y, also, had seen smoke in
several places; and bushes--(here seems to be a line omitted.) "So that
without doubt, here must be exceedingly tall people."

Dec. 3. A boat was sent to the south-east part of the (outer) bay, and
found fresh water; but it broke through the low shore to the sea, and was
brackish; and the soil was too rocky to dig wells. In the afternoon,
commodore Tasman went, with several officers from both vessels in two
boats, to the south-east extremity of the bay; taking with them the
PRINCE'S flag, and a post upon which was cut a compass, to be erected on
shore. One of the boats was obliged to return, from the bad weather; but
the shallop went to a little cove W. S. W. of the ships. The surf being
there too high to admit of landing, the first carpenter, _Pieter
Jacobsz_, swam on shore with the post and Prince's flag; and set it up
near the last of four remarkable trees, which stood in the form of a
crescent, in the middle of the cove. "When the first carpenter had done
this, in the sight of me ABEL J. TASMAN, of the master _Gerrit Jansz_,
and under-merchant _Abraham Coomans_, we went with the shallop as near as
possible to the shore, and the said carpenter swam back, through the
surf. We then returned on board; and left this as a memorial to the
posterity of the inhabitants of this country. They did not show
themselves; but we suspected some to be not far from thence, watching
carefully our doings."

The wind was from the northward all this day; and at sunset, it blew a
storm. The variation at anchor was observed to be 3 deg. east; the latitude
was 43 deg. south, and longitude 1671/2 deg. east from Teneriffe.

Dec. 4. The wind was more moderate, and came from the westward, off the
land. The anchors were then weighed, but the flukes of one were broken.
On quitting Frederik Hendrik's Bay, the ships steered northward as much
as possible, to look for a watering place. At noon, the course had been
N. E. 32 miles; the latitude was 42 deg. 40', and longitude 168 deg.. In the
evening, they saw a round mountain, about eleven leagues to the N. N. W.;
and during the whole day, several smokes were visible along the coast.
"Here," says Tasman, "I should give a description of the extent of the
coast, and the islands near it, but I hope to be excused, and refer, for
brevity's sake, to the chart made of it, and herewith joined."

The ships kept close to the wind all night, as they did in the morning of
Dec. 5, when