VOYAGE OF THE "PERA" AND " AERNEM " 39 



* Aernem ' to take soundings in various directions for 2 or 3 miles out from the 

 yachts. At low water we saw several sandbanks and reefs lying dry, to wit : ESE., 

 SSW. and W. In the afternoon the * Aernem >s ' boat came back, having found shoals 

 in every direction for two miles out. Towards evening the ' Pern's ' boat also returned, 

 and from the Steersman we learned that they had been about 8 miles E. by S. and 

 ESE. of the yachts, and at that distance had found very shallow water, such as 7, 8, 

 9 and 10 feet, which continued for more than a mile, the depth thereafter increasing 

 to 2, z, 3, 5 and 7 fathoms ; that the land stretched E. and E. by N., being very 

 low and muddy and overgrown with a tangle of brushwood and wild trees. 



" On the $ist, the wind NNE., with rain. After midday I went personally, with 

 both boats, to one of the reefs, to see how things were between the yachts and the 

 land, which area had fallen dry with the low tide. In the afternoon the skipper of 

 the * Pera ' was commanded to take the boat, properly manned and armed, to the 

 land, in order to ascertain what could be done for the service of our masters, and to 

 parley with the people, and, if practicable, get hold of one or two. Very late in the 

 evening, the boat returned, and we were informed by the skipper that, although it 

 was high water, they could not come nearer than a pistol-shot to the land, owing to 

 the mud and shoals, and that the low and submersible land was full of brushwood 

 and wild trees. 



" NOTE. Having heard the above-written reports regarding the shoals to the 

 east, we are sufficiently assured (to our great regret) that it is not possible any longer 

 to trace the land which we have followed so far to the east. Having sailed into the 

 shoal as into a trap, we must get out the same way, trying one direction and another 

 and taking advantage of the ebb ; and having attained deeper water, first run south 

 to the 1 6th degree, or even further, should it be found advisable, and then turn the 

 bow northward along the coast of New Guinea, according to our previous resolution 

 come to on 6th March. 1 We were now, as before mentioned, in lat. 9 6' S. [say 

 9 13'. R. L. J.] and about 125 miles east of Aru, and, according to the chart 

 furnished to us, 2 and the estimates of the skippers and steersmen, not more than 5 

 miles from New Guinea, so that the space between us and the aforesaid New Guinea 

 appears to be a bight, which, because of its shoals, we have named the DROOGE BOCHT 

 [Dry Bight] in the new chart. 3 To the land which we have followed up to date, we 

 have, by resolution, given the name of the WESTEINDE VAN NOVA GUINEA (West End 

 of New Guinea), seeing that we have in reality found the land to be an UNBROKEN 

 WHOLE, although marked as islands, such as Ceram and the Papues, in the charts, 

 owing to misunderstanding and misleading information. 4 



" April 1st, the wind W. by S., good weather. Weighed anchor, and with the 

 ebb coming out of the NE., drifted with the stream i miles SW., and anchored in 

 6 fathoms. 



" On the 2nd, wind W. by N. Tried to get away to the W., on the ebb, in 4, 

 5 and 6 fathoms. During the whole day variable winds. Towards evening, anchored 

 in 4 fathoms, 3 miles from the land, and this day advanced W. and W. by N. 4 

 miles. 



" On the $rd, sailed again at daybreak, the wind N., course WNW., in 7, 2 and 

 i fathoms, the water in these parts being of greatly varying depths, so that the lead 



1 The fact that this resolution is not mentioned in the diary of 6th March leads to 

 a presumption that the minutes of meetings of the Full Council were kept in a separate 

 book ; this would be an interesting document. R. L. J. 



3 They must have been furnished with the " Duyfken's " charts. R. L. J. 



3 A marginal addendum to this note (presumably made by the writer of the Diary 

 itself) reads : " The Drooge Bocht, where we had to leave the west end of New Guinea, 

 is in 9 20' S. lat." 



* The charts available in 1623 already showed the insularity of Ceram, and clusters 

 of islands extending eastward and almost bridging over the space separating Ceram 

 from New Guinea. An observer sailing eastward to the south of these islands (especially 

 if insufficiently acquainted with charts of the region) might be pardoned for regarding 

 the land as unbroken from Ceram to New Guinea. The information in possession of the 

 Spanish and Portuguese of the period was by no means " misleading." R. L. J. 



