G. F.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. I FALL INTO CAPTIVITY II. THE BLACK CANNIBALS OF NEW HOLLAND III. THE ONLY WHITE MAN IN NEW HOLLAND IV. THE SEA SPIDER V. THE VOYAGE CONTINUED VI. THE FIGHT ON THE SANDS VII. THE SPIRIT OF DISCORD VIII. PEARL ISLAND IX. MUTINY X. I EMBARK ON A SECOND VOYAGE XI. A SECOND VOYAGE WITH HARTOG TO THE SOUTH XII. THE SEA SERPENT XIII. THE FLOATING ISLAND XIV. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE XV. THE SEAWEED SEA XVI. THE ISLAND OF GEMS XVII. QUEEN MELANNIE XVIII. A QUEEN'S FAVOURITE XIX. I BECOME CHIEF COOK XX. THE SNAKE GOD XXI. A PLAN OF ESCAPE XXII. THE NIGHT OF THE SACRIFICE XXIII. AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA XXIV. HOW MY SECOND VOYAGE ENDED XXV. I ARRIVE AT AMSTERDAM XXVI. HAPPILY MARRIED XXVII. ONCE MORE TO THE SOUTH XXVIII. THE MOLUCCA ISLANDS XXIX. THE VOYAGE CONTINUED XXX. A SPANISH SETTLEMENT XXXI. THE PLACE OF THE PAINTED HANDS XXXII. MAROONED XXXIII. CAPTAIN MONTBAR XXXIV. WE AGAIN EXPLORE THE CAVES XXXV. I AM KIDNAPPED XXXVI. THE MALE AND FEMALE ISLANDS XXXVII. A TASK IS SET ME XXXVIII. THE SLAYING OF THE GREAT CROCODILE XXXIX. I BECOME A VICTIM OF DOMESTIC INFELICITY XL. THE YELLOW PARCHMENT XLI. THE RUBY MOUNTAINS XLII. THE VALLEY OF SERPENTS XLIII. WE AGAIN LEAVE NEW HOLLAND XLIV. THE ISLANDS OF ARMENIO XLV. SUMATRA XLVI. MAHOMET ACHMET XLVII. KING TRINKITAT XLVIII. STATEN LAND XLIX. THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS L. AGAIN AT THE MOLUCCAS LI. GETTING BACK OUR OWN LII. CONCLUSION
ADVENTURES IN SOUTHERN SEAS
CHAPTER I
I FALL INTO CAPTIVITY
Let those who read this narrative doubt not its veracity. There be much in Nature that we wot not of, and many strange countries to explore. The monsters who roamed the earth in ancient times, as their fossil bones attest, are still to be seen in those regions hitherto unvisited by white men, and in the fathomless depths of uncharted seas leviathans find a home.
Peter Ecoores Van Bu was born upon the island of Urk, in the Zuider Zee, in the year 1596, and was brought up a fisher-lad until the coming to the island of a priest, to whom my parents, ambitious for my advancement, entrusted my education in the arts of reading and writing, accomplishments in little vogue at this time. Hence it comes that I am able to set down here a record of perils and adventures by sea and land which may prove entertaining reading to those who have never travelled beyond the limits of their own countries.
My parents, who had stinted themselves to provide my education, placed me when I was eighteen years old in a merchant's office at Amsterdam, where I became acquainted with Dirk Hartog, a famous navigator, who, a year later, invited me to become his secretary and engraver of charts on board the ship "Endraght", being then commissioned for a voyage of discovery to the South, and having obtained a reluctant consent from my master, De Decker, the merchant, to Hartog's proposal I gladly abandoned the office desk for the sea.