They Immediately Ran Upon Deck,
Supposing That The Ship Had Struck.
On heaving the lead, however,
there was no bottom to be found.
We had afterwards several shocks,
but none of them so violent as the first. We had then doubled the
Struis Hoek, and were at that time in the Bay of Good Hope. On the
14th, in the latitude of 5 degrees 27 minutes south, and in the
longitude of 166 degrees 57 minutes, we observed the variation to be
9 degrees 15 minutes to the east. The land lay then north-east,
east-north-east, and again south-south-west, so that we imagined
there had been a passage between those two points; but we were soon
convinced of our mistake, and that it was all one coast, so that we
were obliged to double the West Cape and to continue creeping along
shore, and were much hindered in our passage by calms. This
description agrees very well with that of Schovten and Le Maire, so
that probably they had now sight again of the coast of New Guinea.
It is very probable, from the accident that happened to Captain
Tasman, and which also happened to others upon that coast, and from
the burning mountains that will be hereafter mentioned, that this
country is very subject to earthquakes, and if so, without doubt it
abounds with metals and minerals, of which we have also another
proof from a point in which all these writers agree, viz., that the
people they saw had rings on their noses and ears, though none of
them tell us of what metal these rings were made, which Le Maire
might easily have done, since he carried off a man from one of the
islands whose name was Moses, from whom he learned that almost every
nation on this coast speaks a different language.
CHAPTER XVI: ARRIVES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BURNING ISLAND, AND
SURVEYS THE WHOLE COAST OF NEW GUINEA.
On the 20th, in the latitude of 5 degrees 4 minutes south, and in
the longitude 164 degrees 27 minutes, we found the variation 8
degrees 30 minutes east. We that night drew near the Brandande
Yland, i.e., burning island, which William Schovten mentions, and we
perceived a great flame issuing, as he says, from the top of a high
mountain. When we were between that island and the continent, we
saw a vast number of fires along the shore and half-way up the
mountain, from whence we concluded that the country must be very
populous. We were often detained on this coast by calms, and
frequently observed small trees, bamboos, and shrubs, which the
rivers on that coast carried into the sea; from which we inferred
that this part of the country was extremely well watered, and that
the land must be very good. The next morning we passed the burning
mountain, and continued a west-north-west course along that coast.
It is remarkable that Schovten had made the same observation with
respect to the drift-wood forced by the rivers into the sea.
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