suspect, one would expect to find the mouth of it somewhere between this place and Rosemary Island, which was the part of New Holland I came last from.

Next morning my men came aboard and brought a rundlet of brackish water, which they got out of another well that they dug in a place a mile off, and about half as far from the shore; but this water was not fit to drink. However we all concluded that it would serve to boil our oatmeal 162for burgoo, whereby we might save the remains of our other water for drinking, till we should get more; and accordingly the next day we brought aboard four hogsheads of it: but while we were at work about the well we were sadly pester’d with the flies, which were more troublesome to us than the sun, tho’ it shone clear and strong upon us all the while, very hot. All this while we saw no more of the natives, but saw some of the smoaks of some of their fires at two or three miles distance.

The land hereabouts was much like the part of New Holland that I formerly described (vol. i, p. 463); ’tis low, but seemingly barricado’d with a long chain of sandhills to the sea, that lets nothing be seen of what is farther within land. At high water, the tides rising so high as they do, the coast shows very low; but when ’tis low water it seems to be of an indifferent heighth. At low water-mark the shore is all rocky, so that then there is no landing with a boat; but at high water a boat may come in over those rocks to the Sandy Bay, which runs all along on this coast. The land by the sea for about five or six hundred yards is a dry sandy soil, bearing only shrubs and bushes of divers sorts. Some of these had them at this time of the year, yellow flowers or blossoms, some blue and some white, most of them of a very fragrant smell. Some had fruit-like peascods, in each of which there were just ten small peas: I opened many of them, and found no more nor less. There are also here some of that sort of bean which I saw at Rosemary Island, and another sort of small, red, hard pulse, growing in cods also, with little black eyes like beans. I know not their names, but have seen them used often in the East Indies for weighing gold; and they make the same use of them at Guinea as I have heard, where the women also make bracelets with them to wear about their arms. These grow on bushes; but here are also a fruit like beans, growing on a creeping sort of shrub-like vine. There was great plenty of 163all these sorts of cod fruit growing on the sandhills by the sea side, some of them green, some ripe, and some fallen on the ground; but I could not perceive that any of them had been gathered by the natives, and might not probably be wholesome food.

The land farther in, that is lower than what borders on the sea, was, so much as we saw of it, very plain and even, partly savannahs, and partly woodland. The savannahs bear a sort of thin coarse grass. The mould is also a coarser sand than that by the sea side, and in some places ’tis clay. Here are a great many rocks in the large savannah we were in, which are five or six foot high, and round at the top like a haycock, very remarkable, some red and some white. The woodland lies farther in still, where there were divers sorts of small trees, scarce any three foot in circumference; their bodies twelve or fourteen foot high, with a head of small knibs or boughs. By the sides of the creeks, especially nigh the sea, there grow a few small black mangrove trees.

There are but few land animals. I saw some lizards, and my men saw two or three beasts like hungry wolves, lean like so many skeletons, being nothing but skin and bones: ’tis probable that it was the foot of one of those beasts that I mention’d as seen by us in N. Holland (vol. i, p. 463). We saw a rackoon or two, and one small speckled snake.

The land fowls that we saw here were crows (just such as ours in England), small hawks, and kites, a few of each sort; but here are plenty of small turtledoves, that are plump, fat, and very good meat. Here are two or three sorts of smaller birds, some as big as larks, some less; but not many of either sort. The sea fowl are pelicans, boobies, noddies, curlews, sea-pies, etc., and but few of these neither.

The sea is plentifully stock’d with the largest whales that I ever saw, but not to compare with the vast ones of the northern seas. We saw also a great many green turtle, but caught none; here being no place to set a turtle net in; 164here being no channel for them, and the tides running so strong. We saw some sharks and paracoots, and with hooks and lines we caught some rock fish and old wives. Of shell fish here were oysters, both of the common kind for eating and of the pearl kind; and also wilks, conchs, muscles, limpits, perriwinkles, etc.; and I gather’d a few strange shells, chiefly a sort not large, and thick-set all about with rays or spikes growing in rows.

And thus, having ranged about a considerable time upon this coast, without finding any good fresh water or any convenient place to clean the ship, as I had hop’d for; and it being, moreover, the heighth of the dry season, and my men growing scorbutick for want of refreshments, so that I had little incouragement to search further; I resolved to leave this coast, and accordingly in the beginning of September set sail towards Timor.

My Lords.—Before entering into a detail of matters of note occurring on the abovementioned voyage, it may not perhaps be superfluous to offer a few preliminary observations, in order to throw a clearer light upon the subject; briefly these:—that the above mentioned vessels having, in accordance with the instructions delivered to their crew by your excellency, on the twentieth of January of this year, weighed anchor from the port of Batavia on the 23rd of the same month, heard on their way, at Rembang on the east coast of Java, how the sloop Doriados, which had been destined for this voyage instead of the Waijer, had been disabled, but has been helped on its way by friendly vessels to Timor, and thence to New Holland.

They arrived on the twelfth of February before Copang, on the island of Timor, where they were obliged, by bad 166weather, to remain for twenty days, until the second of March. A month later, namely, on the second of April, they explored the north-west corner of Van Diemen’s land, without having so far observed anything remarkable on this voyage, except that for fifty or sixty miles straight north and south from this point, the land is elevated, and along the whole of this coast there was continually found from fifty to twenty, and fewer fathoms’ water; besides, that on the passage from Timor, the compasses were on the sixth of March affected by the thunder and lightning to such a degree, that the north-end of the needle pointed due south, and was brought home in that position.

This point of Van Diemen’s land having been thus explored, they occupied themselves, from the second of April to the twelfth of July, in visiting the bays, head lands, islands, rivers, etc., to the best of their ability according to their instructions. But not being sufficiently provided with fresh provisions for so long a voyage, many men on board began to suffer and also to die, from severe sickness, principally fever, acute pains in the head and eyes, and above all, dropsy, so that they were compelled to resolve upon returning, and to direct their course to Banda; the patsjallang however alone arrived there; the fluit Vossenbosch, and the sloop Waijer, being forced by unfavourable weather and the weakness of the crew, to pass that government, and to hold on towards Macassar, as your nobilities will have already learnt by the papers from Banda and Macassar. The skipper, upper and under steersman, with most of the petty officers and sailors of the Vossenbosch being already dead, and their incomplete journals alone having reached us, the new maps moreover, made by the direction of the skipper Martin van Delft, having been improperly detained at Macassar, we are not at present in a position to forward the same complete information on the subject, which the arrival of these maps would have enabled us to give, as they contain 167many new names, which could not possibly be found in the limited compass of the Company’s former charts. According to their own accounts, they have only been able to visit a strip of land of about sixty miles along the coast E. and W., including merely a very small portion of that great bay, which it was recommended to them to sail over and explore as much as possible.

The daily courses, winds, currents, depths, reefs, soundings, variations of the compass, and the like observations, more especially depending upon the art of the steersman, are to be found in the above-mentioned journals, and shall here be passed over as out of place, in a compendious report like the present. We shall here principally follow the logbook of the skipper Martin van Delft, of the Vossenbosch, and that of the under steersman Andries Roseboom, of the sloop Waijer, as the journals of the captain of the patsjallang, Pieter Fredericks of Hamburg, and of the steersman of the Vossenbosch, notwithstanding their general usefulness, do not afford any additional information, as they merely describe the same subject.

Besides the journals, some depositions and other papers of the same kind have reached us, referring to the loss of anchors, ropes, sails, the courses and bearings of the ship as recorded on board the Vossenbosch, none of them however of a nature to call for further observation here. At the same time we cannot omit to mention two papers, written by the captain of the patsjallang, and entered in the register of Banda, under the letters D. E., containing brief notes of the ship’s course, the names of, and dates of departure from, the places visited during the voyage, together with the currents encountered, which documents could be forwarded to you, if desired, together with the above-mentioned journals of the skipper of the Vossenbosch, and the captain of the Waijer, and the new maps, should they arrive here from Macassar, since the maps of the patsjallang have not been drawn up 168with due regard to the proper soundings, distances and other requisites, and are, therefore, not to be depended upon.

Continuing our summary of the voyage, we would observe, that from the commencement of the exploration of Van Diemen’s land, they noticed at several points on the strand signs of men, such as smoke and the like. The first inlet within the north point of that land, which was visited by them and called the Roseboom’s Bay, runs dead inland, throwing out several branches on both sides. No fresh water is found here. At that time they saw no men, but merely some signs of inhabitants. However, on their leaving the bay, some of the natives were caught sight of, running away with their children and dogs, as soon as they perceived our countrymen; and no opportunity was obtained of getting speech of any of them.

The coast here is level. The names Casuaris and Varckenshoek, were given to the points E. and W. of this bay; of two other projecting points on the W. side, which turned out to be islands, one was named the Goede Hoop, and the other the Kuijle Eijland; they found on the former of them a little water, but brackish, and in small quantity.

Between these two islands or headlands, some natives were met by the men on the thirty-first of April, who did not retire, but ran hastily towards an eminence, and with signs and gestures attempted to drive them away. No one was able to understand their language, which, according to the skipper Martin van Delft, seems to resemble in some respects that of Malabar; but even this is by no means clear. The colour and stature of these men, appears from the description given to resemble most that of the Indians of the east; but they go stark naked, without any regard to age or sex, as was constantly observed by our sailors from the above-mentioned date, until their departure. The only exception to this rule were the women who had children with them, these alone wearing a slight covering of leaves or 169such-like over their middle. The whole number of these islanders did not exceed fourteen or fifteen men; seeing that our people could not be induced by their grimaces, violent gestures, yelling and flourishing of assegais, and all kinds of weapons, to retreat from the shore, they were imprudent enough to throw some of their assegais, or rather sharpened sticks, at our men, with the intention of wounding and intimidating them; but their chief, or one who at least appeared to be so, being hit by a ball from the single musket which was fired at them in return, the rest began to run quickly away, being very agile and well made.

The women are tall and slim, with very large mouth and small eyes; the head of both sexes is curly, like that of the Papuan islanders, and a yellow or red ointment, prepared with turtle fat, seems to be used as an ornament. The nature of these tribes is foul and treacherous, as was apparent at the last moment, when our people were on the point of departing. Eight islanders attacked and wounded two sailors, with the hope of seizing upon their clothes, and that after having conversed with these men for weeks, eaten and drunk with them, visited them on board, and being allowed to examine everything to their great admiration, after having received presents, and also on their part regaled our people with fish and crabs. Besides this, their bad disposition came to light in the case of the man who had been previously wounded by our party as before mentioned; when he afterwards was assisted and bandaged, and had every possible attention shown him by our men, he tore the linen to pieces and threw it away into a corner; notwithstanding that at other times these natives appeared particularly greedy after linen, knives, beads, and such toys.

