, not
without great peril of being lost; but after 12 days' hard trying they at
length got off again and into the open, for which God's name be praised.
Meanwhile, in 33 deg. 14' S.L., round a projecting point, they have found a
good anchoring-place, where they have been at anchor in 20 fathom, and
where the skipper, together with one of the steersmen, the sergeant and 6
soldiers landed round Leeuwinnen cape, finding there three black men,
hung with skins like those at Cape de Bonne Esperance, with whom,
however, they could not come to parley.

On the spot where the blacks had been sitting, our men found a burning
fire, near which there lay a number of assagays, together with three
small hammers, consisting of a wooden handle to one end of which a hard
pebble was fastened by means of a kind of wax or gum, the whole strong
and heavy enough to knock out a man's brains.

A little farther inward they came upon a number of huts, without any
persons in them, and in various spots they found rills of fresh water,
and here and there large quantities of the wax or gum aforesaid, of which
we beg leave to hand you a small sample herewith, together with one of
the said hammers, the wax or gum being of a red colour, and emitting an
agreeable smell after being rubbed for some time...

* * * * *

XXXI.

(1678). FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY THE
VLIEGENDE ZWAAN, COMMANDER VAN DER WALL, ON HER VOYAGE TERNATE TO
BATAVIA, IN FEBRUARY 1678.[*]

[* The ship sailed from Ternate in December, 1677, and arrived at Batavia
"by way of Timor and thus along Nova Guinea, without passing through
Sunda Strait" (_Letter of the G.-G. and Counc. to the Managers of the
E.I.C. May 8, 1678_).]

_Chart of "the north side of the Southland and surveyed with the flute de
Vliegende Zwaan in the month of February, by Jan Van Der Wall," A.D.
1678_ [*].

[* This chart is the only evidence of this voyage known to me. LEUPE,
Zuidland, also, has not found anything else concerning it.]

{Page 82}

[Map No. 11. Kaart van de Noordzijde van 't Zuidland (Chart of the North
side of the Southland), 1678]

* * * * *

{Page 83}

XXXII.

(1696-1697). FURTHER SURVEYINGS OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY
THE SHIP GEELVINK, COMMANDED BY THE SKIPPER-COMMANDER OF THE EXPEDITION,
WILLEM DE VLAMINGH, THE SHIP NIJPTANG UNDER GERRIT COLLAERT, AND THE SHIP
HET WESELTJE, COMMANDED BY CORNELIS DE VLAMINGH. [*]

[* In November and Dece