“They covet hatchets, cloaths, and beads, which are bartered for slaves. When a slave is sold, they cut off a lock of his hair, believing that in doing this they shall have more slaves. Those slaves are either prisoners of war, or trepanned in the woods; many of them are sold in Ternate and thereabouts. At the first they are so greedy in their eating that they would nearly burst, if not checked in their gluttony.
“The heathens of Nova Guinea and Hollandia Nova believe there is some divinity in the serpent, for which reason they represent them upon their vessels.
“The following is an extract from a letter written to me from Amboina, as an account of New Guinea and Hollandia Nova, otherwise called the South Land.
“‘The inhabitants of all New Guinea are a tall, ugly, and misshapen people, not so much by nature as choice; for they cut their nostrils asunder, that you may nearly see into their throats, from which it may be conceived what fine faces those must be, after having their promontories demolished in this manner. They go mostly naked, except those who live upon the islands, who, by their intercourse with the Ceram Lauers, are become a little more polished. Of them they get some little clothing, with which they cover themselves, though but scantily; but on the continent they are altogether a savage barbarous people, who can on no account be trusted. They are addicted to thieving and murder, so that the Ceram Lauers cannot trade with them except at a distance. They lay their goods down upon the beach, being put up in heaps, when the most venturesome among the strange traders comes forward and makes it understood by gestures and signs how much he wants for them. Their commerce consists in Tamboxe swords, axes to cut the trees down with, bad cloths, sagoe-bread, rice, and black sugar; but the rice and black sugar must be given beforehand, to induce them to trade. No traces of government, order, or religion are discernible amongst them. They live together like beasts: those upon the islands erect houses, and a kind of villages, placing their houses commonly upon posts, raised to a considerable height above the ground. On the continent they have slight huts, covered with leaves, like hog-styes: in them lie indiscriminately men, dogs, and hogs, upon the bare sand, otherwise they lie down in any place where they can but find white sand. They mourn more for the loss of a dog or hog than for their mothers. They bury their dead hogs and dogs, but not their deceased relations, whom they lay down upon high rocks to decay under the rain and sun, till nothing remains but the white bones, which at length they bury when they think proper. Their food consists chiefly of fishes, with which their seas abound, and of yams and plantains. They have no sagoe trees, neither do they know how to prepare the bread from it if they had any. Their arms are hasagays, clumsy and long arrows, and also a weapon formed from a sort of blue stone or slate, pointed at both ends, having a hole in the middle, in which a stick is put for a handle. With this they attack one another in such a manner, that with one stroke the skull is crushed to pieces: the farther you go to the south the more savage, tall, and ugly the people are, in particular from Lacca-iha to Oero-goba.
“‘A certain shallop from Banda, being on the coast, which stretches nearly east from Arou, they found there such large people, that one of our sailors was taken by his sleeve by one of them and shaken like a little boy; but he was rescued by his shipmates. To the south of this place a great promontory stretches itself to the west, called in the map Cape Falso, and again, to the south of this, is laid down the shallow bight, where it is supposed that Nova Guinea is divided from the South Land by a strait terminating in the South Sea, though, by reason of the shallowness, our people could not pass it; and thus it remains uncertain whether this strait goes through or not, but in the old Portuguese maps New Guinea is laid down as an island under the name of Ceira.[[26]]
“‘I must here remark a circumstance which is but little noticed in European writings, which is, that in some logbooks the sea between Banda and the South Land is called the Milk Sea; the reason for this is, that twice a-year the sea thereabouts turns white, and is called by our people the white water. The so-called little white water comes first, with a dark or new moon, in the latter end of June; the great or second white water also comes in with a similar dark moon in August, sooner or later according as the south-east wind sets in fresh. This wind at that time brings with it in those parts unsettled rainy weather. By daytime the sea looks natural, but in the night as white as milk or snow, and so bright that it is nearly impossible to distinguish the water from the sky. At that time it is dangerous to navigate here in small vessels, the sea making, even in calm weather, a great swell, which, from the brightness of the water, cannot be discovered before they reach it. This white water comes first entirely from the south-east, about where lie the islands of Babba, Tenimmer, and Timor Laut, and, perhaps, wholly from that great bay made by the South Land and New Guinea. It continues thus till September, when it is gradually carried by the wind and currents towards the west, in large broad stripes, passing by Amboina and Boero till about Bouton, when it gradually loses itself; this water keeps itself always distinct from the sea water, as if it were divided by a band, a fact which often frightens inexperienced sailors at night, as they think they are running suddenly upon a great bank. No one has yet been able to explain this wonder of nature, nor give the cause of this quality of the water to glitter at night. It is thought most probable that it arises from sulphurous exhalations from the bottom of the sea, rising in this rough weather to the surface; for that it is impregnated with sulphur is shown to be likely by the number of sulphur mountains and volcanos found every where in the south-eastern islands, and which, perhaps, exist in greater number in the South Land. All this, however, is as yet uncertain; perhaps the chemists might be able to supply some explanation upon the subject, as they have the art of preparing waters which give light in the night time.
“‘It may also here be asked, what countries are Lucach, Beach, and Maletur, names inscribed in some of our maps, on some parts of that country which we call South Land, or Hollandia Nova. I reply that these names are, perhaps, taken from the uncertain and ambiguous narratives of voyages by Marcus Paulus and Vertomannus, who, perhaps, being led astray by the relations of others, have taken the large island of Timor for the South Land; for in Timor the traces of the word Maletur remain in Maleto, situated near Keylako, on the north side of Timor.’ Thus far the above-mentioned letter.”
ACCOUNT OF THE OBSERVATIONS OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM DAMPIER ON THE COAST OF NEW HOLLAND, IN 1687–88,
BEING AN EXTRACT FROM HIS “NEW VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD,” PUBLISHED IN LOND., 1697, 8vo., pp. 461.
Being now clear of all the islands, we stood off south, intending to touch at New Holland, a part of Terra Australis Incognita, to see what that country would afford us. Indeed, as the winds were, we could not now keep our intended course (which was first westerly and then northerly) without going to New Holland, unless we had gone back again among the islands; but this was not a good time of the year to be among any islands to the south of the equator, unless in a good harbour.
The 31st day we were in latitude 13° 26´, still standing to the southward, the wind bearing commonly very hard at west, and we keeping upon it under two courses, and our myen, and sometimes a main-top-sail rift. About ten a clock at night we tackt and stood to the northward, for fear of running on a shoal, which is laid down in our drafts in latitude 13° 50´ or thereabouts: it bearing south by west from the east end of Timor: and so the island bore from us by our judgments and reckoning. At three a clock we tackt again, and stood S. by W. and S.S.W.