150 DUTCH REMAINS. 



short stout Dutch build, and were placed in rows, 

 as if for the purpose of collecting water ; some of 

 them were very large, being capable of holding five 

 or six gallons ; they were in part buried in the sand, 

 and the portion which was left exposed to the air 

 presented a singular appearance, being covered 

 with a white substance that had eaten away the 

 glaze. A number of seal bones were noticed on 

 this island ; and I have no doubt they are the re- 

 mains of those that were killed by the crew of the 

 Zeewyk for their subsistence. On the north end 

 of the island was a bole containing brackish water ; 

 when we dug it deeper the salt water poured in. 

 The nest small islet to the E. S. E. we discovered 

 to be that on which the Dutchmen had built their 

 sloop. On the west side of it was a spot free from 

 coral reefs, thus offering them facilities, no where 

 else afforded, for launching the bark which ultimately 

 carried them in safety to Batavia. 



A mile and a half to the southward of Gun 

 Island, opposite a singular looking indentation in 

 the outer side of the reefs, a small cluster of cliffy 

 islets approaches within half a mile of them. It is 

 rather singular that in another of the group— larger 

 than Gun Island, lying in the centre of the lagoon, 

 and the only one not visited by the Beagle*s boats, 

 — water should have been found by a party who 

 came from Swan River to save the wreck of a ship 

 lost in 1843, close to the spot on which the Batavia 

 struck more than two hundred vcars ai»o. This island 



