(The Vleermuys-Eylandt is in 8 degrees 8 minutes Lat., 40 miles east of
the Valsch Caep.)
That the island aforesaid is in 8° 8' Southern Latitude, about a mile
south and north of the mainland as before mentioned; it is pretty high,
having a great number of wild trees on the east-side, and being quite
bare on the west-side. It is about a quarter of a mile in circumference,
and is surrounded by numerous cliffs and rocks, overgrown with oysters
and mussels, the soil is excellent and fit to be planted and sown with
everything; by estimation it bears a hundred full-grown cocoanut-trees
and a great many younger ones; we also observed some banana- and
oubi-trees; we besides found fresh water here, which comes trickling
through the clay in small rills, and has to be gathered in pits dug for
the purpose; the island also contains large numbers of bats living in the
trees, on which account we have given to it the name of Vleermuys-Eylant
[Bats' Island] in the new chart. We have seen no huts or human beings in
it, but found unmistakable signs that there had been men here at some
previous time.
* * *
(Clappes Cust [Cocoanut Coast].)
On the 26th the weather was good, the wind N.N.W., course held S.E. by E.
along the land in 5 fathom. In the forenoon 4 small canoes put off from
the land and followed us; we waited for them to come alongside, and found
they were manned with 25 blacks, who had nothing with them except their
arms; they called out and made signs for us to come ashore; we then threw
out to them some small pieces of iron and strings of beads, at which they
showed great satisfaction; they paid little or no attention to the gold,
silver, copper, nutmegs and cloves which we showed them, though they were
quite ready to accept these articles as presents. Their canoes are very
skilfully made out of one piece of wood, some of them being so large that
they will hold 20 and even more blacks. Their paddles are long, and they
use them standing or sitting; the men are black, tall and well-built,
with coarse and strong limbs, and curly hair, like the Caffres, some of
them wearing it tied to the neck in a knot, and others letting it fall
loose down to the waist. They have hardly any beards; some of them have
two, others three holes through the nose, in which they wear fangs or
teeth of hogs or sword-fishes. They are stark-naked and have their
privities enclosed in a conch shell, fastened to the waist with a bit of
string; they wear no rings of gold, silver, copper, tin, or iron on their
persons, but adorn themselves with rings made of tortoise shell or
terturago (_Spanish_ tortuga?), from which it may be inferred that their
land yields no metals or wood of any value, but is all low-lying and
half-submerged, as we have actually found it to be; there were also among
them some not provided with paddles, but wearing two strings of human
teeth round their necks, and excelling all the others in ugliness; these
men carried on the left arm a hammer with a wooden handle and at one end
a black conch-shell, the size of a man's fist, the other end by which
they hold it, being fitted with a three-sided bone, not unlike a piece of
stag's horn; in exchange for one of these hammers they were offered a
rug, some strings of {Page 33} beads and bits of iron, which they
refused, though they were willing to barter the same for one of the boys,
whom they seemed to have a great mind to. Those who carry the hammers
aforesaid would seem to be noblemen or valiant soldiers among them. The
people are cunning and suspicious, and no stratagems on our part availed
to draw them near enough to us to enable us to catch one or two with
nooses which we had prepared for the purpose; their canoes also contained
a number of human thigh-bones, which they repeatedly held up to us, but
we were unable to make out what they meant by this. Finally they asked
for a rope to tow the yacht to shore, but soon got tired of the work, and
paddled back to the land in a great hurry.
In the evening we cast anchor in three fathom about 3 miles from the
land, having sailed 13 miles this day.
In the morning of the 27th the wind was W.N.W. with a stiff breeze,
course held S.E. by S. and S.E., on which we sailed 7 miles, and
afterwards E.S.E. 5 miles, in 5Ω, 5 and 3 fathom; in the evening we came
to anchor in 6Ω fathom, 3Ω miles from the land; a quarter of a mile
farther to landward we saw a sandbank, on which the Aernem struck but got
off again, for which God be praised.
On the 28th we set sail again, with a N.W. wind, on an eastern course
towards the land, in various depths, such as 7, 9, 12, 4 and 5Ω fathom;
at noon we were in 9° 6' S. Lat., having sailed 5 miles; from noon till
the evening we ran on an E. by S. course a distance Of 4 miles in 18, 12,
9, 7, 5 and 2 fathom, after which we cast anchor, and sent out the
pinnace to take soundings; the water being found to become deeper nearer
the coast, we again weighed anchor and sailed to the land, casting anchor
finally in 4 fathom three miles from the coast.
In the morning of the 29th the wind was N.N.E. with fine weather; in the
forenoon it was deemed advisable to send off the boat of the Pera with
thirteen men and the steersman of the Aernem and victualled for four
days, in order to take soundings and skirt the land, which extended
E.N.E., for a distance of 7 or 8 miles.
On the 30th the wind was N. with good weather, so that we also sent out
the pinnace of the Aernem in order to take soundings in various
directions 2 or 3 miles from the yachts; at low water we saw various
sandbanks and reefs lying dry, to wit E.S.E., S.S.W. and W.; in the
afternoon the pinnace of the Aernem returned on board, having found
shallows everywhere at 2 miles' distance. Towards the evening the boat of
the Pera also returned, when we heard from the steersman that they had
been E. by S. and E.S.E. of the yachts, at about 8 miles' distance, where
they had found very shallow water, no more than 7, 8, 9 and 10 feet,
which extended a mile or more, and was succeeded by depths Of 2, 2Ω, 3, 5
and 7 fathom; they had found the land to extend E. and E. by N., and to
be very low-lying and muddy, and overgrown with low brushwood and wild
trees.
On the 31st the wind was N.N.E. with rain. In the afternoon I rowed with
the two pinnaces to one of the reefs in order to examine the state of
things between the yachts and the land, which space had fallen dry at low
tide; in the afternoon the skipper of the Pera also got orders to row to
the land with the boat duly manned and armed, in order to ascertain
whether anything could be done for the service of our Masters, and to
attempt to get a parley with the inhabitants and to get hold of one or
two of them, if practicable; very late in the evening the boat returned
on board, and we were informed by the skipper that, although it was high
water, they could not come nearer than to a pistol-shot's distance from
the land owing to the shallow water and the soft mud; they also reported
the land to be low-lying and half-submerged, overgrown with brushwood and
wild trees.
* * *
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