50 
W. B. ALEXANDER, M.A. : 
ape (• i.e prehensile), moreover the whelps are referred to in the 
plural, which would rule out both the kangaroo and the Australian 
opossum, but would fit the American opossum. 
The first undoubted record of Australian animals is contained 
in the letter of Skipper Haevick Claeszoon van Hillegom to the 
manager of the Dutch East India Company, dated June 24, 
1618, in which he gives his report of the voyage of his ship, the 
“ Seewolf," from the Cape of Good Hope to Jacatra, in Java. 
He says : “ On the gth of May (1618) we got into latitude 28° 26' 
South [a little north of Geraldtonj, where we saw numbers of 
birds, many of which seemed to be land-birds, such as a white 
tern and a few ternlets, so that I surmised we were near the 
land. ... On the nth do. we saw land in 21 0 20' S. Lat. [N.W. 
Cape] ; we saw a good deal of seaweed floating about, and ob- 
served’ land-birds up to the 1 6th degree, both of these being signs 
of the proximity of the mainland.” 
From “ The Book of Despatches from Batavia ” we learn 
that “ in the year 1628 the great south land was accidentally 
discovered on the north side in the latitude of 2i c S. N.W. Cape] 
by the ship ‘ Vianen,’ homeward bound from India [Java] ; 
when they coasted about 50 Dutch, 200 English miles without 
gaining any particular knowledge of this great country, only 
observing a foul and barren shore, green fields, and very wild, 
black, barbarous inhabitants ” 
Having noted this first record of the Australian aboriginal 
I shall omit the references to the lord of creation and his habits 
contained in subsequent accounts, and confine myself to the 
humbler members of the Western Australian fauna. Perhaps 
some other member of the Society will devote himself to bringing 
together the ver\ considerable amount of anthropological and 
ethnological material contained in the early records with which 
we are dealing. 
The next records are contained in the letter of Supercargo 
}. Van Roosenbergh, to the directors of the Dutch East India 
Company, containing the details of the voyage of his ship. “ Het 
Wapen van Hoorn ” to Java. 
He says : “ On the 17th of September (1627) we sighted the 
land of d’Eendracht, near Dirck Hartochs reede (Sharks Bay). . .. 
The many-coloured birds which we met near the islands of 1 ristan 
de A concha left us two days before, just as they did when we got 
near the Cape of Good Hope, so that they would seem to Dislike 
the land. Instead of them, we saw a black bird with a white 
tail, having white streaks here and there under its wings; a bird 
it seems of rare occurrence. 1 liree or four days before we. also 
saw a number of sandpipers. ( lose inshore we also saw a quantity 
of cuttlebone, but the pieces were very small and scattered.” 
