212 McClymont, Forgotten Feathers. r2nd'A"ril 



RidderscJiap van Hollandt, of which no news had been received 

 for the space of two years. The Amsterdam Board of Directors 

 was charged with the execution of this decree, and equipped 

 three vessels for the expedition. Willem de Vlaming was placed 

 in command of the squadron, and was instructed to visit the 

 Tristan da Cunha Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. 

 Paul's and Amsterdam Islands. Thence he was to proceed to 

 the unknown south land, by which phrase, or by the name the 

 Land of the Eendragt, Australia was designated in Dutch 

 official despatches in the seventeenth century. 



On the 29th of December, 1696, the vessels lay at anchor 

 between Rottnest Island and the mainland. The island was 

 searched for traces of shipwrecks, with but little success. A 

 piece of timber was found which might have been a portion of 

 the deck of a vessel ; another piece measured 3 feet long and 

 one span broad. The nails in the wood were much corroded. 

 The search for shipwrecked mariners was equally unsuccessful 

 on the coast of the mainland adjacent to Rottnest Island, but 

 there were found several novelties which might have been 

 turned to good account had their utility been better recognized, 

 or had they fallen into the hands of inventive possessors. On 

 the 30th and 31st of December, 1696, and on the 2nd of January, 

 1697, De Vlaming records in his "Journal" the finding of 

 odoriferous wood, portions of which were subsequently sub- 

 mitted to the Council of the Dutch East Indies at Batavia ; 

 from these an oil was obtained by distillation. And on the 13th 

 of January a dark red resin, which is said to resemble lac, 

 was observed exuding from certain trees. But that which most 

 awakened interest was a vara avis — the Black Swan. Many of 

 these handsome birds were seen on Swan River; on the iith 

 of January, we read in the "Journal" (the title of which is 

 cited above) that nine or ten Swans were killed or captured. 

 Three were carried to Batavia alive, but died soon after their 

 arrival.* 



Several boat expeditions ascended Swan River whilst the 

 vessels were anchored between Rottnest Island and the main- 

 land. During one of these outings the song of the " Nachtegael " 

 was heard. The bird to which our author refers is probably the 

 Nightingale, although it is quite within the range of possibility 

 that the Wood-Lark is signified by this word, and one description 

 of it as a bird which warbles almost all night long in the spring 

 months befits the Sedge-Warbler better than perhaps any other 

 bird. Nocturnal bird-songsters are uncommon in all parts of 

 the world, and memory reverts to Gilbert's description of the 



* Letter of ihe Governor-General and Councillors to the Managers of the East 

 India Company at the Amsterdam Chamber, " The Part borne by the Dutch in the 

 Discovery of Australia," by J. E. Heeres, p. 84. Willem van Oudhoorn was in 

 office as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in 1697. 



