Qiap. I. Captain Wi l l i a 
vantao-eoufly, in the richeft Climates of the World, the 
Torrid and Temperate Zones, having in it, efpecially, all 
the Advantage of the Torrid Zone, as being known to reach 
from the Equator itfelf (within a Degree) to the Tropic 
of Capricorn , and beyond it ; that in coafting round it, 
which I defigned by this Voyage, if poffible, I could not 
but hope to meet with fome fruitful Lands, Continent or 
Eland, or both, productive of any of the rich Fruits, 
Drugs, or Spices, (pernaps IVImerals alfo, OV.) that aie in 
the other Parts of the Torrid Zone, under equal Parallels 
of Latitude, at lead a Soil and Air capable of fuch, upon ' 
tranfplanting them hither, and Cultivation. I meant alfo 
to make as diligent a Survey as I could of the feveral fmaller 
Iflands, Shores, Capes, Bays, Creeks, and Harbours, fit 
as well for Shelter as Defence, upon fortifying them ; and 
of the Rocks and Sholes, the Soundings, Tides, and Cur- 
rents, Wind and Weather Variation, &c. whatever might 
be beneficial for Navigation, Trade, or Settlement, or be 
of Ufe to any who fhould profecute the fame Defigns here- 
after, to whom it might be ferviceable to have fo much of 
their 5 Work done to their Hands, which they might ad- 
vance and perfeCf by their own repeated Experiences. As 
there is no Work of this kind brought to Perfection at 
once, I intended, efpecially, to obferve what Inhabitants I 
met with, and to try to win them over to fomewhat of 
Traffick, and ufeful Intercourfe, as there might be Com- 
modities among any of them that might be fit for Trade 
or Manufacture, or any found in which they might be em- 
ployed ; though, as to the New Hollanders hereabouts, 
by the Experience I had had of their Neighbours formerly, 
I expeftedLo great Matters from them. With luch Views 
as thefe I fet out at firft from England ; and would, accord- 
ing to the Method I propofed, have gone Weflward thro’ 
the Magellanic Streight, or round Terra del Fuego rather, 
that I might have begun my Diicoveries upon the Eaftern 
and leaft known Side of the Terra Aujiralis : But that Way 
was not poffible for me to go, by reafon of the Time of 
Year in which I came out •, for I muff have been compaff- 
ing the South of America in a very high Latitude, in the 
Depth of the Winter : I was therefore necelTitated to go 
Eaftward, by the Cape of Good Hope ; and, when I fhould 
be paft it, ’twas requifite I fhould keep in a pretty high 
Latitude, to avoid the general Trade-winds that would be 
againft me, and to have the Benefit of the variable Winds, 
by all which I was in a manner unavoidably determined to 
fall in firft with thofe Ports of New Holland I have hitherto 
been defcribing : For, fhould it be asked, why, at my firft 
making that Shore, I did not caft into the Southward, and 
that Way try to get round to the Eaft of New Holland , 
and New Guiney , I confefs, I was not for {pending any 
Time more than was neceffary in the higher Latitudes, as 
i knowing that the Land there could not be fo well worth 
the Difcovery, as the Parts that lay nearer the Line, and 
more direCtly under the Sun. Befides, at the Time when 
I fhould come firft on New Holland , which was early in 
the Spring, I muft, had I flood Eaftward, have had, for 
fome time, a great deal of Winter Weather, increafingin 
Severity, though not in Time, and in a Place altogether 
unknown, which my Men, who were heartlefs enough to 
the Voyage at belt, would never have borne, after fo long 
a Run from Brafil hither. For thefe Reafons, therefore, 
I chofe to coaft along to the N orthward, and fo to the Eaft ; 
and fo thought to come round by the South of Terra 
Aujiralis in my Return back, which fhould be in the Sum- 
mer Seafon there. And this Paffage back alfo I now 
thought I might poffibly be able to fhorten, fhould it ap- 
pear, at my getting to the Eaft Coaft of New Guiney , 
that there is a Chanel coming out into thofe Seas, as I 
now fufpeCted, near Rofemary IJland , unlefs the high Tides, 
and great Indraught thereabouts, fhould be occasioned by 
the Mouth of fome large River, which hath often Low- 
lands on each Side of its Outlet, and many Hands and 
Sholes lying at its Entrance. But I rather thought it a 
Chanel, or Streight, than a River ; and I was afterwards 
confirmed in this Opinion, when, by coafting New Guiney , 
I found, that other Parts of this great TraCt of Terra 
Aujiralis ^ which had hitherto been reprefentea as the Shore 
of a Continent, were certainly Elands, and, S tis probable, 
the fame with New Holland ; though, for Reafons I {hall 
. M D A MT IRE. Up 
afterwards fhe\v, I could not return the Way I propofed tb 
myfelf to fix the Difcovery. All that I had now feed from 
the 2j 6 South Latitude, to the 25% which is Sharks Bay q 
and again from thence to Rofemary IJlands , and about 20° 
Latitude, feems to be nothing but Ranges of pretty large 
Elands againft the Sea, whatever might be behind them 
to the Eaftward, whether Sea or Land, Continent or 
Elands. It was now neceffary for me to conftder what Step 
to take next; and, after mature Deliberation, I refolved 
to continue coafting along the Shore to the North Eaftward, 
in order to the further Difcovery of the Country, from a 
full Perfuafion, that, at leaft, in the Latitude of 1 6° 
I fhould not mifs of fweet Water, having been there be- 
fore, and met with it by digging. This Notion was cer- 
tainly reafonable in itfelf, and yet Experience fhewed it 
was but indifferently founded ; and a very little Accident 
of this fort became of Confequence among a Crew ready 
to lay hold of any Opportunity to call their Commander’s 
Knowledge in queftion, to magnify the Difficulties of the 
Voyage, and to countenance whatever might feem to fup- 
port their own favourite, though impracticable, Defign of 
returning Home. 