They however possess nothing which is of value themselves, and have neither iron nor anything like mineral ore or metal, but only a stone which is ground and made to serve as a hatchet. They have no habitations, either houses or huts; 170and feed on fish, which they catch with harpoons of wood, and also by means of nets, putting out to sea in small canoes, made of the bark of trees, which are in themselves so fragile, that it is necessary to strengthen them with cross-beams.

Some of them had marks on their body, apparently cut or carved, which, as it seemed to our people, were looked upon by them as a kind of ornament. They eat sparingly and moderately, whereby they grow up always active and nimble; their diet seems to consist of fish, and a few roots and vegetables, but no birds or wild animals of any kind are used as food, for though animal food exists, and was found by our men in abundance, the natives appeared to be indifferent to it.

According to the notes of the captain of the sloop Waijer, from the 14th of June, about five hundred people with women and children, were met on one occasion about two miles inland; at night also they were descried sitting round several fires among the bushes; nothing however was seen in their possession of any value. Our men might also easily have taken and brought over to Batavia with them, two or three of the natives who daily came on board, but the skipper of the Vossenbosch, following out his instructions to the letter, would not allow them to be taken without their full consent, either by falsehood or fraud, and as no one understood their language, nothing was to be done in the matter; consequently they remained in their own country.

The country here is for the most part level, and no mountains are to be seen, except a remarkable eminence, which at a distance has the appearance of three mountains, as noted in the journal of the skipper, under date May the 25th. The soil seems productive, if cultivated, but the whole extent of the coast is bordered by sands or downs. In no part were any remarkable trees noticed, much less any of an aromatic and spice kind.

The second bay after the Rooseboom’s Bay just described, between Tigers and Wolfs-point, visited by our countrymen, 171has the appearance of a wide river, but is salt; as however nothing remarkable was found there, we shall let the journal of the skipper, on the date May 12th, speak for itself, it being described in the account of the commander of the Waijer, under the name of the Bessia River.

The third inlet visited by the expedition is rather large, its E. point being named Kaijmans, and its W. Oranjes-hoek. The tide flows here with great force, and the Patsjallang sailed between eight and ten miles inland, without finding any diminution in the saltness of the water. As the bottom, and the general aspect still remain the same, it was supposed by our people, that this inlet runs right through to the south side of New Holland, and not only this, but also others both E. and W. of the angle of Van Diemen’s land.

From this it seems to follow, that the South Land in a great measure consists of islands,—a supposition not at all improbable, considering how on its south side, from the point called Leeuwin, or the land visited by the Leeuwin in the year 1622, to Nuyts-land, discovered in 1627, it is entirely girt and surrounded by innumerable islands, although these things had better be left to a more accurate examination of the country, and a more matured judgment. But there is another consideration in favour of this supposition, namely, the rude and barbarous character, and malicious disposition of the above-mentioned islanders, as it has been frequently remarked, that such serious defects are much more generally found among islanders, than among the inhabitants of continents. However, be this as it may, we shall only further remark, that the Patsjallang, owing to the strength of the current, was not able to proceed, but was obliged to return to the Vossenbosch, having first discovered within this inlet an island, five miles in circumference, on which was found very good drinking-water and a tiger was met with; a number of snipes also were seen on another island, which lay at the entrance of this strait, and of which 172more is said in the journal of the sloop Waijer, under the date of the eighteenth and nineteenth of May. The weather here was observed to become much colder.

The fourth inlet of those visited by the expedition, called Delft Bay, runs five or six miles inland, and demands little further notice than as to its position and depths, both which are to be found clearly stated in the journals and maps, also that it is called on one side of its mouth, Rustenburg, and on the other side in the old maps, it is known under the name of Maria’s land, in which district the inhabitants were so stupid, that they attempted to tow the patsjallang, while lying at anchor, with three little canoes, but seeing that no progress was made, they tried to effect their object by tugging at the anchor. This also proving ineffectual, they returned to the shore. Our men employed themselves daily in fishing, the fish here being plentiful, but of no great size, and attempted to arrest the increasing sickness on board.

The fifth and last inlet E. visited by our people, is bounded on one side by the promontory of Lonton, on the other side by the point of Callemore, (names given to them by the crew), although the last mentioned point may rather be called an island than a promontory, since the inlet runs round it and again joins the sea. In front of the point Lonton, also an island was found, called by them Schildpads island; nothing remarkable is to be recorded of this place, except that at night by moonlight, an immense number of black birds, as large as pigeons, were met by the patsjallang Hollandia Nova, which flock continued to pass for half an hour; also that the inhabitants became so much accustomed to our people, that they assisted them in procuring and carrying water; but afterwards they could not conceal their malicious disposition, as we have already narrated.

This last inlet is called Vossenbosch Bay, and also has before the promontory of Calice a small island, where stands a solitary tree, by which it may be recognized.

173Thus, thinking we have briefly stated the origin, the adventures, the results, and the return of this expedition, so far as they could be investigated, we shall here conclude.

The ten years which elapsed between 1720 and 1730 were a period replete with disaster to the East India Company, arising from the losses they experienced of ships and men, both on their passage out to India and on their return.^[35] Among the number is the Zeeland ship Zeewyk, which, built in 1725, sailed from the roads of Rammekens to Batavia, under command of the skipper Jan Hijns, on the 7th of November, 1726. After peculiar mishaps the Zeewyk came to anchor on the 22nd of March, 1727, before the fort of Good Hope in Table Bay, and, after taking in fresh provisions there, pursued her voyage on the 21st of April, until, on the 9th of June, when by the carelessness of the skipper, she was wrecked on the Houtman’s Abrolhos.

By the instructions^[36] for the sailing in the autumn from the Netherlands to Java, amongst other things it is also enjoined: “The Cape of Good Hope being doubled, it is thought good that you sail in an E. direction between 36° and 39° S. lat., until you have reached a point eight hundred miles E. of the Cape of Good Hope; that you then 177direct your course as much N. as E., in such a manner that, on reaching 30° S. lat., you should find yourself about 950 or 1000 m. from the Cape of Good Hope.

“These 950 or 1000 m. from the Cape being attained, it is advisable—wind and weather permitting—that you bear down upon the land Eendraght at 27° S. lat., or more to the N., so as to take thence such a course as will enable you to clear the Tryals Shoals,^[37] lying about 20° S. lat., without danger, and to touch at the south coast of Java with ease, in order to have the weather-gage of the Straits of Sunda, and thus reach these straits without loss of time. It must be understood that this is about the time when the east monsoon blows south of the line, and that the said 900 or 1000 miles E. of the Cape may be reached between the beginning of March and the end of September. Observe, that the distance between the Cape and the land of Eendraght is, in reality, much shorter than the chart shows; and it may happen, by the aid of currents, that the route may be found even shorter than it really is, so that the land might be reached in much less time than we are led to expect. Remember, also, that the land of Eendraght has, south of 27° lat., many perilous sandbanks, and that the soundings are of sharp rocks. Consequently extreme caution, and the constant use of the lead at night and in stormy weather is indispensably necessary, as at seven, six, or five miles from the coast the soundings are found to be one hundred, eighty, or seventy fathoms.”

To these “perilous sandbanks and soundings of sharp rocks” belong also the Frederick Houtman Abrolhos, which, according to Horsburgh,^[38] lie at 29° 10´ S. lat., and 113° 57´ E. long., and upon which many a ship of the company will 178have perished; since, in addition to the Batavia in 1629, the Vergulde Draeck in 1656, the Ridderschap van Holland in 1693, and the Zuysdorp in 1711, two others occur in the list here subjoined as lost between the Cape of Good Hope and Batavia.

The Englishmen who visited these sandbanks in 1840 found several remains of wrecked ships; thus writes Mr. Crawford Pako:^[39]

“I will relate a few circumstances which were of great interest to us, as marking the position of ancient voyagers, who two hundred years before were similarly engaged to ourselves, and undergoing trial and probation such as we were then exposed to.

“Finding anchorage for our ship at the S.E. part of the southern group, near to a narrow strip of sand on the edge of the reef, which was scarcely large enough to be called an island, we found on it some remains of large timber, evidently a beam of a ship, through it an iron bolt of considerable dimensions; but corrosion had gone on steadily so many years, that the slightest touch reduced it to the size of small wire. Near this were found various other fragments, which most probably had been parts of the same vessel; but the most remarkable item was a copper coin of the East India N. Company, a doit bearing date 1620 (I think), which was good evidence that these were some of the remains of commodore Pelsart, in the ship Batavia. So the anchorage which we occupied was named by us Batavia Roads, and that particular group Pelsart’s Group. On another island at the west side of the same group we found 179many other relics of more recent date, among which another doit, which was dated 1700, which we concluded marked the position of the loss of the Zeewijk in 1720. On this island we found a large number of small glass bottles, about the size and form of Dutch cheeses, very orderly arranged in rows on the ground; a few very large glass bottles of similar form; some large brass buckles, which had been gilded, and much of the gilt still existed. Numerous small clay pipes, which served to solace our crew with the help of tobacco, as doubtless they had done long ago for former owners. And one brass gun, of about three-pounds calibre, with an iron swivel, the iron, however, was diminished by corrosion to nearly nothing; it had a movable chamber for loading it, which was fitted for a square hole, on the upper part of the gun near the breech. But what was most remarkable about it was that vermilion paint was still on the muzzle. The island on which this was found we called Gun Island, and the passage between Pelsart Group and the middle one was called Zeewyk Channel.”

I have had the good fortune to find among the papers of the late East India Company, what was written by the government of Batavia about the loss of the ship Zeewijk to the directors at home, together with a map made by the skipper Jan Steyns, while on these shoals.

