Chapter I: Front Matter

ADVENTURES IN SOUTHERN SEAS

A Tale of the Sixteenth Century

by

GEORGE FORBES

First published August 1920 by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. 39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2 Reprinted July 1924 Printed in Great Britain by Neill & Co. Ltd., Edinburgh

INTRODUCTORY

In the year 1801 was found by the chief coxswain of the "Naturalist" (a ship commanded by Captain Hamelin on a voyage of discovery performed by order of the Emperor Napoleon I), at Shark's Bay, on the coast of West Australia, a pewter plate about six inches in diameter, bearing a roughly engraved Dutch inscription, of which the following is a translation:

"1616

"On the 25th of October arrived here the ship 'Endraght',
of Amsterdam; first supercargo Gilles Miebas Van Luck;
Captain Dirk Hartog, of Amsterdam. She set sail again
on the 27th of the same month. Bantum was second
supercargo; Janstins first pilot.

"Peter Ecoores Van Bu, in the year 1616."

No connected account of the voyages of Dirk Hartog is extant, but the report of the discovery of this pewter plate suggested the task of compiling a narrative from the records kept by Dutch navigators, in which Dirk Hartog is frequently referred to, and which is probably as correct a history of Hartog's voyages as can be obtained. The aborigines of New Holland, as Australia was then called, judging by the description given of them by Van Bu, the author of the writing on the pewter plate, appear to have been a more formidable race of savages than those subsequently met with by Captain Cook on his landing at Botany Bay, and the dimensions of the tribe among whom Van Bu was held captive were certainly larger than those of the migratory tribes of Australian blacks in more modern times. The "sea spider" described by Van Bu in his second adventure was probably the octopus, which attains to great size in the Pacific. The "hopping animals" are doubtless the kangaroos, with which Australians are now familiar.

Captain Dampier, in 1699, first mentions the water serpents referred to by Van Bu. "In passing," he says, "we saw three water serpents swimming about in the sea, of a yellow colour, spotted with dark brown spots. Next day we saw two water serpents, different in shape from such as we had formerly seen; one very long and as big as a man's leg in girth, having a red head, which I have never seen any before or since."

From an examination of the Dutch records, it would appear that a ship named the "Arms of Amsterdam" drove past the south coast of New Guinea in the year 1623. This is, perhaps, the voyage described by Van Bu to the Island of Gems. The gigantic mass of ice seen by Van Bu in the South is particularly interesting, since it may have been the first sight of the ice barrier from which glaciers in the Antarctic regions break off into the sea.

The north portion of New Guinea was for the first time rightly explored in the year 1678, by order of the Dutch East India Company, and found almost everywhere to be enriched with very fine rivers, lakes, and bays. About the north-western parts the natives were discovered to be lean, and of middle size, jet-black, not unlike the Malabars, but the hair of the head shorter and somewhat less curly than the Kafirs'. "In the black of their eyes," says a report given of this voyage, "gleams a certain tint of red, by which may, in some measure, be observed that blood-thirsty nature of theirs which has at different times caused so much grief from the loss of several of our young men, whom they have surprised, murdered, carried into the woods, and there devoured. They go entirely naked, without the least shame, except their rajahs or petty kings, who are richly dressed. The heathens of Nova Guinea believe there is some divinity in serpents, for which reason they represent them upon their vessels."

The "Golden Sea-horse" is mentioned as one of the Dutch ships said to have taken part in the discovery of Australia between the years 1616 and 1624. Other vessels noted are the "Endraght", "Zeewolf", "Arms of Amsterdam", "Pera", and "Arnheim". All these vessels lay claim to having touched at the 'Great Southern Continent' as well as at the islands of the South Seas.

