charts g-ive no name. The latitude of the anchorage was made out
to be 13 S. at noon on the following day. I can only conclude
that this was a faulty observation, as it is contradicted by the obser-
vations of the two preceding days, which agree with the contour of
the coast-line. In the morning of the same day, a boat's crew
landed, after having been met by two men in a canoe, who invited
them to come ashore. Eleven men and five women met them on
the beach, the men being armed with spears. The NATIVES tried
to take off the hats of the visitors, which the latter resisted ; where-
upon the natives threatened with their spears. A shot was fired
and the crowd fled, with the exception of one youth, who was
carried on board.
The sailors found a large pond of fresh water, and judged that
the country, if cultivated, would prove fertile. It was remarked
that the natives subsisted mainly on roots of trees, and wild fruits
such as batatas or oubis, with a little fish, and that they seemed
to have some knowledge of gold when some lumps of the metal were
shown them. It is not stated on what occasion these observations
were made. It cannot have been on the single interview above
referred to.
On 1 6th June, the course was set westward for AERNEM'S LAND.
On the 24^, the " MAINLAND OF NEW HOLLAND " was sighted, and
the home journey was concluded via Timor and Rotti.
Inasmuch as her crew effected landings on Prince of Wales
Island and at three different localities on the mainland, the "Rijder "
added more to our knowledge of the interior and its inhabitants
than the " Buijs" whose men were defeated on their only attempt
at landing. The " Rijder " was the first (except, perhaps, the
" Duyjken ") to land a party in the neighbourhood of DUYFKEN
POINT and to explore the southern shore of ALBATROSS BAY. The
landing south of PERA HEAD confirmed the existence of the " Pera's "
watering-place. The last landing on the Peninsula, at RIJDER'S
HOEK, was made in a locality till then unvisited. After this landing,
probably no white footprint marked the soil until, fourteen years
later, Captain Cook landed on the eastern coast of the Peninsula.
Page:Northmost Australia volume 1.djvu/106
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THE "RIJDER" (GONZAL)
81