“On the 26th of April a letter^[40] unexpectedly came to hand by the patchialang De Veerman, from the late skipper and under-merchant of the Zeeland ship Zeewyk, Jan Steyns and Jan Nibbens, written from the Straits of Sunda, but without date, communicating the fact that this vessel, after leaving the Cape of Good Hope on the 21st of April, had been wrecked, on the 9th of June, on the reef lying before the islands Frederick Houtman’s Abrolhos, situated near 180the Southland, in S. lat. 29°, and otherwise called the Tortelduyff’s Islands. The crew had, in favourable weather, succeeded in recovering all kinds of necessaries from the wreck, and had constructed from the fragments of the ship a vessel, on which, setting out on the 22nd of March, they arrived in the above straits on the 21st of April, numbering eighty-two souls, and bringing with them the moneys of the Company contained in ten chests to the value of Fl. 315,836:1:8. All this will more clearly appear from the subjoined copy of the letter (together with a list of the survivors, their names and rank on board before the wreck), to which we respectfully refer you, as also to an extract from the resolution passed on that day. From this will also be seen the care shown by us for the recovery of the money, in our despatching at once to the distressed vessel (which was suffering from want of fresh water) the advocat-fiscal of India, Mr. Jacob Graafland, with two commissioners from the Council of Justice, assisted by the secretary and usher of the court, provided with the necessary vessels, together with one sergeant, two corporals, and twelve private soldiers. There was also found a small slip,^[41] without signature, written by the skipper, in which he complains of the outrageous and thievish behaviour of the crew, so that we could not but conclude that some of the company’s chests must have been broken open, and the contents stolen, as it very frequently happens under such unfortunate circumstances. Wherefore the above-mentioned commissioners were duly instructed to take means to prevent the concealment of the company’s moneys. But the precaution proved unnecessary, as they arrived here happily on the 30th, to the great relief of the company’s heavy losses of money, with the above-mentioned vessel and the ten money chests, which were found to be complete according to the invoice. In addition to this was also received a small bag, containing two hundred and seven pieces of Spanish 181reals, handed over by the Directors of the Chamber, Middelburg, in Zeeland, to the officers of this ship, for the purchase of fresh provisions, which also was saved. Moreover various sums in silver ducats, as specified in the memorial, a copy of which is subjoined, were found upon the crew. On that same day, namely, the 30th April, the advocat-fiscal was instructed to report to the government as to whether an action could be brought by it against the pretended owners, who had fetched that money out of the wreck, the fact of their having it in their possession being in our opinion a violation of the law, which forbids the export of coined money to private persons. His answer is to be found in a copy subjoined. But afterwards he was obliged, as a matter of official duty, to put the law in force, and an indictment was accordingly issued against the claimants before the Council of Justice, whose decision is still pending. We are nevertheless at the same time of opinion that salvage ought to be allowed to the men who, at no inconsiderable danger to themselves, brought the money from the wreck. The journals kept on the voyage, as far as they were saved and brought over, were, in accordance with the resolution of the 30th of April, handed over to the Equipagemeester, Coenrad Mels, and a committee of skippers, under the presidency of the above-mentioned fiscal, as it appeared to us rather doubtful whether the ship had not been wrecked in an inexcusable manner. And, indeed, it was subsequently proved by the report of the committee, that the former skipper, Jan Steyns, had not only run too near the Southland, contrary to his orders, and in opposition to the protests of the steersmen, and thereby caused that disaster; but had also contemplated deceiving the government by altered and falsified journals, in order to hide as much as possible his indefensible conduct. Whereupon, on the 17th of August, it was determined to indict the said Jan Steyns before the Court of Justice, and he has since been placed under arrest.^[42]

182“The position of the islands against the most outlying reef of which the Zeewyk was wrecked, is shown by the accompanying maps. They lie out of sight of the Southland, and are partly overgrown with some edible wild plants. On them were found not only some excavated wells, but also some signs of a Dutch ship, probably wrecked against the above-mentioned reef, which might have been the Fortuyn or Aagtekerke, whose crew may have died or perished at sea on their way hither. This also seems to have been the fate of the boat of the Zeewyk, which, under command of the uppersteersman Pieter Langeweg, with eleven common sailors and the papers of the Company, had set out for this port shortly after the wreck of the ship, in order to give information of the mishap and to ask for assistance. Up to this time nothing has been heard of it.

“We cannot without painful feelings think of the heavy misfortunes, from which the company has been a sufferer during the last nine or ten years, especially in the loss of many ships and treasures, which mishaps have to our great concern been considerably increased in number, not only by the disaster which befell the ship Luchtenberg, on the Wielingen, on the Zeeland Banks, shortly after leaving port, as communicated to us by the Directors of several Chambers, and particularly by the letter from Amsterdam of the 8th of January; but also by the misfortunes which befell the other ships that had sailed for this country in company with that ship on the 2nd of November, 1727, and were obliged to put into several harbours in a disabled state. Again, by the stranding on the 3rd of July, in Table Bay, of the ships Middenrack, Stabroeck, and Haarlem, of which the Middenrack was dashed to pieces and lost all hands, except the few who were on shore at the time, while the two others were driven so close on shore that all hope of safety was abandoned, but succeeded so far as to run their prow aground, whereby the crew and money were saved, and the remainder 183of the cargo was recovered from the ship undamaged by the sea water. The cargos of these two stranded ships, together with three boxes containing amber from the Middenrack, which had been washed ashore, have already been brought over by the ships Meyenberg and Nieuwvliet, they having, through God’s blessing, happily ridden through this awful storm from the N.W., not without extreme danger. The ship Hillegonde also lost its rudder and goodgings, and had to be helped into Saldanha Bay. Thus we shall not be able to make use of it here for some time to come, any more than, as we fear, of the ships Berkenrode and Heenhoven, which had not yet appeared at the Cape on the 18th of July. This is the more alarming, as the Heenhoven, on the 9th of February, in the north, at about 57° L., parted through stress of weather from the consorts Meyenberg and Haerbroeck, in whose company it had left Zeeland on the 24th of January. However, we hope soon to welcome the arrival of the above-mentioned two ships, under the blessing of the Most High, who also is besought henceforth to ward off all disasters from the ships and the establishment of the company, and to make them prosperous in all things; so that the crew of the outward-bound ships may not be afflicted so severely by sickness and death, as has been the case of late with several ships, to such an extent, that it has been necessary to reinforce them one from the other at the Cape; whereby, since the departure of the ship Meerlust, in sixteen ships from Holland, only 1375 sailors, 575 soldiers, and 40 artisans, in all 1990 paid servants, including the sick, have come over.”

Castle, Batavia, Oct. 30th, 1728.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY, AND THE NOBLE COUNCILLORS OF THE NETHERLANDISH INDIA.

We take the liberty of informing you, that, in sailing from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia with the company’s late ship Zeewyck, we were wrecked on a reef on the ninth of June, 1727, at seven o’clock in the evening, in the first watch.

The reef against which the vessel struck, is surrounded by a very high and heavy surf, and runs in the shape of a half moon. On the inner side lie many small islands, called Frederick Houtman’s Ambrollossen (Abrolhos), which we gained on the eighteenth of June, and upon which we remained from that day, until we had fetched from the wreck everything that seemed to us necessary for the preservation of our life, spars, ropes, timber and provisions. As soon as we had got these materials on shore, our carpenter at once set to work with his men, by order of the officers, and by the help of the common people, to build a vessel, so that we might save our lives, if it pleased God. We called it the Sloepie, that is, the little sloop, made up from the wreck of the Zeewyck. When it was ready for sea, we made sail with a south wind and fair weather on the twenty-sixth of March, having with us the money chests of the company, as well as provisions for the voyage. We continued to enjoy favourable weather throughout the voyage, and so arrived by God’s blessing, on the twenty-first of April, 1728, in the Straits of Sunda, eighty-two souls, of whom, we herewith subjoin a list for the information of your nobility and council. We beg to wish you and the council from the bottom of our heart, every prosperity and happiness, and present respectfully our humble services.

My High Excellency, together with the Council of the Netherlandish India, I pray of you most urgently to send me help and assistance against these robbers of the money and goods from the wreck Zeewyk, who have divided the money and goods among themselves. I am stark naked; they have taken every thing from me. O, my God! They have behaved like wild beasts to me, and everyone is master. Worse than beasts do they live; it is impossible that on board a pirate ship things can be worse than here, because every one thinks that he is rich, from the highest to the lowest of my subordinates. They say among themselves, “Let us drink a glass to your health, ye old ducats!” I am ill and prostrate from scurvy.

APPENDIX III.

At five o’clock this afternoon we received a letter by the patchialang De Veerman, very unexpectedly and fortunately, from the former skipper and under-merchant of the ship Zeewyk, bound for these parts, written in the Straits of Sunda, but undated, reporting the wreck of the ship on the reef lying before the Islands Frederick Houtman’s Abrolhos, near the Southland, at 28° L., on the 9th of June of last year. The crew having afterwards fetched several necessaries from the wreck, made from the timber a sloop or vessel, on board of which eighty-two souls have reached these straits, together with the money taken out by the ship, consisting of three tuns, according to the double invoice received. But, besides that letter, there also came to hand a little card, unsigned, apparently in the handwriting 186of the skipper, in which he complains in unmistakeable terms of the behaviour and dishonesty of the crew; so that we cannot but suppose that the money chests have been broken open, in order that so splendid a booty might be divided. Therefore on the motion of the Governor-General, it was resolved to send out at once to the assistance of the suffering vessel and crew, who were obliged, in default of fresh water, to put up with salt water for some time. Accordingly the brigantine De Hoop, the sloop De Olyftack, and the patchialangs De Snip and the before-named Veerman, being made ready by order of his excellency, the advocat-fiscal of India, Mr. Jacob Graafland, with two commissioners from the Council of Justice, assisted by the secretary and usher, together with one sergeant, two corporals, and twelve private soldiers, was dispatched, in order that the ready money might be secured without any delay, as much of it, that is, as might still be found. Further; a thorough search was to be made after the remainder, both among the crew and in all the corners and nooks of the sloop, which has been put together by them.

This said sloop no other vessels shall be allowed to approach, with the sole exception of that on board of which the commissioners are; so that all possibility may be removed of any clandestine transfer of the stolen booty to another crew, and of the noble company’s being thus injured by a complot of a gang of expert thieves. The guilty ones shall be seized and subjected to an exemplary punishment, as a warning to all other evil doers in similar lamentable and fatal occurrences.

APPENDIX IV.

