50 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



and rowing to the ship. It was just after noon when they came 

 alongside, and the latitude of the anchorage (13 7' S.) having 

 been taken, the anchor was lifted, and the " Pera " resumed her 

 northward voyage. I conclude that they walked about four 

 miles north, and the same distance back, which would put the 

 COEN RIVER in 13 4' S. latitude. MR. N. HEY, of the Mapoon 

 Mission, informs me that 'precisely in this position is a creek, 

 which is the only watercourse between False Pera Head (12 58' 

 S.), and the mouth of Ina Creek (13 12' S.). This must be 

 CARSTENSZOON'S COEN REVIER. The subject is discussed in 

 greater detail in the chapters devoted to Mr. J. T. Embley's 

 Explorations and Surveys and Missionary Explorations. 



It may be noted here that Flinders' " Chart of Terra Aus- 

 tralis," 1802-3 (Admiralty Chart No. 1043), gives the name of 

 " False Pera Head" to a small promontory in lat. 13 7', while 

 on Sheet 2oD of the modern 4-mile map of Queensland issued by 

 the Department of Lands the name is given to a promontory 

 about 3 minutes south of Pera Head, which is in 12 55'. Although 

 I am not aware on what ground the change was made, I accept 

 it as authoritative, especially as what Flinders called False Pera 

 Head had been named RIJDER'S HOEK in 1756 by JEAN ETIENNE 



GONZAL. R. L. J.] 



NOTE IN THE DIARY. " Wherever we have landed, we have 

 treated the blacks or savages with especial kindness by every 

 means in our power, such as offering them presents of iron, beads 

 and cloth, so as by this pretence to win their friendship and be 

 allowed to penetrate some distance inland and make a reliable 

 report on what we saw. But, notwithstanding all this care and 

 fair seeming, 1 the blacks everywhere met us with the most marked 

 hostility, so that in most places our landings were attended with 

 great peril. Thus, and for various other reasons afterwards to 

 be mentioned, it has not been possible to learn how Nova Guinea 

 is populated, what sort of people and soil there are, what towns, 

 what inhabited villages, what distribution of wealth, what religion, 

 what politics, what preparation for war, what waters, what 

 shipping, what raw materials, what manufactures, or what ores 

 of gold, silver, tin, iron, lead, copper or quicksilver are to be had. 

 In the first place, in any further landings, we should have to look 

 out for rain which, at times when need for muskets might arise, 

 would be very damaging to them, whereas the weapons of the 

 savages would not be injuriously affected. Secondly, the paths 

 and roads, which are unknown to us, would have to be surveyed. 

 Thirdly, we might easily, seeing the number of the blacks, be 

 surrounded and cut off from the boats, and then the boats' crews 

 which we always employed in the landings, but who could not 

 be depended upon in the use of their weapons, would have been 



1 This is a very subjective way of putting it 1 Note by Heeres. 



