CHAPTER VI 



THE VOYAGE OF THE " PERA " AND " AERNEM " (1623), continued 

 III. THE OUTWARD VOYAGE 



ATTACK BY NEW GUINEA NATIVES. Bows AND ARROWS. A NATIVE KILLED. FALSE 

 CAPE, FREDERICK HENRY ISLAND (SUPPOSED TO BE PART OF NEW GUINEA). 

 EASTWARD ALONG SOUTH COAST OF NEW GUINEA. ENTANGLED IN THE " DRY 

 BIGHT." SATISFIED THAT THERE is NO STRAIT BETWEEN NEW GUINEA AND THE 

 SOUTH LAND. POOR SAILING QUALITIES OF THE " AERNEM." A MEETING OF THE 

 COUNCIL. SHIPS VISITED BY NEW GUINEA NATIVES, FOR WHOM " TRADE " HAD 

 NO ATTRACTIONS, BUT WHO WOULD GIVE SOMETHING FOR A BOY. Too WARY 

 TO BE CAUGHT. INEFFECTUAL ATTEMPT TO LAND ON NfiW GUINEA COAST. 

 ESCAPE FROM THE " DRY BIGHT " INTO DEEP WATER. AUSTRALIA (CAPE YORK 

 PENINSULA) SIGHTED AND LOST SIGHT OF. SIGHTED AGAIN NEAR CAPE KEERWEER. 

 A DIFFICULT LANDING. ATTEMPT TO ATTRACT NATIVES. ANOTHER LANDING 

 NEAR MOUTH OF MITCHELL RIVER. No NATIVES. ANOTHER LANDING. THE 

 NATIVES AND THEIR WEAPONS. A NATIVE CAPTURED. DEATH OF THE " JUREBASS " 

 UNDER AN OPERATION BY THE BARBER-SURGEON. A LANDING FOR FIREWOOD. 

 AN ATTACK BY NATIVES REPULSED. LATITUDE OF 17 8' S. REACHED. MEETING 

 OF COUNCIL. RETURN DECIDED ON. REWARD OFFERED FOR CAPTURE OF NATIVES 

 A LANDING FOR WATER. ANOTHER LANDING. NATIVE FOOTPRINTS. MEMORIAL 

 TABLET ERECTED. STATEN INLET NAMED (ACCIDENT INLET, ONE OF THE MOUTHS 

 OF THE GILBERT RIVER). FLINDERS MISTAKES POSITION OF STATEN INLET. 



[BRITISH ADMIRALTY CHART NO. 447, WESTERN APPROACHES 

 TO TORRES STRAITS," CORRECTED UP TO AUGUST, 1900.] 



ON nth March, 1623, the " Pera " and " Aernem " anchored 

 off a promontory, which they named VALSCH CAEP (False 

 Cape), the western extremity of what is now distinguished 

 as FREDERICK HENRY ISLAND, and is separated from the 

 mainland of New Guinea by the narrow Princess Marianne or 

 Dourga Channel. From this point, the " Pera's " log, dealing 

 with an attempt to find an eastward passage through the suspected 

 TORRES STRAIT, the " DRY BIGHT " which was supposed to be 

 " all there was " to it, and the cruises along the western coast of 

 the CAPE YORK PENINSULA, is reproduced almost verbatim. 



" In the morning of the I2tb [March, 1623], the breeze from the NW. In the 

 forenoon, I, personally, rowed to the land, with the two boats well manned and 

 armed, in order to see if there was anything worthy of note there ; but when we had 

 got within a musket shot from the land, the water became so shallow that we could 

 not reach it, whereupon we all of us went through the clay up to our waists and with 

 great difficulty reached the beach, where we saw a number of fresh human footprints. 

 On going a short distance into the bush, we saw 20 or more huts made of dried grass, 



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