The Trials. About two hundred years have elapsed since the instructions here mentioned were drawn up, and still 187these cliffs belong to the “doubtfuls.” To what is this to be attributed? Do they in reality not exist at all? The Governor-General, Antonio Van Diemen, to whom the science of geography is so deeply indebted, did not doubt their existence. He thus writes to the governor of Mauritius, Adrian van der Hael, on the 2nd of September, 1643.

“The yacht Cleen Mauritius has, like the former ships bound for these parts, not seen anything of the Trials. This, however, proves nothing. Those who would discover those shoals (as they are usually called) in coming from your country, must be ordered to touch at the Southland at about 27° S. L., or Dirk Hartog’s Reede; they must then sail as far north as 20°, when they would find themselves about fifty miles E. of the Trials. They then have to sail W., as there is no doubt that they lie in 20° S. L.”

It may also not be unnecessary to quote in full the following statement, taken from the “Vertooninge van Eylanden, Custen, Havens, en Bayen aº 1757, door den E. Capiteyn D. van Schilde en Schipper P. Hoogendorp (H. S.)”

Extract from the journal of the skipper Franchoys Buscop, on his voyage out in the ship ’t Vaderland Getrouw, under date July 21st, 1707,^[43] about his falling in with the Trials.

In the morning, at seven o’clock, in the day watch, we saw the little islands of the Trials’ Shoals, at E. by E. well E., about five miles from us, being three in number, the most southerly of them running up to a sharp point and hanging over towards the S.E., being at its top a little rounder than the one in the middle, but lower than the north one, and a little more pointed. We also saw a high pointed cliff south of the islands.

Shortly afterwards we saw the surf breaking E.N.E. ½ N. 188a short mile from us, and four from the island. We at once turned away towards the S.W., heaved the lead, and found fifty-seven fathoms water, with a bottom of fine sand and rocks.

Shortly afterwards we encountered a storm with rain from the S.W. and S.S.W. by S. Turned again to the W., ran in that direction till noon, then put our course N.W.; heaved the lead and found sixty-five fathoms, bottom as before. Took the bearings of the pointed island, lying E.N.E., at five and a half to six miles distance from us, and found the longitude to be 124° 34´; I had calculated it at 123° 6´, so that by the position of these islands we were 1° 28´ more to the E. than we imagined. S. L. 20° 34´. I then corrected my reckonings. Afternoon wind S. and S.S.E., blowing at top-sail and top-gallant-sail breeze, with fog and drizzle. In the evening again heaved the lead, but found no bottom. Shortened sail in order to heave the lead during the night. First watch, water of a pale tint. Heaved the lead several times, but no bottom found. Held on at N.W. to the beginning of the day-watch; steered N.; wind at night S.S.E. and S.E., top-sail and top-gallant-sail breeze.^[44]

According to a letter in the Nautical Magazine of the year 1843, p. 392, the Trials were also seen by the Dutch ship Jacobus, captain Louwerens. It is worthy of remark, that this observer places them in the same longitude, whilst the latitude differs by about 1°.

The late veteran captain C. Brandligt has assured me that he saw them; but he could not find the journals by which he wished to prove the statement to me.

189“Rocks and shoals in the ocean have been frequently seen and their true positions given, but on further search could not be found. Now, scientific men may dream, but I am under a strong impression that they do exist; but, from some unknown causes, the ocean has its rise and fall, and they are seen at the lowest ebb only.”

