On The 4th Of January, 1643, Being
Then In The Latitude Of 34 Degrees 35 Minutes South, And In The
Longitude of 191 degrees 9 minutes, we sailed quite to the cape,
which lies north-west, where we found the
Sea rolling in from the
north-east, whence we concluded that we had at last found a passage,
which gave us no small joy. There was in this strait an island,
which we called the island of the Three Kings; the cape of which we
doubled, with a design to have refreshed ourselves; but, as we
approached it, we perceived on the mountain thirty or five-and-
thirty persons, who, as far as we could discern at such a distance,
were men of very large size, and had each of them a large club in
his hand: they called out to us in a rough strong voice, but we
could meet understand anything of what they said. We observed that
these people walked at a very great rate, and that they took
prodigious large strides. We made the tour of the island, in doing
which we saw but very few inhabitants; nor did any of the country
seem to be cultivated; we found, indeed, a fresh-water river, and
then we resolved to sail east, as far as 220 degrees of longitude;
and from thence north, as far as the latitude of 17 degrees south;
and thence to the west, till we arrived at the isles of Cocos and
Horne, which were discovered by William Schovten, where we intended
to refresh ourselves, in case we found no opportunity of doing it
before, for though we had actually landed on Van Diemen's Land, we
met with nothing there; and, as for New Zealand, we never set foot
on it.
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