"On 15 May, 1688, about four o'clock in the afternoon, we left Nicobar Island, directing our course towards Achin, being eight men of us in company, namely, three Englishmen, four Malayans (Achinese), and a mongrel Portuguese." Their vessel, the Nicobar canoe, was about the size (he writes) of a London wherry, coming to a sharp point at either end, rather narrower than a wherry, and so thin and light that when empty four men could launch her or pull her ashore. She would have easily capsized but for the outriggers made of strong poles and lashed fast and firm on each side of the vessel. The gunwale of the little vessel was not more than 3 inches above the water when she was loaded.
In the middle of their passage from Nicobar to Achin a terrible storm arose, with a violent wind. The sea rose higher and higher, but at first did them no damage, for the steersman kept the little vessel at right angles to the great waves and the crew baled incessantly. What they feared most was that the violence of the ups and downs would smash the outriggers; there would then be no hope for them, as the canoe would promptly capsize. The evening of 18 May was very dismal, the sky looked black, being covered with dark clouds, the wind blew hard and the seas ran high and roared in a white foam about the canoe. The still darker night was coming on, no land was in sight, and it seemed as though their little ark must be swallowed up by each great wave in succession. "What was worst of all, none of us thought ourselves prepared for another world. I have been in many imminent dangers before now, but the worst of them all was but a play game in comparison to this." In the middle of the night heavy rain fell, which not only lessened the wind but gave the wretched crew fresh water to drink. Then again arose a fresh hurricane. It was again abated by another torrential downpour, so that in addition to other miseries the occupants of the canoe had not one dry patch in their clothing and were chilled extremely. At length the day appeared, but with such dark, black clouds near the horizon that it brought little comfort. However, the weather began to improve, and on the second day after this violent storm they landed safely at the mouth of a river in Achin. "The gentlemen of Sumatra were extraordinarily kind to us", providing the fever-stricken party with everything that they had need of—young buffaloes, goats, coconuts, plantains, fowls, eggs, fish, and rice. They were afterwards conveyed to the town of Achin and put up at the English factory there. The Portuguese and one of the English companions of Dampier died of the fever which afflicted all the party, and which made Dampier himself so ill that he was long in recovering his strength. After spending nearly three years with the English traders in different parts of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, he managed to smuggle himself on board a British East Indiaman, and thus returned, after many adventures, round the Cape of Good Hope to England.
He brought back with him to England, as the only asset of property acquired after his tremendous adventures, a "painted prince" named Jeoly. This was a man born on the little island of Meangis (north of Jilolo), whom Dampier had purchased at the fort of Benkulen, an English factory on the south-west coast of Sumatra, where he (Dampier) had served for five months as a gunner. Jeoly claimed to be the son of the chief of his island, and was most remarkably tatued, or, as Dampier phrases it, "painted", all over his body, the decoration being made by minute punctures of the skin into which was rubbed the powdered gum of a tree. Jeoly and his relations had been driven in their canoes by a strong wind on to the coast of Mindanao (Philippine Islands), where they were sold as slaves, and, having been bought by an Englishman, were transferred to Benkulen in Sumatra. Here Dampier made the acquaintance of this man, whom he seems to have treated with great kindness when he was ill. At his own request he acquired a right over Jeoly by purchase. When he reached England with Jeoly, whom he had managed to convey away on the ship which had given him a return passage, he supported himself for some time by exhibiting Jeoly at country fairs as a painted prince. It is sad to relate, however, that, either because of his necessity or for profit, he sold the faithful Jeoly to another master, and then took up a sea life again. Jeoly—no doubt catching cold by being constantly exhibited without clothes at English fairs—died at Oxford about 1696.
Meantime Dampier was steadily working away at his journals, and in 1697 he published his first book on his truly remarkable adventures and his circumnavigation of the globe. It met with a well-merited success, being, indeed, superior to any work of travel published up to that time in the English tongue; and apparently the excellence of his book obtained for him a small position in the service of the Customs House in London. Having by these means got into touch with the Admiralty, he proposed that he should be put in command of an expedition to explore the coasts of New Holland (Australia), and on this voyage, commanding the Roebuck, he started on 14 January, 1699.