• Aagtekerke, perhaps wrecked off the Houtman’s Abrolhos, 182
• Aberts, Pieter, skipper, one of the survivors of the “Vergulde Draeck,” 77
• Abrolhos, v. Houtman’s Abrolhos
• Albuquerque, in 1511 sent A. de Breu and F. Serrano, with three ships to Banda and Malacca, lx
• Alexander VI, Pope, Bull on the discoveries, xxxvii
• Alvaro de Mendana, discovers the Solomon Islands, the Marquesas, Queen Charlotte’s Islands, attempts to establish a Colony on Santa Cruz, lxx
• Ambrollossen, Frederic Houtman, v. Houtman’s Abrolhos
• Amsterdam, island, drawing of, brought back by Vlamingh, in 1696, 113
• Amsterdam, shallop, expedition to the South Land under the command of G. T. Pool, 75
• Antelope, of London, under the command of Captain Hammond, met by Dampier, 13
• Ant-hills, taken for habitations, 65
• Aratus, speaks of a southern continent, xiii
• Arias, Dr. Juan Luis, memorial to Philip III, urges the necessity of the discovery of the southern hemisphere, for the sake of converting the natives before the English and Dutch heretics might do it, 1;
  • extract from De Silva’s treatise, 3;
  • prophecies, 4;
  • the southern hemisphere not all water, 12;
  • fertile, habitable, 15;
  • rich in metals, pearls, animals, fruits, 16;
  • A. Mendana de Meyra’s discoveries, 17;
  • P. F. de Quiros, 18;
  • J. Fernandez, 20;
  • Indians of Taumaco indicate a continent southwards, 23;
  • portion of the South Land already visited, larger than Europe, 24;
  • the decline of Spain, caused by the neglect of exploration, 25;
  • final loss of the crown threatened, 28
• Arms of Amsterdam, ship, touched at the south coast of New Guinea, in 1619, part of the crew murdered by the natives, 44
• Aristotle, speaks of a southern continent, xiii
• Arnhem, island, discovery, 45
• Arnhem, yacht, voyage to New Guinea, 44;
  • skipper and eight of the crew murdered, 45
• Atlantis, island of, described by Plato, ii
• Aucke, Pietersz Jonck, v. Jonck
• Australia.
  • Regarded as forming part of New Guinea and the great southern continent, iv-xi;
  • indications on maps in the sixteenth century, iv, xii, lxv;
  • its coasts touched by the Dutch in the seventeenth, v;
  • secrecy of the Portuguese, ib.;
  • of the Dutch East India Company vi;
  • statement of Sir W. Temple, ib.;
  • quotations from early writers, xii;
  • early maps with indications, xiv;
  • assertion of the discovery by the Chinese, ib.;
  • Binot Paulmier de Gonneville the supposed first discoverer, xx;
  • the Portuguese claim to the discovery, xxi;
  • the Spanish claim, xxii;
  • Magalhaens’ claim, xxii;
  • Dr. Martin on the map of Dourado, xxiii;
  • the tract laid down is either Tierra del Fuego or New Guinea, xxvi;
  • other indications on maps of its discovery by the Portuguese, ib.;
  • Dalrymple’s disparagement of Captain Cook, xxxi;
  • 192its refutation by Metz, xxxii;
  • account, by Barbié de Bocage, of a hydrographic atlas which he supposed to be drawn by N. Vallard, of Dieppe, in 1547, xxxv;
  • Gomez de Sequeira, xliii, xlvi;
  • Barros’ narrative, xlvi;
  • Sequeira driven to Tobi or Lord North’s Island, xlviii;
  • account of the island, xlix;
  • Australia shown to be the country described in those maps, li;
  • the “Londe of Java,” lii;
  • P. Crignon on J. Parmentier’s voyage, lix;
  • the Portuguese, not the French, the real discoverers, lx;
  • the quoted French maps copied after Parmentier, lxi;
  • Parmentier’s information derived from the Portuguese, lxii;
  • the discovery before 1542, lxiv;
  • explorations by the Spanish in the sixteenth century, lxx;
  • P. Fernandez de Quiros, lxx;
  • Australia del Espirito Santo, lxxiv;
  • first authenticated discovery made by a vessel from Holland in 1606, lxxviii;
  • the Duyfhen, lxxix;
  • the Eendraght, under Dirk Hartog, lxxx;
  • plates on Dirk Hartog’s Island, lxxxii;
  • Bishop Hall’s “Terra Australis,” lxxxiv;
  • Zeachen, erroneously described as “the discoverer of Arnheim’s Land”, lxxxv;
  • the Land of Edel, lxxxvi;
  • Houtman’s Abrolhos, ib.;
  • Eendraght Land, lxxxvii;
  • the Pera and Arnhem, ib.;
  • the south discovered in 1627 by the Gulde Zeepard, lxxxviii;
  • De Witt’s Land, lxxxix;
  • a foul and barren shore, inhabitants wild, black, ib.;
  • wreck of the Batavia on the Houtman’s Abrolhos, ib.;
  • account of the natives, xci;
  • G. T. Pool’s, P. Pietersen’s expedition, xciii;
  • A. J. Tasman’s expedition and instructions, ib.;
  • narrative missing, xciv;
  • outline of Tasman’s voyage inlaid in the floor at the Stadhuis at Amsterdam, xcv;
  • on maps, cxvi;
  • fragment of the account in Witsen’s notes, xcviii;
  • description of the natives, xcix;
  • Carpentaria not discovered by Carpenter, Van Diemen’s Land not discovered by Van Diemen, c;
  • the great south land called New Holland, ciii;
  • wreck of the Vergulde Draeck, cv;
  • Waeckende Boey and Emeloort sent to the rescue, description and chart of the west coast, cvi;
  • J. Sadeur’s “Terre Australe,” cvii;
  • W. de Vlamingh’s voyage, cviii;
  • Dampier’s description of the natives, ib.;
  • expedition in the Roebuck, cx;
  • last Dutch voyage under Martin v. Delft, cxiii;
  • accounts of the discoveries of the eastern coast entirely wanting before Cook, cxvii;
  • name Australia given by Flinders, ib.;
  • memorial of Arias to Philip III respecting the exploration of the Southern Land, 1;
  • treatise of Fray Juan da Silva, ib.;
  • necessity proved from the scripture, obligation from the agreement with the Catholic Church, 4;
  • physical proofs of the existence and habitability, 14;
  • richness in metals and stones, 16;
  • discoveries already made, 17;
  • all tends to prove the greatness, populousness, and richness of the southern continent, 24;
  • Luis Vaez de Torres on Quiros’ discoveries, 31;
  • San Valerio, las Virgines, Santa Polonia, 32;
  • Matanza, skirmish with the natives, 34;
  • Taomaco, inhabitants white and red, some coloured, others black and mulattoes, agreeable people, slavery in use amongst them; they name more than forty islands, 36;
  • Chucupia islands, ib.;
  • Santa Maria island, 37;
  • possession taken of the Ray San Felipe y Santiago, and the land del Espirito Santo, ib.;
  • people black and naked, ib.;
  • departure of the Capitana, 38;
  • pass an archipelago of islands, 39;
  • description of the inhabitants, 40;
  • find Mahometans at the termination of this land, ib.;
  • instructions for the new expedition by the yachts Limmen, Zeemeuw, and Brak under Tasman, 43;
  • former voyages towards New Guinea and the South Land undertaken for the Dutch East India Company, 44;
  • Staten and Van Diemen’s Land found, also the passage to the South Sea, 47;
  • Voyage and shipwreck of F. Pelsart in the Batavia, 59;
  • 193people on shore savages, black, and quite naked, 64;
  • country flat without vegetation, very large ant-hills only in view, 65;
  • quantities of flies, ib.;
  • see eight savages with clubs, ib.
  • T. G. Pool’s voyage, 75;
  • description of the natives, their weapons, etc., 76–88;
  • wreck of the Vergulde Draeck and expeditions undertaken, 67;
  • seen by the “Pinck,” 85;
  • headdress of the natives a kind of crown, 87;
  • a wild cat and two seals seen, 84;
  • natives use small hammers with wooden handles, and heads of hard stone, 88;
  • description of the west coast by Volkersen, 89;
  • the natives believe in some divinity in the serpent, 95;
  • Australia supposed to be divided from New Guinea by a strait terminating in the South Sea, 97;
  • sea between N. and Banda, called “Milk Sea,” on account, of its turning white, 97;
  • Dampier’s account, 99;
  • in his time unknown whether an island or a continent, 101;
  • dry soil, yet producing trees, mostly dragon trees, 101;
  • no animals, or beasts, few birds, few fish, but manatee and turtle; description of inhabitants, 102;
  • their habits, etc., 103;
  • no particular worship; weapons; no metal; language not known, 104;
  • unsuccessful attempt to make them carry water; indifferent to cloth, 106;
  • Dampier took several of them, 107;
  • W. Dampier’s adventures, from a Sloan MS., 108;
  • W. de Vlamingh’s voyage, 112;
  • a kind of scented wood found, 113;
  • description of country and natives, 114;
  • the inscription plate of the Eendraght, 115;
  • expedition by the Nijptang, Geelvinck and Wesel, 120;
  • a remarkable fish with a kind of arms and legs, 121;
  • aromatic trees, rats as big as cats, 121;
  • coast like that of Holland, easily approachable; smoke and fires seen on the main land, 122;
  • nut of a certain tree causing vomiting; two black swans, 123;
  • swans, rotganzen, geese, divers, 125;
  • no trees, but briars and thorns, 126;
  • two nests three fathoms in circumference, 129;
  • Dampier’s voyage in 1699, 134;
  • first signs of the land, 138;
  • curious birds, scuttle-bones, sea-weeds, 139;
  • soundings show coral ground, 140;
  • landing attempted, 141;
  • trees very short, 143;
  • birds, animals, raccoons, curious guanos, 144;
  • fish, 145;
  • turtle weighing two hundred pounds, water serpents, 148;
  • sea snakes, 151;
  • Bluff-point, Rosemary Island, 154;
  • fight with some natives, 158;
  • account of them, 160;
  • further description of the coast and its produce, 163;
  • want of water, 164;
  • discoveries of the Vossenbosch, D’ Waijer and Nova Hollandia, 165;
  • description of the islanders, 169;
  • about five hundred met with, 170;
  • the supposition of Australia being an island, strengthened by the natives’ rude and barbarous character, 171;
  • natives of Maria’s Land try to tow the patsjallang, 172;
  • the Houtman’s Abrolhos, 176
• Bachian islands, king of, assisted by Quiros’ force, 41
• Bandeira, Viscount Sa’ de, claim for the discovery of Australia by Magalhaens, xxii
• Barbié de Bocage, notice of a hydrographical atlas of New Holland, drawn by N. Vallard, xxxv
• Barros, on Gomez de Sequeira’s voyage, xlvi
• Bass’s Straits, “Baye neufve,” in the old maps, lviii
• Batavia, book of dispatches, v. Book
• Batavia, under Francis Pelsart, wrecked on the coast of New Holland, 59;
  • a chest with money to be recovered, 50;
  • remains found 178;
  • account of the wreck, and in Thevenot, lxxxix;
  • in Harris, xc
• Bay perdue, on the old maps, lvii
• Baye neufve, perhaps Bass’s Straits, lviii
• Beach v. Boeach
• Berkenrode, ship, uncertainty about her fate, 183
• Bessia river, name given to the second bay after Rooseboom’s Bay, 171
• Binot Paulmier de Gonneville, supposed discovery of Australia, xviii;
  • 194journals lost, xix
• Bocage, Barbié de v. Barbié
• Boeach, misspelt for Lucach or Lochac, xvii
• Book of dispatches, from Batavia, extract; instructions for the expedition for the discovery of New Guinea, 43
• Bosphorus (Sepharat), meaning Spain, 10
• Botany Bay, originally called Stingray, afterwards from the variety of plants, Botany Bay; not the Coste des Herbaiges on the early maps, xxxiv
• Bowrey, captain, a copy of Tasman’s map in his handwriting, xcvi
• Brak, equipped for the expedition to New Guinea, 47
• Breu, Antonio, going to Banda, in 1511, lx
• Brosses, de, correcting Prévost’s misstatement on the discovery of Carpentaria, c
• Brazil, discovery by the Portuguese, xxxviii
• Buscop, Franchoys, skipper, extract from his journal, on the “Trials,” 187
• Cabral, discovery of Brazil, xxxviii
• Callemore, point of, on the South Land, 172
• Calice, promontory, on the South Land, 172
• Cambodia, the Lochac of Marco Polo, xvi
• Cano, Sebastian de, one of the commissioners appointed to decide about the right of possession of the Moluccas, xl
• Cape Keer Weer, (turn again), the furthest point of New Guinea reached by the Duyfhen, lxxx
• Cape York, the very large islands, seen by Torres, in 11° S. L., lxxv
• Capitana, expedition under Quiros, 31;
  • crew mutinous, 34;
  • departs suddenly and treacherously, 38
• Carpentaria, discovery falsely attributed to Carpenter, xcix;
  • misstatement corrected, c;
  • Dubois on Carpenter, cii
• Carpenter, the supposed discoverer of Carpentaria, c
• Carstens, Jan, despatched by J. P. Coen with the Pera and Arnhem from Amboina, murdered by the natives of New Guinea, lxxxvii, 44
• Castanheda, narrative of the discovery of New Guinea, xlii
• Casuaris, name of the east point in the Roseboom’s Bay, 168
• Cecco d’Ascoli, map of, xiv
• Ceira, name of New Guinea on the old Portuguese maps; mistake for Ceram, 97
• Ceram Lauers, trade with the natives of New Guinea, 96
• Ceramers v. Ceram Lauers
• Charles V. sells his right to the Moluccas to John II, xli
• Chastelijn, Cornelis, account of the discoveries, 165
• Chinese, supposed to have been acquainted with Australia before the Europeans, xiv
• Chucupia, island, 36
• Clyn Amsterdam, expedition to New Guinea, 46
• Coen, Jan Pietersz, dispatches the Pera and Arnhem, lxxxvii
• Collaert, Gerrit, captain of the Nijptang, 113
• Cook, captain Dalrymple’s insinuations, xxxi:
  • established the separation between New Holland and New Guinea, xciv
• Cornelis, Jerome, super cargo of the Batavia, conspiracy, 69;
  • taken prisoner, 71;
  • executed, 74
• Côte dangereuse, in the old maps, xxxii, lvii
• Côte des Herbaiges, in the old maps, xxxiv, lviii
• Crawford, Pako, v. Pako
• Crignon, Pierre, on Parmentier, lix, lxii
• Dalrymple, Alexander, on Thevenot’s map, xxxi;
  • translation of Torres relation of Quiros’ discoveries, 31
• Dangerous coast, so called by Captain Cook, supposed to be the Côte dangereuse of the maps, xxxii, lvii
• Dampier’s voyage, cviii, cix, 99, 108, 134
• De Brosses, v. Brosses
• De Breu, Antonio, v. Breu
• 195De Bandeira, Sa’, Viscount, v. Bandeira
• De Gonneville, B. Paulmier, v. Gonneville
• De Legaspi, Lopez, v. Legaspi
• Del Espiritu Santo, discovery, 37
• Delft Bay, on the coast of New Holland, 172
• Delft, Martin van, voyage, cxiii;
  • extract from his logbook, 167
• De Mendana, v. Mendana
• De Meneses, v. Meneses
• De Metz, Gauthier, v. Metz
• De Saavedra, v. Saavedra
• De Santarem, Vicomte, v. Santarem
• De Silva, Fray Juan, v. Silva
• De Sequeira, Gomez, v. Sequeira
• De Torres, Luis Vaez, v. Torres
• De Villalobos, Ruy Lopez, v. Villalobos
• De Vlamingh, v. Vlamingh
• De Witt’s Land, coasted by the Vianen, lxxxix
• Dirk Hartog’s Island, plate, lxxxi
• Dirk Hartog’s Roads, lxxxi
• Dispatches, Book of, from Batavia, v. Book of Dispatches
• Doriados, sloop, destined for the expedition to New Holland, disabled, 165
• Dourado’s map, xxiii
• Draeck, v. Vergulde Draeck
• Du Bocage, Barbié, v. Barbié
• Dubois, “Vies des Gouverneurs Généraux,” on Carpentaria, cii
• Dutch discoveries on the coast of Australia, lxxvii
• Dutch East India Company, charged with exclusiveness, vi;
  • defended, ix
• Dutchmen, two, exposed by Pelsart, to be looked after, 50
• Duyfhen, yacht, expedition to New Guinea; first authenticated discovery of the South Land, lxxix;
  • discovery of the south and west coast of New Guinea, 43
• Dwaers-inden-wegh, island, 68
• D’Waijer, sloop, discoveries, 165
• Edel, commander of a ship visiting the coast of New Holland; discovery of Edel’s Land on the west coast, lxxxvi
• Eendraght, ship, discoveries, lxxxi, 44;
  • pole with tin plate of the Eendraght, found by Vlamingh, 115
• Eendraght, land, 177
• Elburgh, flyboat, touches the South Land, 87
• Emeloort, galiot, sent in search of the Vergulde Draeck, 80;
  • separated from the Waeckende Boey, 85
• Esquivel, Juan de, assisted by Quiros and his force on one of the Ternate islands, 41
• Ferdinand and Isabella, of Spain, agreement with Don John II, about the line of demarcation, xxxviii
• Fernandez, Juan, said to have discovered the southern continent, lxvi;
  • discovers the track from Lima to Chili, 20
• Fish, a remarkable, with a sort of arms and legs, 121
