“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 have 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.