Quotation from: The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765

Written by: J.E. Heeres


On the 16th do. in the morning we weighed anchor again with a S.S.E. wind
and a top-gallant gale. We again ran close along the land with small sail
at about a howitzer's shot's distance from the surf. Towards noon we
sighted the inlet which we had meant to run into on the 8th of June last,
when we were seeking water with the pinnace, and {Page 62} where we were
befallen by a storm from the north-west, which would certainly have sent
us to destruction, if God had not miraculously saved us. Here we saw
divers smoke-clouds rising up, which gladdened us all with the hope that
our men might be there. I therefore sent the pinnace ashore directly for
the purpose of getting certain information regarding the place and the
clouds of smoke we had seen; the men in her, after rounding a steep
point, where we had suspected the presence of water, discovered a running
streamlet, of which the water was brackish near the sea, but quite fresh
higher up; they also found a great many human footprints and continuous
footpaths leading to the mountains, and saw numerous clouds of smoke, but
the blacks kept themselves in concealment, and no human being was seen.

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