134 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



to explore the inlet. . . . We had a good deal of difficulty to get in on account of 

 the shoals, the channel among them being narrow and winding and not more than 

 9 to 12 feet deep. On the north side was a party of NATIVES, and Bongaree went 

 on shore to them, naked and unarmed ; but, although provided with spears, they 

 retreated from him and all our endeavours to bring about an interview were unsuccessful. 

 It was not safe for the gentlemen to botanise in presence of these suspicious people, 

 and therefore we rowed a mile higher up, to a green-looking point on the same side 

 and landed about noon. The depth thus far was 2 fathoms, and I could see ^\ miles 

 further up the inlet to the ESE., where it turned more southward round a wooded 

 point, and, from the strength of the tide, probably extended some miles into the 

 country. 



" While the botanists were making their examination and I walked along the shore 

 to shoot some birds, several voices were heard in the wood, as of people advancing 

 towards us. ... We rowed back to the first place, where the country was open, 

 and the gentlemen botanised, whilst sentinels kept watch on the sandy hillocks. . . . 



" Before quitting the shore, a hatchet was made fast to the branch of a tree and 

 set up conspicuously near the water side. We had scarcely shoved off, when the 

 party of Indians, sixteen in number, made their appearance and called to us ; but 

 when the boat's head was turned towards them they ran away. On the south side 

 of the entrance were four other natives, who also ran at our approach. We therefore 

 set up another hatchet for them, and returned back to the ship. 



" These people were all naked ; and in colour, as in everything else, seemed to 

 have a perfect resemblance to the inhabitants of the east and south coasts of Terra 

 Australis. In Torres Strait, bows and arrows are the offensive weapons ; but here 

 we saw spears only. Each man had several in his hand, and something which was 

 supposed to be a throwing stick. 



" This small opening appears to be the COEN RIVER of the Dutch chart. Its 

 latitude is 12 13' S. . . ." 



Tasman was the first to chart this inlet (1644), and he named it 

 PRINCE REVIER. Flinders' suggested identification of it was a most 

 unfortunate one, and was destined to give rise to much confusion 

 in later years. He could not possibly have made the mistake had he 

 been in possession of the diary of Carstenszoon's voyage in the 

 " Pera" which distinctly places his COEN INLET, where he landed 

 on 8th May, 1623, and kidnapped a native, in 13 7' S., i.e., midway 

 between the mouth of the Archer River and Pera Head, the 

 southern horn of Albatross Bay. The fact is, Flinders had to rely 

 on second-hand and generalised charts, such as Thevenot's, 1 of 

 which he gives a copy as an inset in his Chart Sheet 2, in the atlas 

 issued with Terra Australis. When, in the process of land explora- 

 tion, it became necessary to give names to rivers which rose in the 

 ranges near the east coast of the Peninsula, but obviously flowed 

 towards the Gulf, the natural tendency was to connect the new 

 rivers with the few inlets, or reviers, which appeared on the map 

 of the Gulf coast. Thus, when, in 1876, a goldfield was discovered 

 in 13 55' S. and 143 13' E., on a river which flowed to the north- 

 west, the discoverers believed themselves to be near the head of the 



1 Melchisadech Thevenot. Divers Voyages Curieux. Fol. Paris, 1663-72. The 

 source of Thevenot's information is left to conjecture. His chart summarises Tasman's 

 discoveries, but as it agrees neither with the version of Tasman's chart published by 

 Swart, nor with that published by Heeres, it was probably taken from some con- 

 temporary chart to which neither Swart nor Heeres had access. 



