Part 16
On the 14th of April they made for the west point of Java, and there fell in again with the _Waeckende Boey_, which had lost its boat and schuyt and fourteen men, and had got some timber from the _Vergulde Draeck_ at 31° 15´ south latitude, without having perceived anything else.
Further, from the journal of the _Waeckende Boey_ it appears, that having arrived on the 23rd of February 1658, at 31° 40´, they saw land at a distance of eight miles from them, bore down upon it, and found it to be an island about three miles distant from the mainland. On the 24th, they came to anchor in seventeen fathoms water and launched the boat, there being a bar between the ship and the shore. On the 25th, they still lay at 31° 20´.
On the 26th, on the return of the boat from the shore, the steersman reported many signs of the lost ship _Draeck_, but neither footpaths nor any places where traces of human beings had been left were discovered, notwithstanding they had been in all directions both inland and along the coast. They further reported that wood and other objects, portions of boxes, etc., a barrel, and other things had been found; also a number of pieces of plank, standing upright in a circle. Having weighed anchor they sailed along the coast, and on that occasion their schuyt was capsized and lost.
On the 27th, when about two miles from the coast, latitude 31° 14´, the boat was sent on shore, and returned with the report that nothing had been observed but a reef about ⅔ [of a mile?] off the coast seawards.
On the 28th, having arrived at 30° 40´, and several fires having been seen on land, the boat was again sent out. The steersman reported that nothing had been observed but a great smoke, and that they had been unable to land with the boat owing to the violence of the surf. Having descried the _Emeloort_ in the offing, they returned with her.
March 2nd, at 30° 6´, the _Emeloort_ was separated from them in the night and was lost sight of. On the 5th, they were driven by stormy weather round the south.
The weather continuing cold and wet, they resolved to serve out extra rations of rum to each man.
On the 8th, the weather grey and cold. They supposed themselves to be in 31° 47´. The 18th, saw land to the eastward, being about 31° 49´. At sunset they came to anchor under a north-easterly point of the island, half a mile from land.
On the 19th, a boat was put off in the direction of the island; the steersman reported its being well wooded, but that no good landing place had been met with, the coast being surrounded by rocky reefs. Two seals were seen there, also one wild cat, and the excrements of other animals. On the 20th, a boat was sent on shore well manned; the following day several signal-guns were fired, and in the evening the boat returned to the ship, bringing with it a piece of the mast of the _Draeck_, and again returning to land after taking in a supply of provisions, brought back a part of the round-top, a block, and other trifling objects.
On the 22nd, they again sent to shore. At night it blew hard, the waves running very high. A gun was fired, and a light hung out as a guide to the boat on its return. They ran great risk of driving upon the rocks. At midnight, the cable parting, another anchor was dropped.
On the 23rd, the weather being still boisterous, and they themselves in great distress and nothing seen of the boat, fears were entertained that it might have capsized or been dashed against the rocks. They were afterwards compelled to cut their cable and run out to sea.
On the 27th, they sighted the island again, and ran so near the coast that they might have been seen by a man on the beach. Several guns were fired toward the place where the boat had last gone to land, but neither sign nor sound being observed, it was taken for certain that they had been lost, and resolved that they should sail along the coast toward Batavia. The fire was again seen at dusk close to the sea-line, which they supposed to have been lighted by the crew of the _Draeck_ or the _Waeckende Boey_, as no such fire had been seen before. A gun was fired, whereupon another fire close to the first became visible. But having neither boat nor schuyt, it was impossible to land and equally so to come to anchor; the bottom being coral-rock.
On the 29th, they found themselves at some distance to the north of the point where the fire was seen. The coast became more level as they proceeded, and they sailed along the shore till sunset, when they again run further out to sea; in the course of the second watch they passed the Tortelduyf cliff, the surf breaking on it being plainly visible.
On the 30th, the weather not permitting them to run close in, they remained at some distance off shore. On the 31st, they were distant five miles from the Dirck Hertogs Reede, and on April 10th, arrived at Java.[23]
From the journal of the above-mentioned Abraham Leeman, steersman of the _Waeckende Boey_, it appears that they first sighted the Southland on the 22nd of February, 1656, went several times on shore with the boat, and on one occasion, on the 20th of March, having again landed, they went inland in a northerly direction, and in searching along the beach found there pieces of plank, lids of boxes, staves of water-barrels and butter-casks, and other objects of trifling importance. The heat on that day was excessive, so much so that one of the men fainted. They also found similar planks, staves, etc., in an enclosure. They then encountered a very heavy sea, which prevented their returning on board their vessel, and were obliged to sail along the cliffs in the utmost peril. Owing to the dangerous nature of the coast they were obliged to keep themselves alive by eating seals’ flesh, gulls, etc., and, from want of fresh water, they were compelled to supply its place by sea-water and their own urine. At last they were compelled to undertake a perilous voyage across the ocean in their little shallop, and at length reached Batavia by way of Mataram and Japara.
