Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia:: A Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of That Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the Time of Captain Cook.Major, Richard Henry
History
Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia:: A Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of That Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the Time of Captain Cook.
Major, Richard Henry
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Discoveries in geography -- Portuguese; Voyages and travels
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 anchored in a gulf, in
eighteen fathoms water, good holding ground, sand and mud, at about a
cannon’s-shot from the shore.
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