HOUTMAN’S ABROLHOS. 133 
and aerial elements. The assumption that corresponding strongly marked divergencies 
may possibly exist with respect to the fish and other inhabitants of the adjacent 
waters of similarly contiguous lands would seem, at first sight, to possess but little 
ground for serious entertainment. The main object of the present Chapter is to testify 
to a very conspicuous example of such marine faunal diversity that has fallen within 
the writer's purview. The geographical region which has furnished the testimony to be 
presently submitted is a small group of islands lying at a little distance off the coast of 
Western Australia, and diversely distinguished on maps and charts by the titles of 
“ Houtman’s Rocks” and “ Houtman’s Abrolhos.” 
From many points of view this island group yields data of high interest, and 
invites attention apart from the more especial subject matter of this Chapter. 
Houtman’s Abrolhos takes its title in commemoration of the name of Frederic Houtman, 
one of the earliest Dutch explorers, who has been credited with their discovery, 
as well as in contradistinction to an island group of corresponding character, likewise 
named the Abrolhos, that is situated off the coast of Brazil. More particular interest 
attaches itself to Houtman’s group with reference to the circumstance that it was 
the wreck there of the Dutch East Indian Company’s ship, the “ Batavia,” in the 
command of Captain Francis Pelsart, in the year 1629, that led to the earliest 
recorded discovery of the great Island-Continent of Australia. As the islands lay but 
a little to the eastward of the course of the vessels trading round the Cape of Good Hope 
to the, at that time, extensive Dutch possessions, it is not a matter of surprise that 
in those early days, prior to the existence of reliable charts, numerous vessels suffered 
shipwreck on the low-lying reefs. The “ Vergulde Draeck,” the ‘“Zeewyk,” the 
“ Ridderschap von Holland,” the “ Zuysdorp,” and others, all belonging to the same 
nationality, may be named among those which, in addition to the “ Batavia,” 
came to an untimely end on the Abrolhos reefs. The last-named vessel, however, is 
the one around which pre-eminent notoriety will always cling, by virtue of the tragic 
events attending its wreck. The reader may be referred to that very excellent little 
booklet “ Pinkerton’s Early Australian Voyages,” published by Messrs. Cassell and 
Co., for a succinct account of the events referred to, which are further embodied 
“in a more artistically embellished form in Mr. W. J. Gordon’s novel, “The Captain 
General.” For the purposes of this Chapter the following brief epitomisation of the 
leading facts will suffice. 
The “Batavia,” in the command of Captain Francis Pelsart, was one of a 
fleet of eleven Dutch vessels which sailed from Texel for the East Indies, via the 
