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
That it is impossible to land here with boats or pinnaces, owing to the
clayey and muddy bottom into which a man will sink up to the waist, the
depth of the water being no more than 3 or 4 fathom at 3 or 4 miles'
distance from the land; the land is low-lying and half-submerged, being
quite under water at high tide; it is covered with wild trees, those on
the beach resembling the fir-trees of our country, and seemingly bearing
no fruit; the natives are coal-black like the Caffres; they go about
stark naked, carrying their privities in a small conch-shell, tied to the
body with a bit of string; they have two holes in the midst of the nose,
with fangs of hogs of swordfishes through them, protruding at least three
fingers' breadths on either side, so that in appearance they are more
like monsters than human beings; they seem to be evil-natured and
malignant; their canoes are small and will not hold above 3 of 4 of them
at most; they are made out of one piece of wood, and the natives stand up
in them, paddling them on by means of long oars; their arms are arrows,
bows, assagays and callaways, which they use with great dexterity and
skill; broken iron, parangs and knives are in special demand with them.
The lands which we have up to now skirted and touched at, not only are
barren and inhabited by savages, but also the sea in these parts yields
no other fish than sharks, sword-fishes and the like unnatural monsters,
while the birds too are as as wild and shy as the men.
* * *
In the morning of the 11th, the wind being W.N.W. and the weather fair,
we set sail on a S.S.W. course along the coast in 4, 3Ω and 2Ω fathom
muddy bottom; towards the evening we saw no more land ahead of us, the
farthest extremity falling off quite to eastward, and extending east by
south; we accordingly ran S.S.E., but it was not long before we got into
2 fathom water and even less. We therefore went over to the north, and in
the evening dropped anchor in' fathom, having this day sailed eight miles
to S.S.W.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account