• Flinders, Matthew, suggested the name of Australia, lxxviii, xcvii;
  • on the account of Delft’s voyage, cxv
• Fortuyn, perhaps wrecked on the Abrolhos, 182
• Four Hollanders’ ships voyage; first voyage of the Dutch to the East Indies, lv
• Franciscan order, undertakes the conversion of the southern hemisphere, 7
• Franciscus, Monachus, Mappemonde, lxiii
• Frederick Houtman’s Abrolhos, v. Houtman’s Abrolhos
• French merchants send a ship to the Indies, xix
• Geminus, speaks of a southern continent, xiii
• Goede Hoop, yacht, joins the Witte Valck for the rescue of the wreck of the Vergulde Draeck, 78
• Gonneville, Binot Paulmier de, the supposed first discoverer of New Holland, xx
• Gouffre in the old maps, perhaps Oyster Bay in Tasmania, lviii
• Guanos with apparently two heads, 144
• Gulde Zeepard, ship, discovery, 45
• Gun island, off the Houtman’s Abrolhos, 179.
• 196Haarlem, wreck of, in Table Bay, 182
• Hale, H. on Tobi island, xlviii
• Hall, Bishop, Mundus alter and idem, lxxxiv
• Hamelin, Captain of the Naturaliste, finds the tin plate of Vlamingh on Dirk Hartog’s island, lxxxiii
• Hammond, Captain of the Antelope, 134
• Harewind, yacht, dispatched for New Guinea, 44
• Haring, yacht, dispatched for New Guinea, 44
• Hartog, Dirk, discoveries, lxxxi
• Hasagays, arms of the natives of New Guinea, 96
• Heenhoven, ship, uncertainty about its destiny, 183
• Hillegonde, ship, accident, 183
• Holden, Horace, driven to the Isle of Tobi, xlix
• Hondius, Jodocus, map, to illustrate the discoveries of Drake and Cavendish, lxviii
• Hoop, brigantine, sent to the wreck of the Zeewijk, 186
• Houtman, Frederick, gives the name to the Houtman’s Abrolhos, lxxxvi
• Houtman’s Abrolhos, discovery, lxxxvi;
  • the Houtman’s Abrolhos in 1727, by Leupe, 176
• Instructions for the expedition for the discovery of New Guinea, 43
• Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, agreement with Don John II, about the line of demarcation, xxxviii
• Jacobus, Dutch ship, sees the Trials, 188
• Jan de Bremen, of Pelsart’s crew, confesses to have caused the assassination of twenty-seven persons, 72
• Jave, la Grande, on the old maps, supposed to be Australia, lii
• John II, agreement with Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, about the line of demarcation, xxxviii
• John II buys the right to the Moluccas from Charles V, xli
• Jonck, Aucke Pietersz, skipper of the Emeloort, account, 82
• Judæis, C. de, Speculum Orbis, lxviii
• Kangaroo, first described by Dampier, cx
• Kart, Pieter v. Pita Ka’t
• Kaijmans-hoek, eastern point of the third inlet on the coast of New Holland, visited by the expedition in 1705, 171
• Keer Weer, Cape, (turn again), furthest point reached on New Guinea, by the Duyfhen in 1606, 44
• Kondur, island, described by Marco Polo, xv
• Kuijle Eijland, projecting point on the west side of New Holland, 168
• Lacca-iha, New Guinea, particularly ugly people, 97
• Lants Welvaren, carries drawings, etc., from the expedition of Vlamingh, to the directors of the council, 113
• Leeman, Abraham van Santwigh, upper steersman of the Vergulde Draeck, 82:
  • journal, 87
• Leeuwin, ship, discovery, lxxxvi
• Legaspi, Miguel Lopez de, established a Spanish colony at Zebu, lxx
• Le Testu, Guillaume, map, xxxvi
• Leupe, P. A., description of the Houtman’s Abrolhos in 1727, 176
• Lima, track to Chili, discovered by J. Fernandez, 20
• Limmen, yacht, destined for a nearer discovery of New Guinea, 43;
  • equipped for the expedition, 47
• Lochac, described by Marco Polo, xv
• Londe of Java, v. Jave
• Lonton, promontory on the fifth inlet on the E. coast of New Holland, visited by the Vossenbosch etc., in 1705, 172
• Lopez de Legaspi, v. Legaspi
• Lopez de Villalobos, Ruy, v. Villalobos
• Lord North’s island, the island on which Sequeira was driven, xlviii;
  • description of the natives, xlii, xlix, l
• Louisiade, Torres touching at, lxxiv;
  • description of the inhabitants, lxxv
• Louwerens, Captain of the Jacobus, sees the Trials, 188
• Lucach, v. Lochac
• Luchtenberg, wreck on the Wielingen, 182
• 197Macrobius, map of the world, tenth century, xiv
• Magalhaens, Fernando, not the discoverer of Australia, xxi;
  • offers his services to Spain, sails in search of the Moluccas, xxxix
• Magellan, F. v. Magalhaens
• Malaiur, island, supposed to be the kingdom of the Malays, xvi
• Maleto, v. Maletur
• Maletur, misspelt for Maleto, xvii;
  • occurs on maps of the sixteenth century on or near the Terra Australis, lxiv, 98
• Manilius, mentions the southern continent, xii
• Marco Polo, map, xiv;
  • account, supposed to refer to Australia, xv
• Mare Lantchidol, misspelt for Laut Kìdol, or Chidol, “South Sea,” xvii
• Maria, Santa, island, v. Santa Maria
• Maria’s Land, point at the Delft Bay; inhabitants very stupid, 172
• Martin, Dr., on the map of Dourado, xxiii
• Martinez, Joan, Portolano, lxiii
• Matanza island, discovered by Torres, 35
• Mauritius, ship, discoveries, lxxxvi;
  • met by the expedition to New Guinea in 1622, 44
• Meerlust, ship, 183
• Mendaña de Meyra, Alvaro de, discoveries of New Guadalcanal, San Christobal, etc., 17
• Meneses, Jorge de, carried to New Guinea, lxiv
• Mercator, Indications of Australia, lxvii
• Metz, Frederic, refutes Dalrymple’s insinuations against Cook, xxxi
• Metz, Gauthier de, v. Gauthier
• Meyenberg, ship, brings the cargo of the Middenrack and Stabroeck over to Batavia, 183
• Mibais van Luyck, Gilles, first merchant of the Eendraght, lxxxi
• Middenrack, wrecks against the Table Bay, 182
• Milk-Sea, between Banda and the South Land, 97
• Moluccas, dispute between the Portuguese and Spanish, xxxviii;
  • commission appointed to, xxxix;
  • right to them sold by Charles V to John II. xli
• Monterey, Count of, vice-king of Peru, lxxii
• Montbret, Coquebert, memoir in the “Bulletin de Sciences,” xxxiv
• Montanus, Arias, Mappemonde, lxv
• Necquebar, v. Nicobar
• New Guadalcanal, discovered by Mendana, 17
• New Hebrides, the Terra Australis of Quiros, lxxii
• New Guinea, discovery, iv;
  • New Guinea and New Holland supposed to form parts of a southern continent, xi;
  • made an island in Ortelius’s 1587 edition, lxvii;
  • expedition under Tasman, instructions, 43;
  • the inhabitants, 52;
  • description of the country and the natives, 91;
  • their weapons, manners, etc., 92;
  • the Ceramers, Papoos; further description of the country and its inhabitants, 95 seqq.
  • New Guinea supposed to be divided from the South Land by a strait terminating in the South Sea; New Guinea in the old maps, under the name of Ceira (Ceram), 97
• New Holland, v. Australia
• Nibbens, Jan, communication about the Zeewijk, 179, 184
• Nicobar, island, Dampier’s canoe upsetting, all papers lost, 109
• Nieuwvliet, carries the cargo of the wrecked Middenrack and Stabroeck to Batavia, 183
• Nobbens, v. Nibbens
• Nova Hollandia, patsjallang, discoveries, 165
• Nuyts, land of, colony projected, cxv
• Nuyts, Pieter, supposed commander of the Guide Zeepard; country called after him, lxxxviii
• Nijptang, hooker, under Captain Collaert, forms part of Vlamingh’s expedition in 1696, 113
• Obadiah; imputed prophecy concerning the conquest of the southern hemisphere by Spain, 9
• Oero-goba, in New Guinea; inhabitants particularly ugly, 97
• 198Olyftack, sloop, sent to the wreck of the Zeewijk, 186
• Oranjes, Hoek, point at the inlet of the coast of New Holland visited by the expedition in 1705, 171
• Os Papuos, v. New Guinea
• Oyster bay, in Tasmania, lviii
• Papoos, at New Guinea, 94
• Parmentier, Jean, of Dieppe, voyage to Sumatra, lix
• Paulmier de Gonneville, v. Gonneville
• Pelsart, Francis, Captain of the Batavia, lxxxix;
  • shipwreck, 59
• Pelsart’s group, off the Houtman’s Abrolhos, 178
• Pentam, island, xv;
  • supposed to be Bintam, xvi
• Pera, yacht, voyage to New Guinea, 44
• Petan, occurring on the old maps on or near the Terra Australis, lxiv
• Philip III memorial to, by Arias, 1
• Philippine islands, settlements attempted by the Spanish, lxx
• Pietersen Pieters, v. Pietersz
• Pietersz, Pieter, super cargo, takes the command of the expedition to New Guinea after Pool’s death, discovers the coast of Arnhem or Van Diemen’s Land, xciii, 46
• Pinzon, Vincent Yanez, discoveries on behalf of Spain, xxxviii
• Pita Ka’t, gave the natives of Tobi island their form of religion, 1
• Plancius, Peter, opens a school for the purpose of teaching the way to India, lxxviii
• Poel, Gerrit Tomaz, v. Pool
• Polonia, Sta., v. Santa Polonia
• Pool, Gerrit Tomaz, expedition to New Guinea, killed by the natives, xcii, 46
• Portuguese, conceal their discoveries, v, xlii;
  • discover Brazil, xxxviii;
  • their claim to the discovery of Australia, xxi, xxvi seqq.;
  • had establishments in the East Indian Islands before 1529, lxi
• Portuguese kings, prohibit the exportation of marine charts, v, vi
• Portuguese names on the old French maps of New Holland, lix
• Pronck, Hendrich, opinion on the expedition to New Holland, 117
• Purry, J. P. Mémoire sur le Pays des Caffres, etc.; project of founding a colony in Nuyts-land, cxv
• Quiros, Pedro Fernandez, chief pilot of Alvaro de Mendana, lxx;
  • memoirs to L. de Velasco, lxxi;
  • his Terra Australis is New Hebrides, lxxii;
  • separated from the other two ships, reaches Mexico, lxxiv;
  • addresses Philip II on account of further explorations, lxxvi;
  • discoveries, 18;
  • death, lxxvi, 19
• Ramusio, on the secrecy of the Portuguese with respect to their discoveries, v
• Ridderschap van Holland, de, loss of, causes Vlamingh’s expedition in 1696, 112, 114
• Rivière de beaucoup d’Iles, xxxii, lvii
• Roebuck, Dampier’s expedition, cx
• Roelandszoon, J. van Wijck, repudiates the charge of covetousness against the Dutch, vii
• Roggeveen, expedition, cxvi
• Roggeween, Jakob, passenger of the Vaderland Getrouw, 187
• Roseboom, Andries, of the Waijer, logbook, 167
• Roseboom’s Bay, visited by the Vossenbosch, etc., 168
• Rosemary Island, recently examined by Captain King, cxi;
  • name given by Dampier, 154
• Rotterdam, ship, searched after, 44
• Roty, Jean, v. Rotz
• Rotz, Jean, maps, xxix
• Rustenburg, point at the fourth inlet on the coast of New Holland, visited by the expedition in 1705, 172
• Saavedra, Don Alvaro de, lights on New Guinea, lxiv
• Sadeur, Jacques (or Nicolas), “Avantures dans la découverte de la Terre Australe,” cvi
• Sago, biscuits made of, sold to the crew of Torres by Mahometans, 40
• Sahul Bank, seen by P. Heywood, cxiv
• Sambava, occurs on all the MS. maps of the Great Java, liv
• San Christobal island, discovered, 17
• 199Sandy Bay, 162
• San Felipe y Santiago, showing signs of being the coast of a southern continent, 23;
  • discovered, 37
• Santa Cruz, discovered by Mendana de Meyra, 18
• Santa Maria, discovered and named by Torres, 37
• Santa Polonia, island, 32
• Santarem, Vicomte de, “Essai sur l’histoire de la Cosmographie ... du Moyen Age,” xiii
• San Valerio, island, 32
• Sardam, frigate, 71
• Schildpads island, 172
• Schiller, Andries, steward of Pool, 75;
  • killed by the Southlanders, 76
• Sea snakes seen by Dampier, 151
• Sea, turning white, twice a-year, between Banda and the South Land, 97
• Sequeira, Gomez de, voyage, xlvi
• Serpent, a divinity of the heathens of New Guinea and New Holland, 95
• Serrano, Francisco, goes to Banda in 1511, lx
• Silva, Fray Juan de, treatise on the southern hemisphere, 1;
  • extract, 2
• Snip, patsjallang, sent to the wreck of the Zeewijck, 186
• Solomon islands, discovered by Mendaña, lxx
• Sondur island, xv
• South Land, v. Australia
• Southern continent, existence of, believed anterior to Portuguese discoveries, xiii
• Southern India, of Gonneville, being Madagascar, xxi
• Spain, claim to the discovery of Australia, xxi
• Spult, island, discovery, 45
• St. Brandan, island, ii
• St. Paul, island, Vlamingh’s expedition was to land there, 113
• Sta. Maria, v. Santa Maria
• Stabroeck, wreck, 182
• Steyns, Jan, communication about the wreck of the Zeewijck, 179, 180;
  • indicted before the court, 181
• Strabo, speaks of a southern continent, xiii
• Struyck, Nicholas, tract, containing an account of Dampier’s voyage, 114
• Swans, black, cviii, 114
• Taomaco, island, 36
• Tasman, Abel Janszen, discovers Tasmania, explores Torres Straits, xciii;
  • his lost papers quoted by Witsen, xciv;
  • outlines of the coasts visited by him, represented on the floor of the Stadhuis at Amsterdam, xcv;
  • maps, xcvi;
  • notes of his voyage by Witsen, xcviii;
  • instructions for the expedition to New Guinea, 43;
  • map found wrong by Dampier, 152
• Temple, Sir William, on the secrecy of the Dutch about their discoveries, vi
• Ternate, on the Moluccas, fortified, xxxvii
• Testu, Guillaume le, v. Le Testu
• Themara, Francisco, Libro de las costumbres, lxiv
• Theopompus, mentions an island beyond the then known world, ii
• Thevet, “Cosmographie Universelle,” 1575, lxvi
• Tierra baixa, lxviii
• Tierra del Fuego, discovered by Magelhaens, xxvi;
  • mistaken for New Guinea, ib.
• Tin plate, with the names of Dirk Hartog and others of the Eendraght, found by Vlamingh’s expedition, 130
• Toppers-hoëtien, island, 68
• Tomai, the chief of Taomaco, 36
• Tobi island, v. Lord North’s island
• Torres, Luis Vaez de, commander of the Almirante, lxxiii;
  • discoveries, 20;
  • relation of the discoveries of Quiros, 31
• Torres’ Straits, name, lxxii;
  • passed by Tasman, xcii
• Trial Rocks, opinions on, 186
• Tristan d’Acunha, drawing of;
  • Vlamingh’s expedition was to land there, 113, 119
• Turtledove, shoal, 177
• Vaderland Getrouw, extract from the skipper’s journal, 187
• Valerio, San, v. San Valerio
• Vallard, Nicholas, MS. Atlas with his name, xxxv
• 200Van Diemen, Antonio, on the Houtman’s Abrolhos, 187
• Van Diemen’s Land, so named from the governor-general, xciii;
  • north-west corners explored by the Vossenbosch expedition, 166
• Van Keulen, map, xcvi
• Van Wijck Roelandszoon, v. Roelandszoon
• Varckenshoek, west point of Rooseboom’s Bay, 168
• Vaz Dourado, map, xxiii
• Veerman, sent to the wreck of the Zeewijck, 186
• Vergulde Draeck, expedition, cv;
  • wreck, 77
• Vianen, ship, discovery, lxxxix, 45
• Villalobos, Ruy Lopez de, attempting a settlement on the Philippine islands, lxx
• Vinck, flyboat, in search of the Vergulde Draeck, 79
• Virgines, islands, 32
• Visser, chief pilot with Tasman, instructions, 43
• Vlamingh, Cornelis de, captain of the Weseltje, 113
• Vlamingh, Willem de, voyage, cviii, 111;
  • inscription on the plate on Dirk Hartog’s island, lxxxi
• Volckersen, Samuel, captain of the Waeckende Boey, account, 89
• Vossenbosch Bay, on the coast of New Holland, 172
• Vossenbosch, fluyt, discoveries, 165 seqq.
• Waeckende Boey, sent in search of the wreck of the Vergulde Draeck, cv, 80;
  • loses boat, schuyt, and fourteen men, 84
• Water serpents, seen by Dampier, 148
• Wesel, yacht, expedition to New Guinea, 46
• Weseltje, galiot, unsuccessful expedition to the island of Mony, 116
• Weasel, shallop, 75
• Weybehays, fighting against Cornelis, 70;
  • takes him prisoner, 71
• Wielingen, the, on the Zeeland Bank, 182
• Witsen, Burgomaster, his notes the only account of Tasman’s voyage, xcviii;
  • extract from his “Noord en Oost Tartarye,” 91
• Witte Valck, sent to the rescue of the men and specie of the Vergulde Draeck, 78
• Wytfliet, Cornelius, on “Australis Terra,” lxix
• Wijck J. Roelandszoon, van, v. Roelandszoon
• Zeachen, (ship Zeehaen), supposed native of Arnheim made discoverer of Arnheim’s Land, lxxxv
• Zebu, Spanish colony founded at, lxx
• Zeehaen, ship, lxxxv
• Zeemeuw, yacht, destined for the discovery of New Guinea, 43, 47
• Zeewijck, wreck, 176;
  • remains found, 179;
  • communication respecting the wreck, 179
• Zeewijk, channel, 179
• Zuysdorp, wreck, 178

