A Voyage to Terra Australis. Matthew Flinders

under the island Rottenest, which lies in lat. 31° 50', long. 134° 25';* and next day, a piece of wood, which had some time been fixed to the deck of a ship, was found upon the shore; but the nails were then rusted away. Fire wood was abundant here.

      [* The account in Van Keulen is somewhat different. He says "we steered for the Land of Endragt: and on Dec. 28, got soundings in 63 fathoms, sandy bottom. The ensuing day we had 30 fathoms, and the coast was then in sight. The Island Rottenest, in 32° south latitude, was the land we steered for; and we had from 30 to 10 fathoms, in which last we anchored on a sandy bottom."]

      VLAMING. 1697.

      Jan. 5. Vlaming went on shore (to the main coast), with eighty-eight armed men, and walked inland to the eastward. There were a few large, and some small trees, from which dropped a kind of gum-lac; but they found nothing which could be used as food: the birds were small cockatoos and green parrots, and both were very shy. At the end of three hours walk they came to a piece of water, which was salt, and upon the beach were footsteps of full-grown persons and of children. No men were seen, but they observed many smokes; and found three deserted huts, so low and ill-constructed as to be inferior to those of the Hottentots.

      On the 6th, they divided themselves into three parties: one took to the north, another to the south, and the third went four miles east, more into the interior; but, except one or two decayed huts, they met with nothing. Being returned to the salt lake without finding fresh water, they dug a pit near the side of it, and obtained wherewith to relieve their thirst. The lake had fallen a foot, which showed it to have a communication with the sea; and they afterwards found the outlet, a little to the southward. No noxious animal of any kind was seen; and after remaining on shore all night, they returned on board on the 7th. The ships were then anchored nearer to the land, with the entrance of the lake or river bearing S. E. by E. The commodore afterwards went up this river, to the distance of fourteen or sixteen leagues, and caught some smelts, as also several black swans, of which two were taken alive to Batavia.*

      [* This appears to be the first mention made of the black swan: the river was named Black-Swan River.]

      Having clearly ascertained the latitude (of the ships at anchor, most probably,) to be 31° 43' south, and discovered a reef four geographic miles in length, and two miles from the shore, they sailed from thence on Jan. 13. The wind was from the southward; and whilst the ships steered N. by W., parallel to the coast, the boats ran along within them, to examine it more closely. On the 15th, the people from the boats reported that they had seen neither men nor animals, and very few trees; but had met with a reef near the shore, in 30° 17'; and many shoals, both under and above water.

      Fires upon the land were seen from all the ships in the night of Jan. 16; and next day, a boat was sent with armed people; but they returned with nothing, except some sea-mews which had been caught upon the islands and shoals lying along the coast. On the 18th, the ships were in latitude 30° 30', and found the variation to be 9° 21' west; and the 20th, some small islands were seen, and shrubs observed on the main land. On the 23rd, they were near a steep head, in 28° 8', and sent a boat to the shore; but the high surf prevented landing. People were perceived walking on the downs, but at too great a distance to distinguish more than that they were of the common stature, black, and naked.* The boat got on shore soon afterward, when some brackish water was found; and having landed again on the 27th, the people saw some huts, as also the footsteps of men, and some birds; but there was no other vegetation than small shrubs. Some very indifferent water was the sole useful thing met with, and it was too far off for any to be taken on board.

      [* It was near this place that captain Pelsert put the two Dutch conspirators on shore in 1629. Vlaming appears to have passed within Houtman's Abrolhos without seeing them.]

      Jan. 30. The boats were again sent on shore, and discovered two inlets, of which the southernmost, in latitude 26° 16', was three miles in width. On Feb. 2, they found two other openings, very deep, one of which ran up northward, and the other to the east, far inland. They went eleven leagues up the first of these, and found that it had another communication with the sea, to the N. N. W.* On the 3rd, a boat brought the above account; and also, that the chief mate of the Geelvink had found a plate of tin, with an inscription commemorating the arrival and departure of Dirk Hartog. (See the inscription under the article Hartog, preceding.) This Road of Dirk Hartog's Bay, where the plate had been set up, is in 25° 24'; and the west variation was 8° 34'.

      [* These two openings, which in the original are called rivers, were nothing more than the entrance into Shark's Bay. A small island, lying a little within the entrance, probably made it be taken for two openings.]

      No mention is made by Valentyn of the ships entering the road, nor of their departure from it; but it should seem that they anchored on Feb. 4. On the 5th, commodore Vlaming and the commander of the Nyptang went with three boats to the shore, which proved to be an island. They found also a river, and went up it four or five leagues, amongst rocks and shoals; when they saw much water inland, as if the country were drowned, but no men, nor any thing for food; and, wherever they dug, the ground was salt. They afterwards came to another river, which they ascended about one league, and found it to terminate in a round basin, and to be entirely salt water. No men were seen, nor any animals, except divers which were very shy; and the country was destitute of grass and trees. Returning downward on the 10th, they saw footsteps of men and children, of the common size, and observed the point of entrance into the river to be of a very red sand.

      The ships appear to have left Dirk Hartog's Road on Feb. 12. In the evening, the west variation was observed to be 7° 21'; am on the 13th, they saw a cliffy point from whence three shoals, connected by a reef, stretch out to the N. N. E. The shore here, in latitude 24° 42', lies S. by E. and N. by W. On the 16th, they passed round the point, and steered southward along the inner side of this land; and having doubled its south end, found that it was it was an island: their latitude was then 24° 54'.

      Feb. 17. The variation was observed to be 5° west, in latitude 23° 59'. Eight miles south of this situation they saw a bay with a rugged point; but to the northward the land was low: the variation was 7° 3', in the evening. They discovered some reefs on the 19th, lying three geographic miles off shore; and also a point or cape (the North-west Cape) from which a reef extended two miles to the N. N. W. On the north side of this cape is a bay, where the Geelvink anchored; and a little further on (eastward), the other two vessels found an opening like a river, whose entrance was twelve miles wide. They went into it, but could no where find anchorage. The bay is called Willem's River; and the two vessels afterwards there joined the Geelvink: it is in 21° 28'. The same day it was determined to sail for Batavia, every thing having been done that the commodore's orders required; and, on the 21st, they departed accordingly.

      Thus the West Coast, from the island Rottenest to the North-west Cape, was examined with care by Vlaming; and it is most probable, that the chart in Van Keulen, which Mr. Dalrymple republished, and was the best known at the end of the eighteenth century, resulted from this same voyage.

      DAMPIER. 1699.

      CAPTAIN WILLIAM DAMPIER visited, a second time, the western coasts of Terra Australis; being then sent out purposely for discovery, in his Majesty's ship the Roebuck.

      In the night of Aug. 1, 1699, he struck soundings upon the northern part of the Abrolhos shoal, in latitude about 27° 40' south. Next morning he saw the main coast, and ran northward along it; discovering, in 26. 10', an opening two leagues wide, but full of rocks and foul ground. Aug. 6, he anchored (in Dirk Hartog's Road) at the entrance of a sound, which he named SHARK's BAY, in latitude 25° 5' south. He remained there eight days, examining the sound, cutting wood upon the islands, fishing, etc.; and gives a description of what was seen in his usually circumstantial manner.*

      [* For the full account of Dampier's proceedings and observations, with views of the land, see his Voyages, Vol. III. page 81, et seq.]

      An animal found upon one of the islands is described as "a sort of raccoon, different from that of the West Indies, chiefly as to the legs; for these have very short fore legs; but go jumping upon them" (not upon the short fore, but the long hind, legs, it is to be presumed), "as the others do; and like them are