Moreover the General and Council recount, in their general letter of the 14th of December, 1658, that the fly-boat _Elburg_, when on its way hence, had come upon the Southland in 31½° latitude, and had been obliged, on account of wind and the heavy sea, to anchor about two miles and a half off the coast in twenty-two fathoms water, not without great danger. Twelve days afterwards they again got into open sea, and in latitude 33° 14´ found a commodious anchorage under a projecting corner of the island in twenty fathoms water. The skipper, steersman, with the sergeant and six soldiers went ashore, and found three black men round a fire, dressed in skins, like the natives of the Cape of Good Hope. They could not, however, get to speak to them. Three small hammers were also found there, with wooden handles and heads of hard stone, fastened to the stem by a sort of gum-lack, strong enough to break a man’s skull. A little further inland stood some huts, but no more men were seen. In several places they found fresh water, and here and there a great quantity of this gum. The small hammer brought here was found, when rubbed, to be of an agreeable odour and of a reddish colour.
Lastly, we have to notice, that, according to certain printed accounts, the ship _Batavia_, having sailed hence to Batavia, ran very unexpectedly, on the 4th of June of the following year, 1659, in the morning hours, latitude 28⅓°, on the dangerous shoals of the Abrolhos, commonly called with us Frederick Houtman’s Cliffs, and was wrecked. The crew, however, reached in safety some small islands which lay near. No fresh water was found there, but the boat with some men having left the island, saw, in 24° latitude, smoke rising, and observed black men on the shore.
DESCRIPTION OF THE WEST COAST OF THE SOUTH LAND, BY THE CAPTAIN SAMUEL VOLKERSEN, OF THE PINK, “WAECKENDE BOEY,” WHICH SAILED FROM BATAVIA ON THE FIRST OF JANUARY, 1658, AND RETURNED ON THE 19TH OF APRIL OF THE SAME YEAR.
_Translated from a Dutch MS. in the Royal Archives at the Hague._
The South Land has, on its coasts, downs covered with grass and sand so deep, that, in walking, one’s foot is buried ankle-deep, and leaves great traces behind it. At about a league from the shore there runs a reef of rock, on which here and there the sea is seen to break with great force. In some places there is a depth of from one, one and a half, to two fathoms, so that a boat can pass, after which the depth becomes greater up to the shore; but it is everywhere a dangerous coral bottom, on which it is difficult to find holding for an anchor. There is only one spot, about nine leagues to the north of the island, and where three rocks are joined by a reef, that shelter is afforded for a boat, and there one can effect a landing, but the ground is everywhere rocky. Further from the coast there is a raised ground, tolerably level, but of a dry and barren aspect, except near the island, where there is some foliage. In nearly thirty-two degrees south latitude there is a large island, nearly three leagues from the continent, with some rather high mountains, covered with wood and thickets, which render it difficult to pass across. It is dangerous to land there, on account of the reefs of rock along the coast; and, moreover, one sees many rocks between the continent and this island, and also a smaller island somewhat to the south. This large island, to which I have not chosen to give a name myself, thinking it right to leave the choice of name to the governor-general, may be seen from the sea at seven or eight leagues distance on a clear day. I presume that both fresh water and wood will be found there in abundance, though not without considerable trouble.
_Two certain signs of the proximity of the west coast of the South Land._
1st. When a variation is perceived in the compass in these countries to about eleven degrees, it may be taken for certain that the land is not more than eighteen to twenty leagues distant.
2ndly. When one sees sea-weed floating, soundings will be found in 70, 60, 50, 40, 30 fathoms, or even less.
(_Signed_) SAMUEL VOLCKERSEN.
EXTRACT TRANSLATED FROM BURGOMASTER WITSEN’S “NOORD EN OOST TARTARYE.”
FOL., AMST., 1705, p. 163.
“The north-west part of New Guinea, in 1½° south latitude, and beyond it to the south-east, was for the first time rightly explored in the year 1678, by order of the Dutch East India Company, and found almost everywhere to be enriched with very fine rivers, lakes, bays, etc., but, judging from its outward aspect, the country itself seems to be barren and uncultivated, being in few spots either planted or fenced in. In many parts of the interior there are extremely high mountains, which are seen by sailors at a great distance at sea as if towering above the clouds. The air is not very mild, but very often damp and foggy, so much so that most frequently in the afternoons the land is entirely hidden, which has caused the Dutch East India Company the loss of many ships.
