VOYAGE OF THE " PERA " AND " AERNEM " 33 



accuracy. Stoffel's translation, on the other hand, is a dainty 

 piece of work. It is as if he had rewritten a plain tale with the 

 object of suiting it for acceptance by a high-class magazine. He 

 has, indeed, while taking no serious liberties with the facts, presented 

 the tale in the garb of early seventeenth-century English, the trick of 

 which he has caught admirably. The only fault to be found with the 

 translation is that it is better than the original. In the following 

 pages, I have ventured, while freely acknowledging my indebted- 

 ness to the Dutch translator, to present an almost literally translated 

 English version which, in my opinion, more nearly reflects the 

 rough-hewn story of the author. 



The Report is in the form of a DIARY kept on board the " Pera" 

 and is probably in the main a transcription of the ship's log, and is 

 signed by JAN CARSTENSZOON, the COMMODORE of the Expedition. 

 It is headed " Journal kept by Jan Carstensz," that being the 

 contraction in common use at a time when surnames denoted only 

 that the person known by a certain Christian name was the son 

 (zoon) of somebody else. 



Although the " Pera " and " Aernem " took over the orders 

 originally drawn up for the " Earing}) " and " Hasewint" the 

 SKIPPER of the " Pera," JAN SLUIJS, was not in the position which 

 was to have been occupied by Jan Vos, who, presumably, was the 

 skipper of one of the two vessels. Vos, it was intended, should 

 " carry the flag, convene the Council and preside therein." In 

 short, he was not only to command his own ship but to be com- 

 modore of the expedition as well. The SKIPPERS of the " Pera " 

 (SLUIJS) and " Aernem " (MELISZOON) had no higher status than 

 that of SAILING MASTERS, and although most of the hard work was 

 assigned to them, they were evidently of less importance than the 

 merchants or traders (kooplieden), as witness the order of pre- 

 cedence observed in the Aru and Queij inscriptions. 



A democratic institution, viz., a " FULL COUNCIL " of the 

 assembled officers of both ships, 1 seems to a modern lay reader 

 to have been well calculated to destroy all order and discipline, 

 and yet there is no evidence that on these two ships any serious 

 trouble resulted. 



From a reference in the log to a resolution of the Council on 

 a certain date, which resolution is not mentioned in the log of that 

 date, there is reason to suppose that the proceedings of the Council 

 were recorded in a separate minute book, which has been lost, or 

 lost sight of. 



It would be interesting to know the names of all the adven- 

 turers who set out in 1623 and who lighted upon the Cape York 

 Peninsula, but no list is given in the log, only a few names being 

 mentioned incidentally, while a few more can be gathered from 

 other documents. 



1 The composition of the Full Council is explained in Tasman's instructions. 



