sandy bottom.

[* Left blank.]

On the 17th do. at daybreak we again weighed anchor with a northerly
wind; we were now still about 2 miles from the high island and made for
it. When at noon we had got near the island we saw smoke rising up from a
long island, two miles to westward of the wreck, and also from another
islet [*], close to the wreck, at which we were all of us greatly
rejoiced, hoping to find the greater part [**] or almost all the people
alive. Therefore, when we had come to anchor, I went in a boat to the
highest island, which was quite close to us, taking with me a cask of
water, a cask of bread, and a small keg of wine; when I had got there I
did not see any one, at which we were greatly astonished. I sprang
ashore...

[* This islet was named Batavia's Kerkhof [Churchyard] by the survivors;
another of the rocks got the name of Robben-eiland [Seals' island].]

[* This proved actually to be the case. I have thought it needless to
print those parts of the journal which tell the adventures of the
castaways, since they have repeatedly been narrated in other works.]

On the 15th [of November, 1629] the wind was S.S.W., with seemingly fine
weather. Therefore, in the name of God, we weighed anchor and set sail
from these luckless Abrolhos for the mainland on an East-north-east
course, for the purpose of seeking there the skipper and four other men,
who on the 14th last were with their boat cut off from ship by a storm,
after which we had resolved to continue our return-voyage to Batavia with
the utmost expedition. The spot where the ship or wreck lies, is in 28 deg.
36' or 40', and the place near the high Island where we have been at
anchor with the Yacht, in 30 or 32 minutes, north-north-west of the
wreck. But after the shipwreck the steersmen had in one of the islands
taken the latitude Of 28 degrees 8 minutes, and 28 degrees 20 minutes,
which mistake has caused no little loss of time and misunderstanding on
our part in seeking out these places...

{Page 61}

The sea abounds in fish in these parts; they are mainly of three kinds,
but very different in shape and taste from those caught on other coasts.
All the islands about here are low-lying atolls or coral-islets and
rocks, except two or three large islands, in one of which, a long time
before we came here, they had found two pits filled with water, but
during the time we were here, the water in these pits became very
brackish or salt, so as to be u