Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia: / A Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of That Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the Time of Captain Cook.

by Richard Henry Major

Between these two islands or headlands, some natives were met by the men on the thirty-first of April, who did not retire, but ran hastily towards an eminence, and with signs and gestures attempted to drive them away. No one was able to understand their language, which, according to the skipper Martin van Delft, seems to resemble in some respects that of Malabar; but even this is by no means clear. The colour and stature of these men, appears from the description given to resemble most that of the Indians of the east; but they go stark naked, without any regard to age or sex, as was constantly observed by our sailors from the above-mentioned date, until their departure. The only exception to this rule were the women who had children with them, these alone wearing a slight covering of leaves or such-like over their middle. The whole number of these islanders did not exceed fourteen or fifteen men; seeing that our people could not be induced by their grimaces, violent gestures, yelling and flourishing of assegais, and all kinds of weapons, to retreat from the shore, they were imprudent enough to throw some of their assegais, or rather sharpened sticks, at our men, with the intention of wounding and intimidating them; but their chief, or one who at least appeared to be so, being hit by a ball from the single musket which was fired at them in return, the rest began to run quickly away, being very agile and well made.

The women are tall and slim, with very large mouth and small eyes; the head of both sexes is curly, like that of the Papuan islanders, and a yellow or red ointment, prepared with turtle fat, seems to be used as an ornament. The nature of these tribes is foul and treacherous, as was apparent at the last moment, when our people were on the point of departing. Eight islanders attacked and wounded two sailors, with the hope of seizing upon their clothes, and that after having conversed with these men for weeks, eaten and drunk with them, visited them on board, and being allowed to examine everything to their great admiration, after having received presents, and also on their part regaled our people with fish and crabs. Besides this, their bad disposition came to light in the case of the man who had been previously wounded by our party as before mentioned; when he afterwards was assisted and bandaged, and had every possible attention shown him by our men, he tore the linen to pieces and threw it away into a corner; notwithstanding that at other times these natives appeared particularly greedy after linen, knives, beads, and such toys.

They however possess nothing which is of value themselves, and have neither iron nor anything like mineral ore or metal, but only a stone which is ground and made to serve as a hatchet. They have no habitations, either houses or huts; and feed on fish, which they catch with harpoons of wood, and also by means of nets, putting out to sea in small canoes, made of the bark of trees, which are in themselves so fragile, that it is necessary to strengthen them with cross-beams.

Some of them had marks on their body, apparently cut or carved, which, as it seemed to our people, were looked upon by them as a kind of ornament. They eat sparingly and moderately, whereby they grow up always active and nimble; their diet seems to consist of fish, and a few roots and vegetables, but no birds or wild animals of any kind are used as food, for though animal food exists, and was found by our men in abundance, the natives appeared to be indifferent to it.

According to the notes of the captain of the sloop Waijer, from the 14th of June, about five hundred people with women and children, were met on one occasion about two miles inland; at night also they were descried sitting round several fires among the bushes; nothing however was seen in their possession of any value. Our men might also easily have taken and brought over to Batavia with them, two or three of the natives who daily came on board, but the skipper of the Vossenbosch, following out his instructions to the letter, would not allow them to be taken without their full consent, either by falsehood or fraud, and as no one understood their language, nothing was to be done in the matter; consequently they remained in their own country.

The country here is for the most part level, and no mountains are to be seen, except a remarkable eminence, which at a distance has the appearance of three mountains, as noted in the journal of the skipper, under date May the 25th. The soil seems productive, if cultivated, but the whole extent of the coast is bordered by sands or downs. In no part were any remarkable trees noticed, much less any of an aromatic and spice kind.

The second bay after the Rooseboom’s Bay just described, between Tigers and Wolfs-point, visited by our countrymen, has the appearance of a wide river, but is salt; as however nothing remarkable was found there, we shall let the journal of the skipper, on the date May 12th, speak for itself, it being described in the account of the commander of the Waijer, under the name of the Bessia River.

The third inlet visited by the expedition is rather large, its E. point being named Kaijmans, and its W. Oranjes-hoek. The tide flows here with great force, and the Patsjallang sailed between eight and ten miles inland, without finding any diminution in the saltness of the water. As the bottom, and the general aspect still remain the same, it was supposed by our people, that this inlet runs right through to the south side of New Holland, and not only this, but also others both E. and W. of the angle of Van Diemen’s land.

From this it seems to follow, that the South Land in a great measure consists of islands,—a supposition not at all improbable, considering how on its south side, from the point called Leeuwin, or the land visited by the Leeuwin in the year 1622, to Nuyts-land, discovered in 1627, it is entirely girt and surrounded by innumerable islands, although these things had better be left to a more accurate examination of the country, and a more matured judgment. But there is another consideration in favour of this supposition, namely, the rude and barbarous character, and malicious disposition of the above-mentioned islanders, as it has been frequently remarked, that such serious defects are much more generally found among islanders, than among the inhabitants of continents. However, be this as it may, we shall only further remark, that the Patsjallang, owing to the strength of the current, was not able to proceed, but was obliged to return to the Vossenbosch, having first discovered within this inlet an island, five miles in circumference, on which was found very good drinking-water and a tiger was met with; a number of snipes also were seen on another island, which lay at the entrance of this strait, and of which more is said in the journal of the sloop Waijer, under the date of the eighteenth and nineteenth of May. The weather here was observed to become much colder.

The fourth inlet of those visited by the expedition, called Delft Bay, runs five or six miles inland, and demands little further notice than as to its position and depths, both which are to be found clearly stated in the journals and maps, also that it is called on one side of its mouth, Rustenburg, and on the other side in the old maps, it is known under the name of Maria’s land, in which district the inhabitants were so stupid, that they attempted to tow the patsjallang, while lying at anchor, with three little canoes, but seeing that no progress was made, they tried to effect their object by tugging at the anchor. This also proving ineffectual, they returned to the shore. Our men employed themselves daily in fishing, the fish here being plentiful, but of no great size, and attempted to arrest the increasing sickness on board.