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
In the morning of the 10th the wind being E.S.E., with steady weather, we
set sail on a W.N.W. course; at noon we were in 12° 5'. I went ashore
myself with the skipper, and as before found many footprints of men and
dogs, going to the south. The land here is high and hilly, with reefs
near the sandy beach; as we were pulling back to the yacht, some armed
savages showed themselves, upon which we landed again and threw out some
pieces of iron to them, which they picked up, refusing, however, to come
to parley with us; after which we took to the pinnace again.
In the morning of the 11th, the wind being E.S.E. with good weather, we
set sail again on a N.N.E. course along the land; in the afternoon we
sailed past a large river (which the men of the Duifken went up with a
boat in 1606, and where one of them was killed by the arrows of the
blacks); to this river, which is in 11° 48' Lat., we have given the name
of revier de Carpentier in the new chart.
[* Rivier Batavia in DE LEEUW'S chart.]
In the morning of the 12th the wind was E.S.E., with pleasant weather; I
went ashore myself with the skipper, and found upwards of 200 savages
standing on the beach, making a violent noise, threatening to throw their
arrows at us, and evidently full of suspicion; for, though we threw out
to them pieces of iron and other things, they refused to come to parley,
and used every possible means to wound one of our men and get him into
their power; we were accordingly compelled to frighten them by firing one
or two shots at them, by which one of the blacks was hit in the breast
and carried to the pinnace by our men, upon which all the others retired
to the hills or dunes; in their wretched huts on the beach we found
nothing but a square-cut assagay, two or three small pebbles, and some
human bones, which they use in constructing their weapons and scraping
the same; we also found a quantity of black resin and a piece of metal,
which the wounded man had in his net, and which he had most probably got
from the men of the Duyfken; since there was nothing further to be done
here, we rowed back to the yacht, the wounded man dying before we had
reached her; at noon we set sail with a S.W. wind on a N.N.E. course
along the land, and as it fell calm, came to anchor after having run on
for 2 miles.
{Page 43}
In the morning of the 13th, the wind being S.E. with good weather, we set
sail on a N.E. by N. course in upwards Of 7 fathom about 2 miles from the
land; at noon we were in 11° 16' Lat., the wind being E.; in the evening
we came to anchor in 2 fathom near a river, which we have named Revier
van Spult in the chart.
(The Waterplaets in 10 degrees 50 minutes Lat.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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