te
tropic-bird and a few scissor-tailed ducks, so that I surmised that we
were near land. Two or three days afterwards we saw sea-weed floating in
large quantities and long strips. On the 10th do. we passed the tropic in
fine weather. On the 11th do. we saw land in 21 deg. 20' S. Lat.: it was a
level, low-lying coast extending to a great length, and bearing mainly
south and north, falling off on both sides with high mountains; we could
not get near it. Whether it was a mainland coast or islands only, is
known to God alone, but from the signs seen at various times I suspect it
to be a mainland. The compass has one point north-westerly variation
here; we saw a good deal of sea-weed floating about, and observed
land-birds up to the 16th degree, both of these being signs of the
proximity of the mainland. This land is a fit point to be made by ships
coming here with the eastern monsoon, in order to get a fixed course for
Java or Sunda Strait; for if you see this land in 21, 22 or 23 degrees,
and shape your course north-north-west and north-by-west you will make
the western extremity of Jaeva. I write this as a matter of certainty,
seeing that we have made the same on a fixed course, and ships following
this course are sure to find it true. On the 21st do. we saw land, to wit,
Kleyn Jaevae; we kept off and on during the night, and at daybreak made
for the land, passing through the strait between Kleyn Jaeva and Baely...

Your Worships' servant to command

H. CLAESSEN VAN HILLEGOM.

* * * * *

IX.

(1618). VOYAGE OF THE SHIP MAURITIUS FROM THE NETHERLANDS TO INDIA
UNDER THE COMMAND OF SUPERCARGO WILLEM JANSZ OR JANSZOON AND SKIPPER
LENAERT JACOBSZ(OON). FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF
AUSTRALIA.--WILLEMS-RIVER.

_Letter Of supercargo WILLFM JANSZ(OON) to the Managers of the Amsterdam
Chamber, Oclober 6, 1618._

A.

Worshipful Wise Provident Discreet Gentlemen,

(Sailed 1000 miles to eastward in in 38 degrees with notable success.)

The present serves only to inform you that on the 8th of June last with
the ship Mauritius we passed Cape de bon esperence, with strong westerly
winds, so that we deemed it inadvisable to call at any land, after which
we ran a thousand miles to eastward in 38 degrees Southern Latitude,
though we should have wished to go still further east.

{Page 13}

On the 31st of July we discovered an island and landed on the same, where
we found the marks of human footsteps--on the