“About the north-western parts, the natives are in general lean and of the middle size, jet black, not unlike the Malabars, but the hair of the head shorter and somewhat less curly than the Caffres. In the black pupil of their eyes gleams a certain tint of red, by which may in some measure be observed that bloodthirsty nature of theirs which has at different times caused us so much grief, from the loss of several of our young men, whom they have surprised, murdered, carried into the woods, and then devoured.
“They go entirely naked without the least shame, except their rajahs or petty kings, and their wives, which are not native Papoos, but mostly Ceram-Mestizoes, and are richly dressed after the manner of Ceram. Their weapons are bows of bamboo, with arrows of the same, to whose ends are fastened sharp pointed fish bones with dangerous barbs, which, when shot into the body, cannot be extracted without great difficulty. They likewise use lances, made of certain very heavy wild Penang wood: these they throw at their mark with great accuracy at a distance of six or seven fathoms. Some of them, living near the shore, use a certain kind of swords, sold to them by the people of Ceram, the hilt of which is tied to their hand by a rattan.
“Of their manners and religion, nothing else can be said than that, in many respects, they are more like wild beasts than reasonable human beings. Their women are delivered in the fields, or roads, or wherever they may happen to be taken in labour. After the birth they instantly put the infant in a bag, in which they carry their provisions, made of beaten bark of a tree. The women of the better class rub their faces with bruised coals, by which they make themselves look more like devils incarnate than human creatures; though it cannot be denied that they seem to possess, by the law of nature, a knowledge of the existence of a God, which they show by pointing with folded hands towards the heavens. For when any one lands at any place frequented by these people of Ceram, they require of us to raise our hands as they do: and with a sharp bamboo they cut both their own arms and those of their visitors. The mutual sucking of the blood from these wounds constitutes their oath, and implies a promise to do each other no mischief. Amongst them are found some letters or characters, written with a sort of red chalk on a rock. On this rock, also, were still to be seen some skulls and the bust of a man, looking as if put up as an ornament, with a shield and other weapons near it, the meaning of all which may be guessed at, but not fixed with certainty.
Their food consists of roots, tree fruits, herbs, etc., but chiefly fish, caught by them at low water in holes in the bed of the river, as we, when lying at anchor thereabouts, could distinctly see by the motion of the thousands of little lights which they used. They know very little of cooking or drying their food, but generally eat it raw, except pork, which they eat when it has been a little smoked, and is less than half roasted.
“In about 8° or 9° south latitude, we found a tall, terrible, and disgusting race of people, whose chiefs have the inside of the upper lip slit from the nose downwards, the two parts being kept asunder by what they call a gabbe-gabbe. The two sides of the nose, also, are bored through with sasappen, or thin awls, which gives their voices a frightful and hollow sound, as if coming out of a deep cellar.
“It is believed that Nova Guinea is divided from Hollandia Nova, or the south land, at about the latitude of 10° south. Of the country further south we have up to the present day no certain information, except that supplied by Abel Tasman, who sailed round the whole land and the coasts of the Dutch East India Company’s possessions, and who testifies to have found trees (beams) in which at intervals footsteps were cut to climb up by, about seven feet apart, and also with footsteps in the sand about fourteen or fifteen Dutch inches long, and every footstep six or six and a half feet from the other. I am informed by a mate who, about thirty or thirty-four years ago, lost his ship on the most westerly promontory of the south land, that he with some of the crew reached Batavia in the ship’s boat, and was despatched from thence to the place where he was shipwrecked with provisions, and in order to deliver their shipmates they left these; but they found none of them, though they saw impressions of large footsteps.[24]
“The Ceramers are subjects, and likewise allies, of the Dutch Company, and for the most part expert sailors; and by them, and none else, is the coast of New Guinea visited. The inhabitants of New Guinea have for many years suffered from the treachery and murders of this people, who, not by force of arms but by cunning, have subdued the Papoos. Under the cloak of friendship they take their women (in which they are not very choice) for wives, and the children thus born, being very carefully instructed in the Mahomedan faith, are easily able to control these simple inhabitants of the woods. By this connection, also, the Ceramers, having gained the attachment of the women, always know how to escape the evil intentions which, for all that, the Papoos cannot restrain themselves from trying to put in practice against their visitors.
