mall column of smoke rise up from the
higher land, but it soon vanished. Nevertheless we anchored there in 21
fathom fine sandy bottom, in order to look for the skipper with his men,
but the smoke did not appear again, and no one showed on the beach, from
which we concluded that the smoke had been made by the natives, who now
did not venture to show themselves. As it blew very hard, we remained at
anchor here for the night.

On the 16th do. in the morning we weighed anchor again with a S.S.E. wind
and a top-gallant gale. We again ran close along the land with small sail
at about a howitzer's shot's distance from the surf. Towards noon we
sighted the inlet which we had meant to run into on the 8th of June last,
when we were seeking water with the pinnace, and {Page 62} where we were
befallen by a storm from the north-west, which would certainly have sent
us to destruction, if God had not miraculously saved us. Here we saw
divers smoke-clouds rising up, which gladdened us all with the hope that
our men might be there. I therefore sent the pinnace ashore directly for
the purpose of getting certain information regarding the place and the
clouds of smoke we had seen; the men in her, after rounding a steep
point, where we had suspected the presence of water, discovered a running
streamlet, of which the water was brackish near the sea, but quite fresh
higher up; they also found a great many human footprints and continuous
footpaths leading to the mountains, and saw numerous clouds of smoke, but
the blacks kept themselves in concealment, and no human being was seen.

Formerly, when we were sailing about here with the pinnace, we had also
been close inshore, but did not then see any men or smoke-clouds at this
place. Thinking this a fitting opportunity, I have here sent on shore the
two condemned delinquents [*] Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom de By, of
Bemmel, in a sampan provided with all necessaries. God grant that this
punishment may ultimately redound to the service of the Company, and that
the two delinquents may come off with their lives, so as to be able to
give trustworthy information about these parts. This inlet is in 27 deg. 51'.
In the afternoon, seeing there was no hope or chance of finding the
skipper, we made sail and shaped our course to north-west, two points off
the land, because it began to blow hard, and in the evening we turned to
west-north-west...[**].

[* They had been sentenced to being marooned.]

[* Th