THE HISTORY OF ZOOLOGY IX WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
55 
On the 12th they again landed to try and obtain an inter- 
view with the natives hut without avail. “ The men, the birds, 
the swans, the cormorants, the pelicans, the geese, the cockatoos, 
the parroguets, etc., all fled at the sight of us. lhe best of it 
is that no vermin is found there ; but in the daytime one is 
terribly tormented with the flies.” 
They coasted northwards, and on the 15th, in latitude 50 
13', landed in a bay (perhaps Jurien Bay) and proceeded nearly 
a league and a half inland ; “ but we saw no men nor fresh water, 
but several footsteps of men, and steps like those of the dog, and 
of the cassowary. One of our people said that he had seen a 
red serpent. Some others said that as soon as we reached the 
shore, they saw a yellow dog leaping from the wild herbage, 
and throwing itself into the sea, as if to amuse himself with 
swimming. What truth there was in these statements, 1 do not 
know. At all events I did not see either of these things myself. 
On the 17th they brought on board from an island a quantity 
of sea-mews. The latitude 30° 42'. . . . On the 22nd we landed 
and found, at two hundred paces from the shore, a brackish 
stream, along which we walked landwards for a quarter of an 
hour. The middle was rather deep, and the fish pretty plentiful. 
We should have followed it further, but, the time being too 
short, we returned, and on the road saw many footprints like 
those of a dog ; but saw no men, nor animals, nor trees, the 
country here being twice as barren as what we had before seen. 
“ On the 25th we found a good many oysters.” 
“ On the 30th we entered Dirk Hartog’s Refede (Sharks Bay) 
Here we caught a good quantity of fish and saw a number of 
turtles. On the 2nd we took three great sharks, one of which 
had nearly thirteen little ones of the size of a large pike. Our 
captain brought back with him a large bird’s head, and related 
that he had seen two nests, made of boughs, which were full 
three fathoms in circumference.” 
“ On the 5th we took five turtles on the island [Dirk Hartog 
Island). 
“ On the 6th we saw a great many turtles, and in the corner 
of a rock a very large nest made like a stork’s nest. On the 7th 
in the evening we took a fish of immense size, of which twenty -four 
of us partook. It had exactly the natural taste of the ray. 
There remained enough for thirty more persons to feed on. 
“ On the qth, near the mainland, we saw several ducks.” 
This account concludes the Dutch contributions to Western 
Australian natural history. Meanwhile Dampier, on his return 
to England, had attained to considerable fame by the publication 
of his travels, and he urged the authorities to allow him to under- 
take an expedition for the proper exploration of Australia, holding 
out the hope that gold might be discovered there. 
