THE WHOLE COAST OF NEW GUINEA.
On the 20th, in the latitude of 5 degrees 4 minutes south, and in the
longitude 164 degrees 27 minutes, we found the variation 8 degrees 30
minutes east. We that night drew near the Brandande Yland, _i.e_.,
burning island, which William Schovten mentions, and we perceived a great
flame issuing, as he says, from the top of a high mountain. When we were
between that island and the continent, we saw a vast number of fires
along the shore and half-way up the mountain, from whence we concluded
that the country must be very populous. We were often detained on this
coast by calms, and frequently observed small trees, bamboos, and shrubs,
which the rivers on that coast carried into the sea; from which we
inferred that this part of the country was extremely well watered, and
that the land must be very good. The next morning we passed the burning
mountain, and continued a west-north-west course along that coast.
It is remarkable that Schovten had made the same observation with respect
to the driftwood forced by the rivers into the sea. He likewise observed
that there was so copious a discharge of fresh water, that it altered the
colour and the taste of the sea. He likewise says that the burning
island is extremely well peopled, and also well cultivated. He
afterwards anchored on the coast of the continent, and endeavoured to
trade with the natives, who made him pay very dear for hogs and cocoa-
nuts, and likewise showed him some ginger. It appears from Captain
Tasman's account that he was now in haste to return to Batavia, and did
not give himself so much trouble as at the beginning about discoveries,
and to say the truth, there was no great occasion, if, as I observed, his
commission was no more than to sail round the new discovered coasts, in
order to lay them down with greater certainty in the Dutch charts.