The 'Place of the Painted Hands', the objective of the third voyage of Van Bu with Dirk Hartog to New Holland, is referred to by the late Mr Lawrence Hargrave, who made a very interesting study of picture-writings discovered in Australia, in a collection of pamphlets entitled "Lope de Vega", now in the possession of the Mitchell Library at Sydney. "There are picture-writings," he says, "which have remained for hundreds of years without any archaeologist discovering their meaning. They are not as ancient as those on the monuments of the Egyptians, but they are equally interesting. If they are read in the light of a message to posterity, they may yet reveal something of surprising interest. By whom were they chiselled? What is their meaning? The more recent discoveries show an oval encircling a cross--the symbol of Spanish conquest. On an ironstone rock-face on the Shoalhaven River are many 'hands.' These have been there to the memory of the oldest inhabitant. No aboriginal will go near them. Gold is still washed in this river, and possibly these hands, or fingers, refer to the days worked here washing gold, or to the number of 'quills' of gold obtained. You will understand these 'hands' are not carved, but painted with some pigment that has withstood the weather for some hundreds of years."

The Malays locate the Male and Female Islands visited by Van Bu, an account of which appears in many ancient manuscripts from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, as being the islands of Engarno, to the south of Sumatra. Marco Polo speaks of them in his voyage round the world, undertaken in 1271, and both Spanish and Dutch explorers refer to them in the accounts of their travels of more recent date.

In "The Discovery of Australia" (a critical documentary and historic investigation concerning the priority of discovery in Australasia by Europeans before the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in the Endeavour in the year 1770), by George Collingridge, may be found accounts of Spanish and Portuguese attempts at settlement upon the Great Southern Continent--'Terra Australis'.

Staten Land was the name first given to New Zealand in honour of the States of Holland, and the monstrous birds seen there were probably the now extinct moa. The Cannibal Islands are doubtless Fiji. The data and references to chronicles in this work are genuine, and the result of a careful study of rare and (in some cases) unique books and manuscripts in the Mitchell Wing of the Public Library at Sydney, said to be the most comprehensive collection known of accounts of discoveries in South Seas.

G. F.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. I FALL INTO CAPTIVITY II. THE BLACK CANNIBALS OF NEW HOLLAND III. THE ONLY WHITE MAN IN NEW HOLLAND IV. THE SEA SPIDER V. THE VOYAGE CONTINUED VI. THE FIGHT ON THE SANDS VII. THE SPIRIT OF DISCORD VIII. PEARL ISLAND IX. MUTINY X. I EMBARK ON A SECOND VOYAGE XI. A SECOND VOYAGE WITH HARTOG TO THE SOUTH XII. THE SEA SERPENT XIII. THE FLOATING ISLAND XIV. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE XV. THE SEAWEED SEA XVI. THE ISLAND OF GEMS XVII. QUEEN MELANNIE XVIII. A QUEEN'S FAVOURITE XIX. I BECOME CHIEF COOK XX. THE SNAKE GOD XXI. A PLAN OF ESCAPE XXII. THE NIGHT OF THE SACRIFICE XXIII. AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA XXIV. HOW MY SECOND VOYAGE ENDED XXV. I ARRIVE AT AMSTERDAM XXVI. HAPPILY MARRIED XXVII. ONCE MORE TO THE SOUTH XXVIII. THE MOLUCCA ISLANDS XXIX. THE VOYAGE CONTINUED XXX. A SPANISH SETTLEMENT XXXI. THE PLACE OF THE PAINTED HANDS XXXII. MAROONED XXXIII. CAPTAIN MONTBAR XXXIV. WE AGAIN EXPLORE THE CAVES XXXV. I AM KIDNAPPED XXXVI. THE MALE AND FEMALE ISLANDS XXXVII. A TASK IS SET ME XXXVIII. THE SLAYING OF THE GREAT CROCODILE XXXIX. I BECOME A VICTIM OF DOMESTIC INFELICITY XL. THE YELLOW PARCHMENT XLI. THE RUBY MOUNTAINS XLII. THE VALLEY OF SERPENTS XLIII. WE AGAIN LEAVE NEW HOLLAND XLIV. THE ISLANDS OF ARMENIO XLV. SUMATRA XLVI. MAHOMET ACHMET XLVII. KING TRINKITAT XLVIII. STATEN LAND XLIX. THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS L. AGAIN AT THE MOLUCCAS LI. GETTING BACK OUR OWN LII. CONCLUSION

ADVENTURES IN SOUTHERN SEAS