14. Such, I fay, were my Thoughts of the Matter ; 
when, Sept. 5. 1699, I put to Sea with a gentle Gale : Yet 
was I quickly obliged to change my Defign. In a Day’s 
time I perceived, that the Sholes upon the Coaft would 
make it a very difficult, if not impracticable. Thing to fail 
along the Shore, or to put in where I might incline to do 
it. I therefore edged farther off to Sea, and fo deepened 
the Water from eleven to thirty-two Fathom. The next 
Day, being September 6. we could but juft dffeern the 
Land, though we had then no more than about thirty Fa- 
thom uncertain Soundings ; for, even while we were out 
of Sight of Land, we had once but feven Fathom, and 
had alfo great and uncertain Tides whirling about, that 
made me afraid to go near a Coaft fo fhallow, where we 
might be foon aground, and yet have but little Wind to 
bring us off : For fhould a Ship be near a Shole, we might 
be hurled upon it unavoidably by a ftrong Tide, unlefs 
there fhould be a good Wind to work her off. Thus, alfo, 
on the 7th Day, we faw no Land, though our Water de- 
creafed again to twenty-fix Fathom ; for we had deepened 
it, as I laid, to thirty. This Day we faw two Water- 
fnakes, different in Shape from fuch as we had formerly 
feen ; the one was very fmall, though long ; the other 
long, and as big as a Man’s Leg, having a red Head, 
which I never faw any have before or fince. We had this 
Day 1 6° f Latitude by Obfervation : I was, by this time, 
to the' North of the Place I thought to have put in at; 
and though I knew, by the Experience I had of it then, 
that there was a deep Entrance in thither from the Eaft- 
ward, yet, by the Sholes I had hitherto found, fo far 
{Fetched on this Coaft, I was afraid we fhould have the fame 
Trouble to coaft along afterwards beyond that Place ; and, 
befides the Danger of running almoft continually amongft 
Sholes on a ftrange Shore, and where the Tides were 
ftrong and high, I began to bethink myfelf, that a great 
Part of my Time muft have been fpent in being about 
a Shore I was already almoft weary of, which I might em- 
ploy with greater Satisfaction to my Mind, and better 
Hopes of Succefs, in going forward to New Guiney : Add 
to this, the particular Danger I fhould have been in upon a 
Lee-fhore, fuch as is here deferibed, when the North-weft 
Monfoon fhould once come in, the ordinary Seafon of which 
was not now far off, though this Year it ftaid beyond the 
common Seafon ; and it comes on {forming, at firft, with 
Tornadoes, violent Guffs, &c. Wherefore, quitting the 
Thoughts of putting in at New Holland , I refolved to fteer 
away for the Hand Timor ; where, befides getting frefh 
Water, I might probably expeCf to be furnifhed with Fruits, 
and other Refreshments, to recruit my Men, who began 
to droop, fome of them being already, to my Grief, af- 
flicted with the Scurvy, which was likely to increafe upon 
them, and difable them, and was promoted by the brackifh 
Water they took in laft for boiling their Oatmeal. ’Twas 
now, alfo, towards the latter End of the dry Seafon, when 
I might not, probably, have found Water fo plentifully 
upon digging at that Part of New Holland , as when I was 
there before : And then, confidering the Time alfo that I 
muft 
J 