“The fruits of the country of New Guinea are very few, consisting chiefly in some few yams, cocoa nuts, betel nuts, and plantain trees, which are planted here and there, in the neighbourhood of their own places, by the Ceramers. The land does not seem to bring forth any wild plants; the inhabitants live on leaf zajor,[25] roots of trees and herbs, but the bread of the Moluccas, in general called sagou, is not produced here, as far as I could learn. Only one sort of it is brought here by the Ceramers for their own provision, and also for barter. Fish of all sorts is everywhere so plentiful along the shore that they may be caught with the greatest ease in uncommon abundance; but they want nets and other fishing tackle, though they supply this defect in a masterly manner by their art in making their fish baskets, in which, at each spring tide, numbers of fish are caught. It is not known that any large animals are found here, except hogs, which are plentiful; but vermin, and in particular snakes, scorpions, and millepedes, are here in great numbers.
“The woods are filled with a variety of birds, making all day such an uncommon noise that it is really astonishing. They are seldom, if ever, shot by the inhabitants, as is sufficiently shown by their uncommon tameness; for, one being shot, the other remains sitting next to it. But our sportsmen must be careful in not entering too far into the woods, for the Papoos imitate the birds very accurately, in order to trepan and murder them, which has happened several times.
“They covet hatchets, cloaths, and beads, which are bartered for slaves. When a slave is sold, they cut off a lock of his hair, believing that in doing this they shall have more slaves. Those slaves are either prisoners of war, or trepanned in the woods; many of them are sold in Ternate and thereabouts. At the first they are so greedy in their eating that they would nearly burst, if not checked in their gluttony.
“The heathens of Nova Guinea and Hollandia Nova believe there is some divinity in the serpent, for which reason they represent them upon their vessels.
“The following is an extract from a letter written to me from Amboina, as an account of New Guinea and Hollandia Nova, otherwise called the South Land.
“‘The inhabitants of all New Guinea are a tall, ugly, and misshapen people, not so much by nature as choice; for they cut their nostrils asunder, that you may nearly see into their throats, from which it may be conceived what fine faces those must be, after having their promontories demolished in this manner. They go mostly naked, except those who live upon the islands, who, by their intercourse with the Ceram Lauers, are become a little more polished. Of them they get some little clothing, with which they cover themselves, though but scantily; but on the continent they are altogether a savage barbarous people, who can on no account be trusted. They are addicted to thieving and murder, so that the Ceram Lauers cannot trade with them except at a distance. They lay their goods down upon the beach, being put up in heaps, when the most venturesome among the strange traders comes forward and makes it understood by gestures and signs how much he wants for them. Their commerce consists in Tamboxe swords, axes to cut the trees down with, bad cloths, sagoe-bread, rice, and black sugar; but the rice and black sugar must be given beforehand, to induce them to trade. No traces of government, order, or religion are discernible amongst them. They live together like beasts: those upon the islands erect houses, and a kind of villages, placing their houses commonly upon posts, raised to a considerable height above the ground. On the continent they have slight huts, covered with leaves, like hog-styes: in them lie indiscriminately men, dogs, and hogs, upon the bare sand, otherwise they lie down in any place where they can but find white sand. They mourn more for the loss of a dog or hog than for their mothers. They bury their dead hogs and dogs, but not their deceased relations, whom they lay down upon high rocks to decay under the rain and sun, till nothing remains but the white bones, which at length they bury when they think proper. Their food consists chiefly of fishes, with which their seas abound, and of yams and plantains. They have no sagoe trees, neither do they know how to prepare the bread from it if they had any. Their arms are hasagays, clumsy and long arrows, and also a weapon formed from a sort of blue stone or slate, pointed at both ends, having a hole in the middle, in which a stick is put for a handle. With this they attack one another in such a manner, that with one stroke the skull is crushed to pieces: the farther you go to the south the more savage, tall, and ugly the people are, in particular from Lacca-iha to Oero-goba.
“‘A certain shallop from Banda, being on the coast, which stretches nearly east from Arou, they found there such large people, that one of our sailors was taken by his sleeve by one of them and shaken like a little boy; but he was rescued by his shipmates. To the south of this place a great promontory stretches itself to the west, called in the map Cape Falso, and again, to the south of this, is laid down the shallow bight, where it is supposed that Nova Guinea is divided from the South Land by a strait terminating in the South Sea, though, by reason of the shallowness, our people could not pass it; and thus it remains uncertain whether this strait goes through or not, but in the old Portuguese maps New Guinea is laid down as an island under the name of Ceira.[26]