1001Extract from a letter addressed to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., “On the Discovery of Australia by the Portuguese in 1601, five years before the earliest discovery hitherto recorded; communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, by Richard Henry Major, Esq., F.S.A.,” now distributed to the Members of the Hakluyt Society for insertion as a Supplement to the Volume of “Early Voyages to Terra Australis,” by the same author.

1003

Of the discoveries made by the Dutch on the coasts of Australia, our ancestors of a hundred years ago, and even the Dutch themselves, knew but little. That which was known was preserved in the “Relations de divers Voyages Curieux” of Melchisedech Thevenot (Paris, 1663–72, fol.); in the “Noord en Oost Tartarye” of Nicholas Witsen, (Amst. 1692–1705, fol.); in Valentyn’s “Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien” (Amst. 1724–26, fol.); and in the “Inleiding tot de algemeen Geographie” of Nicolas Struyk, (Amst. 1740, 4to.). We have, however, since gained a variety of information, through a document which fell into the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, and was published by Alexander Dalrymple (at that time hydrographer to the Admiralty and the East India Company), in his collection concerning Papua. This curious and interesting 1004document is a copy of the instructions to Commodore Abel Jansz Tasman for his second voyage of discovery. That distinguished commander had already, in 1642, discovered not only the island now named after him Tasmania, but New Zealand also; and, passing round the east side of Australia, but without seeing it, sailed on his return voyage along the northern shores of New Guinea. In January, 1644, he was despatched on his second voyage; and his instructions, signed by Governor-General Antonio Van Diemen and the members of the council, are prefaced by a recital, in chronological order, of the previous discoveries of the Dutch.