After touching at Brazil, which was almost obligatory as part of the sailing voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, he sailed on a direct course from South Africa to the west coast of Australia, which he reached at the place christened by himself Sharks Bay. The land everywhere appeared generally low, flat, and even, but with steep cliffs to the sea—a desolate coast, without trees, shrubs, or grass. After coming to an anchor in what is now called Dampier Bay he went on shore with his men, carrying pickaxes and shovels to dig for water, and axes to cut wood. They found no water, but the soil was less sterile than had seemed at a distance, a reddish sand in which grew grasses, plants, and shrubs. The grass grew in great tufts as big as a bushel basket, and intermixed with much heather. The low trees or shrubs were evidently some kind of Eucalyptus, with reddish timber and strong-scented leaves. In the brackish water of the coast lagoons there were quantities of water-fowl, pelicans, cormorants, ducks, curlews, various kinds of oyster-catcher and plover, and gulls. On the land were a few singing birds, some of them no bigger than wrens, all singing with a great variety of fine, shrill notes. Eagles soared in the blue heaven and apparently preyed on the few beasts and reptiles which were to be seen in the neighbourhood. Amongst these was a sort of racoon, "different from those of America in that it had very short forelegs but powerful hind limbs on which it jumped". This was probably one of the smaller species of kangaru. Then there was a lizard (described wrongly as an iguana) with a large and ugly head, and a very short, thick tail, which seemed another head at the other end of the animal, but without mouth or eyes. These were speckled black and yellow like toads, with scales and knobs on their backs similar to those of crocodiles. They were very slow in motion, but when a man came near them they would stand still and hiss, and not endeavour to get away.[60]
There was no river, lake, or pond of fresh water to be seen here, but the sea water along the coast abounded with fish, and especially with sharks and rays. On the beach were many kinds of shellfish—mussels, periwinkles, limpets, cockles, oysters—both edible and of the kind which produces pearls. The shore was lined thick with many other sorts of strange and beautiful shells, most finely spotted with red, black, or yellow. There were also green turtle weighing about 200 pounds each, two of which the party caught when they were stranded on shore by the ebbing tide, and which were a most welcome sustenance to the crew, though he speaks of their meat as only being indifferently good. On the other hand, his seamen ate most heartily of the sharks. One of these was 11 feet long, and its maw, or stomach, was like a leather sack, very thick, and so tough that a sharp knife could scarcely cut it. In this they found the head and bones of a "hippopotamus",[61] the hairy lips of which were still sound and not putrefied, the jaw also firm, out of which they plucked a great many teeth, two of them very large, as big as a man's thumb, small at one end, and a little crooked.
During Dampier's stay in the vicinity of Shark's Bay (in or about which he anchored at three separate places searching in vain for fresh water) his company were well refreshed with the flesh of kangarus, turtle, shark, ducks, and plovers. Pursuing his course farther he explored the waters of Freycinet Harbour and realized that the great promontory to the west of it was really an island (Dirk Hartog's Island), but finding no means of getting on shore to search for water (owing to the dangers of the shoals and the rocks) he sailed northwards, and was impressed by the noise made by the whales (blowing through their nostrils, or even uttering sounds more vocal) at night-time, and by the beautiful sea snakes during the day. Of these they saw two different kinds, one was yellow, about the bigness of a woman's wrist, and 4 feet long, with a flat tail, and the other much smaller and shorter, and spotted black and yellow.
About the twentieth degree of south latitude they found themselves sailing through an archipelago of islands, since named after Dampier. Here again they landed in their eager search after fresh water, but were once more disappointed. The islands were dry, rocky, and barren, of a general rusty-yellow colour, yet supporting a fair amount of vegetation, shrubs like rosemary, and others with blue and yellow flowers, creeping peas and beans, some with beautiful deep-red flowers. On these islands, besides the ordinary sea birds, they beheld large flocks of white parrots (cockatoos). They also enjoyed the abundance of small oysters, which were delicious eating. Here and there smoke rose from the islands, showing that they were inhabited by man, and this was the characteristic of the distant mainland. But it was not until the vessel had sailed as far north as the eighteenth degree of south latitude that Dampier was able to approach near enough to the shore to land on it in his search for water. Here at last they came into contact with the Australian aborigines. As they neared the shore they saw three tall, black, naked men, who fled at their approach. These they pursued with amicable intentions till they reached something which looked like a human settlement and was marked as such by its "haycocks" or shelters, which were possibly adaptations of tall anthills. But they found no water here, so they returned to the seashore and there dug into the sand. The natives followed them at a distance, making threatening noises and gestures. In the afternoon Dampier made another attempt to get into touch with the people, and one of his seamen, an active young man named Alexander Beal, outran them. They turned and fought him with their wooden lances and wounded him. In order to save his life Dampier was obliged to come to his rescue and shoot one of the natives with his gun, after which the rest ran away, carrying off their wounded companions. Amongst these natives was one who by his appearance and carriage seemed to be a chief amongst them. He was a brisk young man, not very tall, or even as good-looking as some of the others, but more active and courageous. He alone was painted, and his face was decorated with a circle of white paste round his eyes, a white streak down his forehead and nose, while white patterns were painted on his breast and arms. He and his people had unpleasant looks, and seemed to Dampier more savage than any human race he had ever met with. They were rendered additionally ugly by their blinking eyes, due to the flies which gathered round the eyelids in teasing numbers. Their skins were black and the hair bushy and frizzled. It was found that at their camps, when they did not use the shelter of anthills, they would stick three or four leafy boughs into the ground against the prevailing wind blowing off the sea. Near these they made their fireplaces, and thus obtained shelter and warmth during the night. At each fireplace were great heaps of the shells of oysters, mussels, cockles, &c., the chief sustenance of these savages. Unlike the natives whom Dampier had encountered farther north, in his first glimpse of Australia, these people seemed to live entirely on shellfish, and made no weirs to catch fish at the ebbing of the tide.