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, which 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.