The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765Heeres, J. E. (Jan Ernst)
History
The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765
Heeres, J. E. (Jan Ernst)
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Dutch -- Australia
same alongside; but they lost sight of the land all the same, and became
aware that the said land lay at least one degree more to southward than
the chart had led them to believe. On the 24th of May they again sighted
the land in 12° 18' S. Lat.; it showed as a very low-lying coast, whose
trend they followed close inshore. In Lat. 12° 26' South they cast anchor
in 10 fathom good anchoring-ground. As they were lying at anchor at about
1 or 1Ω mile's distance from the shore, they saw two of the prows above
described paddle up to the ship, each of them containing two men, who,
when they had got near the ship, by signs and cries began to signify to
our men that they wished them to come ashore. The following day, being
the 26th of May, our men went ashore at daybreak, and on landing found
several persons there, who, however, all took to flight directly. They
also saw two dogs, not unlike so-called Bengal jackals. The persons who
had fled, shortly after returned to them, when they found them armed with
the assagays above described. They were accompanied by a number of
females who had their privities covered with a kind of small mats. The
natives then all of them sat down on the beach near our men, who made
signs to them that they were seeking fresh water; upon which the natives
got up and signified to our men their willingness to show them the places
where water was obtainable. Nor were our men deceived, for after walking
on along the beach for some time, they were conducted to a pleasant
valley with fine trees such as those above described. This seemed to be
the dwelling-place of the natives, for our men saw here more women and
children and also a number of primitive dwellings, merely consisting of
sheltered places under the trees partly covered in with bark. The water
which they found here, welled up out of the earth in pits dug by human
hands. After having inspected the whole place, they went back to the
beach, where they found the two prows in which the natives had previously
approached the ship. As our men were seated on the beach, nineteen
natives came up to them, all of them with bodies daubed over with red;
when the said natives were by our men treated to some arrack with sugar,
they began to make merry and even struck up a kind of chant, at the
conclusion of which they retired to the wood again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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