From this recital, combined with a passage from Saris, given in Purchas, vol. i, p. 385, we learn that, “On the 18th of November, 1605, the Dutch yacht, the Duyfhen (the Dove), was despatched from Bantam to explore the island of New Guinea, and that she sailed along what was thought to be the west side of that country, to 19¾ degrees of south latitude.” This extensive country was found, for the greatest part, desert; but in some places inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages, by whom some of the crew were murdered; for which reason they could not learn anything of the land or waters, as had been desired of them; and for want of provisions, and other necessaries, they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished. The furthest point of the land, in their maps, was called Cape Keer Weer, or “Turn again.” As Flinders observes, “The course of the Duyfhen from New Guinea was southward, along the islands 1005on the west side of Torres Strait, to that part of Terra Australis a little to the west and south of Cape York. But all these lands were thought to be connected, and to form the west coast of New Guinea.” Thus, without being conscious of it, the commander of the Duyfhen made the first authenticated discovery of any part of the great Southern Land about the month of March, 1606; for it appears that he had returned to Banda in or before the beginning of June of that year.

The honour of that first authenticated discovery, as hitherto accepted in history, I am now prepared to dispute. Within the last few days I have discovered a MS. Mappemonde in the British Museum, in which on the north-west corner of a country, which I shall presently show beyond all question to be Australia, occurs the following legend: “Nuca antara foi descuberta o anno 1601 por mano (sic) el godhino de Evedia (sic) por mandado de (sic) Vico Rey Aives (sic) de Saldaha,” (sic) which I scarcely need translate, “Nuca Antara was discovered in the year 1601, by Manoel Godinho de Eredia, by command of the Viceroy Ayres de Saldanha.”

The misfortune is that this map is only a copy, but I think I shall be able to answer from internal evidence any doubt that might be thrown upon the authenticity of the information which it contains. The original was made about 1620, after the discovery of Eendraght’s Land, on the west coast of Australia, by the Dutch in 1616, but before the discovery of the south coast by Pieter Nuyts in 1627. So far 1006from its author suspecting the existence of a south coast, he continues the old error which had obtained throughout the sixteenth century, of representing the Terra Australis as one vast continent, of which the parts that had been really discovered were made to protrude to the north as far as the parallel in which these discoveries respectively lay. Thus in this map we have Australia, as already described, on the right side of the map; and the Island of Santa Cruz in the New Hebrides, there called Nova Jerusalem, discovered by Quiros, on the left side; but both connected and forming part of the one great Southern Continent.

Now, it may be objected that this map, being only a copy made at the beginning of the present or close of the last century, the statement which forms the subject of the present paper may have been fraudulently inserted. But to give such a suggestion weight, a motive must be shown, the most reasonable one being that of assigning the honour of the first authenticated discovery to Portugal instead of to Holland. For this purpose we must suppose the falsifier to have been a Portuguese. To this I reply, that while all the writing of the map is in Portuguese, the copy was made by a person who was not only not a Portuguese himself, but who was ignorant of the Portuguese language. For example, the very legend in question, short as it is, contains no less than five blunders, all showing ignorance of the language: thus, the words “por Manoel” are written “por mano el,” “Eredia” is written “Evedia,” “do” is 1007written “de,” “Ayres” is written “Aives,” “Saldanha” is written “Saldaha” without the circumflex to imply an abbreviation.

But further, if we attribute to such supposed falsification, the ulterior object of claiming for the Portuguese the honour of a prior discovery, whence comes it that that object has never been carried out? It is not till now that the fact is made known, and those most interested in the ancient glory of the Portuguese nation are ignorant of the discovery which this map declares to have been made. That it never became matter of history, may be explained by the comparatively little importance which would at the time be attached to such a discovery, and also by the fact that the Portuguese, being then no longer in the fulness of their prosperity, were not keeping the subject before their attention by repeated expeditions to that country, as the Dutch shortly afterwards really began to do.

Again, the speculation might be hazarded that, as this map is a copy, the date of the discovery may have been carelessly transcribed; as, for example, 1601 may easily have been written in the original 1610 and erroneously copied. Fortunately, the correctness of the date can be proved beyond dispute. It is distinctly stated that the voyage was made by order of the Viceroy Ayres de Saldanha, the period of whose viceroyalty extended only from 1600 to 1604, thus precluding the possibility of the error suggested, and terminating before the period of the earliest of the Dutch discoveries.

1008But yet, again, it may be objected that a country so vaguely and incorrectly laid down may not have been Australia. The answer is equally as indisputable as that which fixes the date. Immediately below the legend in question is another to the following effect: “Terra descuberta pelos Holandeses a que chamaraō, Enduacht, (sic) au Cōcordia” (land discovered by the Dutch, which they called Endracht or Concord). Eendraghtsland, as we all know, was the name given to a large tract on the western coast of Australia, discovered by the Dutch ship the Eendraght, in 1616.

Moreover, if the legend in question were not a genuine copy from a genuine ancient map, how came the modern falsifier to be acquainted with the name of a real cosmographer who lived at Goa at a period which tallies with the state of geographical discovery represented on the map, but none of whose manuscript productions had been put into print at the time when the supposed fictitious map was made or the legend fictitiously inserted?

I think these arguments are conclusive in establishing the legitimacy of the modern copy from the ancient map. As regards the discoverer, Manoel Godinho de Eredia (or rather Heredia, as written by Barbosa Machado and by Figaniere), I find the following work by him; “Historia do Martyrio de Luiz Monteiro Coutinho que padeceo por ordem do Rey Achem Raiamancor no anno de 1588, e dedicada ao illustrissimo D. Aleixo de Menezes, Arcebispo de Braga;” which dedication was dated Goa, 11th 1009of November, 1615; fol. MS. with various illustrations.

Barbosa Machado calls him a distinguished mathematician; and Figaniere, a cosmographer resident at Goa. It follows as a most likely consequence that the original map was made by himself. The copy came from Madrid, and was purchased by the British Museum in 1848, from the Señor de Michelena y Roxas. It will be matter of interest to discover at some future day the existence of the original map, but whether that be in the library at Madrid, or elsewhere, must be a subject for future inquiry.

In a scarce pamphlet entitled “Informacāo de Aurea Chersoneso, ou Peninsula e das Ilhas Auriferas, Carbunculas e Aromaticas, ordenada por Manoel Godinho de Eredia, Cosmographo,” translated from an ancient MS. and edited by Antonio Lourenço Caminha, in a reprint of the “Ordenacōes da India, do Senhor Rei D. Manoel,” Lisbon, Royal Press, 1807, 8vo., occurs a passage which may be translated as follows:—

“Island of Gold. While the fishermen of Lamakera in the Island of Solor^[45] were engaged in their fishing, there arose so great a tempest that they were utterly unable to return to the shore, and thus they yielded to the force of the storm, which was such, that, in five days, it took them to the Island of Gold, which lies in the sea on the opposite coast, or coast outside of Timor, which properly is called the Southern 1010Coast. When the fishermen reached the Land of Gold, not having eaten during those days of the tempest, they set about seeking for provisions. Such happy and successful good fortune had they, that, while they were searching the country for yams and batatas, they lighted on so much gold, that they loaded their boat so that they could carry no more. After taking in water and the necessary supplies for returning to their native country, they experienced another storm, which took them to the Island of Great Ende;^[46] there they landed all their gold, which excited great jealousy amongst the Endes. These same Endes therefore proposed, like the Lamacheres fishermen, to repeat the voyage; and, when they were all ready to start, both the Endes and Lamacheres, there came upon them so great a trepidation that they did not dare, on account of their ignorance, to cross that Sea of Gold.

“Indeed it seems to be a providential act of Almighty God, that Manoel Godinho de Eredia, the cosmographer, has received commission from the Lord Count-Admiral, the Viceroy of India within and beyond the Ganges, that the said Eredia may be a means of adding new patrimonies to the Crown of Portugal, and of enriching the said Lord Count and 1011the Portuguese nation. And therefore all, and especially the said Lord, ought to recognise with gratitude this signal service, which, if successful, will deserve to be regarded as one of the most happy and fortunate events in the world for the glory of Portugal. In any case, therefore, the discoverer ought for many reasons to be well provided for the gold enterprize. First, On account of the first possession of the gold by the crown of Portugal. Secondly, For the facility of discovering the gold. Thirdly, Because of the gold mines being the greatest in the world. Fourthly, Because the discoverer is a learned cosmographer. Fifthly, That he may at the same time verify the descriptions of the Southern Islands. Sixthly, On account of the new Christianity. Seventhly, Because the discoverer is a skilful captain who proposes to render very great services to the King of Portugal, and to the most happy Dom Francisco de Gama, Count of Vidigueira, Admiral and Viceroy of the Indies within and beyond the Ganges, and possessor of the gold, carbuncle, and spices of the Eastern Sea belonging to Portugal.”

Short of an actual narrative of the voyage in which the discovery, which is the main subject of this paper, was made, we could scarcely ask for fuller confirmation of the truth of that discovery than that which is supplied by the above extract. Manoel Godinho de Eredia is there described as a learned cosmographer and skilful captain, who had received a special commission to make explorations for gold mines, and at the same time to verify the descriptions 1012of the Southern Islands. The Island of Gold itself is described “as on the opposite coast, or coast outside of Timor, which properly is called the Southern Coast.” It is highly probable from this description that it is the very Nuca Antara of our MS. map, which does lie on the southern coast opposite to Timor. It is still further most remarkable that, by the mere force of facts, the period of the commission here given to Eredia is brought into proximity with the date of his asserted discovery of Australia. The viceroy Francisco de Gama, who gave that commission, was the immediate predecessor of Ayres de Saldanha. His viceroyalty extended only from 1597 to 1600, and the asserted discovery was made in 1601, though we know not in what month. A more happy confirmation of a discovery, unrecorded except in a probably unique map, could scarcely have been hoped for.

In laying this letter before a Society of Antiquaries, who venerate the past, I would not close without one word of reverent tribute to the ancient glories of a once mighty nation. The true heroes of the world are the initiators of great exploits, the pioneers of great discoveries. Such were the Portuguese in days when the world was as yet but a half known and puny thing. To Portugal, in truth, we owe not only a De Gama, but, by example, a Columbus, without whom the majestic empire of her on whose dominions the sun never sets might now have been a dream, instead of a reality. England whose hardy mariners have made a thoroughfare of every sea, knows best 1013how to do justice to the fearlessness of their noble predecessors, who, in frail caravels and through an unmeasured wilderness of ocean, could cleave a pathway, not only to the glory of their own nation but to the civilization and the prosperity of the entire world.