Tasman’s voyage of discovery.

448

between thofe two points : but we were foon convinced of our miftake, and that it wasall one coaft; fo that we were obliged to double the Weft Cape, and to continuecreeping along-lhore, and were much hindered in our paffage by calms. This defcrip-tion agrees very well with that of Schovten and Le Maire ; fo that probably they hadnow fight again of the coaft of New Guinea .

It is very probable, from the accident that happened to Captain Tafman, and whichalfo happened to others upon that coaft, and from the burning mountains that will behereafter mentioned, that this country is very fubject to earthquakes ; and, if fo, with-out doubt, it abounds with metals and minerals ; of which we have alfo another proof,from a point in which all thefe writers agree; viz. that the people they faw had ringsin their nofes and ears, though none of them tell us of what metal thofe rings weremade, which Le Maire might eafily have done, fince he carried off a man from one ofthe iflands, whofe name was Mofes, from whom he learned that almoft every nationon this coaft fpeaks a different language.

16. On the 20th, in the latitude of 5 0 4 ' fouth, and in the longitude 164° 27', wefound the variation 8° 30' eaft. We that night drew near the Brandande Yland, i. e.burning ifland, which William Schovten mentions; and we perceived a great flameiffuing, as he fays, from the top of an high mountain. When we were between thatifland and the continent, we faw a vaft number of fires along the lhore, and half-wayup the mountain, from whence we concluded that the country muft be very populous.We were often detained on this coaft by calms, and frequently obferved fmali trees,bamboes and Ihrubs, which the rivers on that coaft carried into the fea; from whichwe inferred, that this part of the country was extremely well watered, and that theland muft be very good. The next morning we paffed the burning mountain, andcontinued a weft north-weft courfe along that coaft.

It is remarkable, that Schovten had made the fame obfervation with refpe£t to thedrift-wood forced by the rivers into the fea. He likewife obferved, that there was focopious a difcharge of frefh water, that it altered the colour and the tafte of the fea.He likewife fays that the burning ifland is extremely well peopled, and alfo well cul-tivated. He afterwards anchored on the coaft of the continent, and endeavoured totrade with the natives, who made him pay very dear for hogs and cocoa-nuts, and like-wife Ihewed him fome ginger. It appears from Captain Tafman’s account, that he wasnow in hafte to return to Batavia, and did not give himfelf fo much trouble as at thebeginning about difcoveries, and, to fay the truth, there was no great occafion, if, aSI obferved, his commiflion was no more than to fail round the new difcovered coafts?in order to lay them down with greater certainty in the Dutch charts.

17. On the 27th being in the latitude of 2 0 io' fouth, and in the longitude of57', we fancied that we had a fight of the ifland of Moa ; but it proved to be that ofJama, which lies a little to the eaft of Moa We found here great plenty of cocoa-nuts, and other refreffiments. The inhabitants were abfolutely black, and could eafilyrepeat the words that they heard others fpeak; which fhews their own to be a verycopious language. It is, however, exceedingly difficult to pronounce, becaufe theymake frequent ufe of the letter R ; and fometimes, to fuch a degree, that it occurstwice or thrice in the fame word. The next day, we anchored on the coaft of th®ifland of Moa, where we likewife found abundance of refreffiments, and wherewere obliged by bad weather to ftay till May 9th. We purchafed there, by way 0exchange, fix thoufand cocoa-nuts, and a hundred bags of pyianghs, orlndian figs. Wh ewe firft began to trade with thefe people, one of our feamen was wounded by an arrov^»that one of the natives let fly, either through malice or inadvertency. We were, ^ t