On the 25th of October, when no person knew whereabouts they were except Schouten, the company was informed that the design of the voyage was to endeavour to discover a new southern passage into the South Sea; and the people appeared well pleased, expecting to discover some new golden country to make amends for all their trouble and danger. The 26th they were in lat. 6° 25' S. and continued their course mostly to the south all the rest of that month, till they were in lat 10° 30' S. The 1st September they had the sun at noon to the north; and in the afternoon of the 3d they had sight of the isle of Ascension, in 20° S. otherwise called the island of Martin Vaz, where the compass was observed to vary 12° to the east of north. The 21st, in lat. 38° S. the compass varied 17° in the same eastern direction. The 6th December, they got sight of the mainland of South America, appearing rather flat, and of a white colour, and quickly after fell in with the north head-land of Port Desire, anchoring that night in ten fathoms water with the ebb-tide, within a league and a half of the shore. Next day, resuming their course southwards, they came into Port Desire at noon, in lat. 47° 40' S. They had very deep water at the entrance, where they did not observe any of the cliffs which were described by Van Noort, as left by him to the northward on sailing into this haven, all the cliffs they saw being on the south side of the entrance, which therefore might be those mentioned by Van Noort, and misplaced in his narrative by mistake. In consequence of this error, they overpassed Port Desire to the south, so as to miss the right channel, and came into a crooked channel, where they had four and a half fathoms water at full sea, and only fourteen feet at low water. By this means the Unity got fast aground by the stern, and had infallibly been lost, if a brisk gale had blown from the N.E. But as the wind blew west from the land, she got off again without damage. Here they found vast quantities of eggs upon the cliffs; and the bay afforded them great abundance of muscles, and smelts sixteen inches long, for which reason they called it _Smelt Bay_. From this place they sent a pinnace to the Penguin Islands, which brought back 150 of these birds, and two sea lions.