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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 54 of 180
Words from 14683 to 14950
of 50938
