They Had Been Discovered By Schovten
And Le Maire, Who Found Them To Be Well Inhabited, But By A Very
Base and treacherous people, who, after making signs of peace,
attempted to surprise their ships; and these islanders managed their
Slings with such force and dexterity, as to drive the Dutch sailors
from their decks; which account of Le Maire's agree perfectly well
with what Captain Dampier tells us of the same people. As for the
continent of New Guinea, it lies quite behind the island of New
Britain, and was therefore laid down in all the charts before
Dampier's discovery, at least four degrees more to the east than it
should have been.
CHAPTER XV: CONTINUES HIS VOYAGE ALONG THAT COAST.
On April 12th, in the latitude of 3 degrees 45 minutes south, and in
the longitude of 167 degrees, we found the variation 10 degrees
towards the east. That night part of the crew were wakened out of
their sleep by an earthquake. 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.
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