THE DUTCH DISCOVER AUSTRALIA 249 



about 28|. The cartography of the coast had never coen is 

 been successfully accomplished, and Dutch ships were, nearl y 

 said Coen, in "daily peril." In September 1627, as he O n the 

 returned to Java for a second period of government, his 

 ship suddenly one afternoon " came upon the land of 

 D'Eendracht" in 28|. "We were," he says, "at less 

 than half a mile's distance from the breakers before per- 

 ceiving the same. If we had come upon this place in the 

 night time, we should have been in a thousand perils 

 with our ship and crew." The danger, he explains, was 

 largely due to the fact that Dutch ships made use of 

 various types of maps, and that these various types placed 

 the Abrolhos in very different places. According to the 

 " plane Charts," the ship was between three hundred and 

 fifty miles from land. According to the " Chart with 

 increasing degrees," land was a hundred miles away. 

 According to the "terrestrial globe," it was fifty miles 

 away. And, according to facts, they were almost on top 

 of it. Here were matters to which most seamen pay 

 little attention, but they were " still daily bringing many 

 vessels into great perils." 



Next year (1629) the greatness of the peril was shown The wreck of 

 by the shipwreck of the Batavia, sailing under Francois the J^ atavia 

 Pelsart. The shipwreck is the one coloured picture Abrolhos, 

 in the drab Dutch narrative, and it is coloured in hues 9 ' 

 so ghastly that one is made inclined to praise the usual 

 drab. On the night of the 4th of June, Pelsart, sick in 

 bed, " felt the ship strike the rocks with a violent horrible 

 shock." The " Master," who had been in charge of the 

 steering, defended himself by saying that he thought 

 the whiteness of the froth was caused by the rays of the 

 moon ; and when asked what was to be done, and in what 

 part of the world they were, replied that " God only knew, 

 and that the ship was on an unknown reef." It was evident, 

 however, that the unknown reef was among the Abrolhos, 

 and that they were surrounded by rocks and shoals. No 

 land was in sight that seemed likely to remain above 

 water at high tide, save " two small islets or cliffs " ; 

 and, " moved by the loud lamentations raised on board 



