Notable Voyagers, From Columbus to Nordenskiold

by William Henry Giles Kingston; Henry Frith

and forty-five single ones, in each of which there could not have been less than seven or eight men, were seen coming off from the shore, and soon perfectly surrounded the ship. At first the savages pretended to come for the purpose of trading, making signs of friendship, and endeavouring to persuade their visitors to remove the ship to another island, where there was better anchorage. Captain Schouten suspected, however, in spite of this, that there was some mischief intended. He therefore ordered his men to arm themselves, and load their guns as well as their muskets, to be ready for an attack. He was not mistaken, for in a short time the savages, finding their signs not attended to, began to shout in the most fearful manner, and then the crew of the King’s ship, which was nearest, plying her paddles, forced her with such force against the Unity, that the heads of the two canoes composing it were both dashed to pieces.

The rest of the canoes came rushing on from every side, the people in them throwing showers of heavy stones on board. As they did so Captain Schouten ordered his crew to open upon them with musketry, and at the same time the great guns, which had been loaded with bullets and nails, were fired right down on the surrounding canoes. This had the desired effect, for the savages in the nearest canoes, leaping overboard, endeavoured to make for the shore, while the others paddled off as fast as they could, endeavouring to escape from the anger of the white men, whom they had so treacherously endeavoured to destroy. It was found that their assailants came from the lower or more southerly of the two islands, which the Dutchmen, therefore, named Traitors’ Island.

Not wishing to have anything more to do with such people, Captain Schouten ordered the anchor to be weighed, and the Unity stood towards another island about thirty leagues off, where he hoped to be more fortunate in obtaining refreshments. As the ship approached the island the boat was sent along the shore to sound, for the purpose of discovering good anchorage ground.

While the ship was standing off the shore about a dozen canoes came off, bringing a small quantity of flying-fish. These the natives willingly exchanged for beads; but Captain Schouten, deeming it unwise to allow them to come alongside, ordered them under the stern, when the exchange was made by means of a rope, the beads being let down and the fish hauled up. The savages, having disposed of their fish, paddled away for the Unity’s boat, which was engaged in sounding. Getting up to her, they suddenly made an attempt to board, but their intention being perceived, they were met with so warm a reception from the Dutchmen’s guns, pikes, and cutlasses, that two were killed, and the rest were glad to hurry away as fast as they could.

The shores of this island were composed of black cliffs with green summits, and numbers of cocoa-nut-trees growing on them. Several huts were seen scattered about, and at one place there was a large village, close to a shelving beach.

As no convenient anchorage was found, Captain Schouten now stood away to the south-west, hoping to discover the great southern land of which he was in search.

At length, however, on the 18th of May, being in latitude 16 degrees 5 minutes south, and at least one thousand six hundred leagues westward of the coast of Peru, without having seen any signs of a continent, Captain Schouten called his officers together, and observed that if they continued on their present course they would reach the southern side of New Guinea, and that if they were unable to find a passage beyond that country, either to the west or north, they would inevitably be lost, as it would be impossible for them to get back, in consequence of the east winds which prevailed in those seas. He proposed, therefore, that they should now alter their course to the northward, so as to fall in with the north side of New Guinea.

Had he continued on he would have fallen in with the group of islands now called the New Hebrides, and afterwards probably have become the discoverer of New South Wales, and perhaps have made his way through Torres Straits, between New Holland and New Guinea, which had a short time before been discovered by Luis Vaez de Torres. It must be remembered, however, that at this period the whole of the vast region to the south of the East Indian Archipelago was totally unknown to the civilised world.

Le Maire and the other officers willingly agreed to this proposal, and the course was accordingly shaped to north-north-west. Before long they fell in with another island, but could only get within a league of it, when they were visited by two canoes, some of the people in them being allowed to come on board. The natives had not been long in the ship before, one of them carrying off a shirt, the whole leapt back into their canoes, and then began shouting and threatening to throw their spears. To show them their folly some muskets were discharged, by which two of the unfortunate savages were killed, while the rest made off at a rapid rate.

It strikes one that the Dutchmen were apt to fire unnecessarily at the savages; but then again it must be remembered that the latter were so ignorant of the power of firearms that unless the pieces were shotted they only laughed at the senseless noise, and that they hurled their spears with such unerring aim that some of the Dutchmen might have been killed had they not employed the means of defence in their power.