A Voyage to Terra Australis. Matthew Flinders
meat." This appears to have been the small kangaroo, since found upon the islands which form the road; and if so, this description is probably the first ever made of that singular animal.
Leaving Shark's Bay on Aug. 14, captain Dampier steered northward, along the coast; but at too great a distance to make much observation upon it, until he got round the North-west Cape. On the 22nd, he saw an extensive cluster of islands; and anchored, in latitude 20° 21', under one of the largest, which he called Rosemary Island. This was near the southern part of De Witt's Land; but, besides an error in latitude of 40', he complains that, in Tasman's chart, "the shore is laid down as all along joining in one body, or continent, with some openings like rivers; and not like islands, as really they are."--"By what we saw of them, they must have been a range of islands, of about twenty leagues in length, stretching from E. N. E. to W. S. W.; and for ought I know, as far as to those of Shark's Bay; and to a considerable breadth also, for we could see nine or ten leagues in amongst them, towards the continent or main land of New Holland, if there be any such thing hereabouts: And by the great tides I met with awhile afterwards, more to the north-east, I had a strong suspicion that here might be a kind of archipelago of islands; and a passage, possibly, to the to the south of New Holland and New Guinea, into the great South Sea, eastward."
Not finding fresh water upon such of the islands as were visited that day, captain Dampier quitted his anchorage next morning, and "steered away E. N. E., coasting along as the land lies." He seems to have kept the land in sight, in the day time, at the distance of four to six leagues; but the shore being low, this was too far for him to be certain whether all was main land which he saw; and what might have been passed in the night was still more doubtful.
Aug. 30, being in latitude 18° 21', and the weather fair, captain Dampier steered in for the shore; and anchored in 8 fathoms, about three-and-half leagues off. The tide ran "very swift here; so that our nun-buoy would not bear above the water to be seen. It flows here, as on that part of New Holland I described formerly, about five fathoms."
He had hitherto seen no inhabitants; but now met with several. The place at which he had touched in the former voyage "was not above forty or fifty leagues to the north-east of this. And these were much the same blinking creatures (here being also abundance of the same kind of flesh flies teizing them), and with the same black skins, and hair frizzled, tall and thin, etc., as those were. But we had not the opportunity to see whether these, as the former, wanted two of their fore teeth." One of them, who was supposed to be a chief, "was painted with a circle of white paste or pigment about his eyes, and a white streak down his nose, from his forehead to the tip of it. And his breast, and some part of his arms, were also made white with the same paint."
Neither bows nor arrows were observed amongst these people: they used wooden lances, such as Dampier had before seen. He saw no houses at either place, and believed they had none; but "there were several things like haycocks, standing in the savannah; which, at a distance, we thought were houses, looking just like the Hottentots' houses at the Cape of Good Hope; but we found them to be so many rocks." *
[* Dampier could not have examined these rocks closely; for there can be little doubt that they were the ant hills described by Pelsert as being "so large., that they might have been taken for the houses of Indians."]
The land near the sea-coast is described as equally sandy with the parts before visited, and producing, amongst its scanty vegetation, nothing for food. No stream of fresh water was seen, nor could any, fit to drink, be procured by digging.
Quitting this inhospitable shore, captain Dampier weighed his anchor on September 5, with the intention of seeking water and refreshments further on to the north-eastward. The shoals obliged him to keep at a considerable distance from the land; and finally, when arrived at the latitude 16° 9', to give up his project, and direct his course for Timor.
CONCLUSIVE REMARKS.
With the voyage of Dampier terminates the information gained of the Western Coasts, previously to the year 1801. Monsieur de St. Alouarn had, indeed, seen some points or islands, in the year 1772, when he commanded the French flûte Le Gros Ventre; but the particulars are not generally known, being, in all probability, of little importance.
The summary of the knowledge possessed by the public, and the objects to which investigation might be usefully directed in these parts of Terra Australis, were as follow. The outline of the north-west coast was known upon the authority, as generally believed, of Tasman; with some points corrected by Dampier. The accuracy of Tasman's chart was, however, very much called in doubt: instead of being a continued shore, as the Dutch chart represented it, Dampier found the southern parts of De Witt's Land to consist of a range of islands. And he gives it as his opinion, that the northern part of New Holland was separated from the lands to the southward, by a strait; "unless", says he, "the high tides and indraught thereabout should be occasioned by the mouth of some large river; which hath often low lands on each side of the outlet, and many islands and shoals lying at its entrance: but I rather thought it a channel, or strait, than a river." This opinion he supports by a fair induction from facts; and the opening of twelve miles wide, seen near the same place by Vlaming's two vessels, and in which they could find no anchorage, strongly corroborated Dampier's supposition.
Later information had demonstrated, that the supposed strait could not lead out into the Great Ocean, eastward, as the English navigator had conjectured; but it was thought possible, that it might communicate with the Gulph of Carpentaria, and even probable that a passage existed from thence to the unknown part of the South Coast, beyond the Isles of St. Francis and St. Peter.
But whether this opening were the entrance to a strait, separating Terra Australis into two or more islands, or led into a mediterranean sea, as some thought; or whether it were the entrance of a large river, there was, in either case, a great geographical question to be settled, relative to the parts behind Rosemary Island.
If Tasman's chart were defective at De Witt's Land, it was likely to be so in other parts of the same coast; where there was no account, or belief, that it had been examined by any other person further north than the latitude 16½°. An investigation of the whole North-west Coast, with its numerous islands and shoals, was, therefore, required, before it could enter into the present improved systems of geography and navigation.
The chart of the West Coast, as far south as Rottenest, was founded upon much better authority; but for its formation from thence to Cape Leeuwin there were no good documents. In this part, there was room even for discovery; and the whole coast required to be laid down with more accuracy than had been attainable by the Dutch navigators.
As to the soil and vegetable productions upon several points near the sea, from Rottenest, northward to 16½, there was tolerably good general information; the inhabitants, also, had been seen; and, at one place, communication with them had been obtained. The accounts did, certainly, not give any flattering prospect, that much interesting knowledge was likely to be acquired under these heads, unless a strait, or inland sea, were found; but the accounts were not only confined as to place, but, with the exception of Dampier's, were very imperfect; and the great extent of the coasts, in the richest climates of the world, excited hopes that a close investigation would not only be of advantage to natural history, but would bring to light something useful in the mineral or vegetable kingdoms.
In the case of penetrating the interior of Terra Australis, whether by a great river, or a strait leading to an inland sea, a superior country, and perhaps a different people, might be found, the knowledge of which could not fail to be very interesting, and might prove advantageous to the nation making the discovery.
SECTION III. SOUTH COAST.
Discovery of Nuyts.
Examination of Vancouver:
of D'Entrecasteaux.
Conclusive Remarks./p
NUYTS. 1627. (Atl. Pl. I.)
No historical fact seems to be less disputed,