54 



NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



11 48'. North of this latitude, and in the afternoon, having 

 passed a large inlet, which we identified as that where the 

 4 Duyjken ' had one of her men killed, and which we named the 

 REVIER DE CARPENTIER (Carpentier Inlet), we dropped the anchor. 

 We landed here next morning. ..." 



The mouth of a river, now known as the SKARDON, enters the 

 Gulf in 11 45', and everything points to this having been the 

 inlet which Carstenszoon named the Carpentier. 



It is very strange that the " Pera " should have passed, without 

 remark, the entrance to PORT MUSGRAVE, which is practically the 

 estuary of the great river which Tasman was the first to notice in 

 1644 and to which Asschens, in 1756, gave the name of BATAVIA, 

 no doubt believing it to be de Leeuw's Batavia, that is to say, 

 Carstenszoon's Carpentier. According to Mr. J. T. Embley, 

 who is very familiar with the aspect of this portion of the coast, 

 the entrance to Port Musgrave could hardly be missed by a ship 

 passing in daylight and fine weather. Perhaps it was not un- 

 observed by the officers of the " Pera" but the true explanation 

 of their silence regarding it may lie in their anxiety to make 

 northing, coupled with the fact that they were making good 

 progress and the consideration that they passed the entrance too 

 early in the day to be willing to stop. On the other hand, the 

 identification, later in the day, of the inlet which had been the 

 scene of the " Duyjkerfs " mishap formed a perfectly sound reason 

 for a halt with the object of making observations on shore. 



Returning to DE LEEUW'S CHART : it bears, to my thinking, 

 internal evidence of having been constructed perhaps by re- 

 quest some time after the conclusion of the voyage, and from 

 memory, possibly with the aid of notes, by a man who had not, 

 at the time, access to the ship's log or diary, or to the authentic 

 " newly made chart " so often referred to therein. The following 

 table shows, by means of parallel columns, how imperfect was 

 de Leeuw's knowledge (or recollection) of the positions of the 

 various inlets referred to in the log. 



APPROXIMATE LATITUDES (BY SCALE) ON DE LEEUW'S CHART, COMPARED WITH 

 LATITUDES GIVEN IN THE " PERA'S " LOG AND CONFIRMED BY MODERN CHARTING 



