April
Through the early part of April the two vessels seem to have been out of sight of land, then:
12 ...at sunrise we saw the land of Nova Guinea, showing itself as a low-lying coast without hills or mountains ... at noon we were in Lat. 11° 45’ South, which would place them somewhere near Port Musgrave.
13 ...we still saw the land ... and found it to be of the same shape as before;... at noon we were in 12° 53’ (south of Albatross Bay), towards daybreak on the 15th we were so near the land that one might have recognised persons on shore and by noon we were in 14° 30’ The land which we have hitherto seen and followed, extends S. and N.; it is low-lying and without variety, having a fine sandy beach in various places.
14 While the two vessels were out of sight of land they passed Cape Keerweer.
15 In the afternoon we dropped anchor owing to the calm ,,. Great volumes of smoke becoming visible on the land, the subcargo got orders to land with the two pinnaces, duly manned and armed ... when the pinnaces returned at nightfall, the subcargo reported that the pinnaces could get no farther than a stone’s throw from the land, owing to the muddy bottom into which the men sunk to their waists; but that they had in various places seen blacks emerging from the wood, while others lay hid in the coppice; they therefore sent a man ashore with some pieces of iron and strings of beads tied to a stick, in order to attract the blacks; but as nothing could be effected and the night was coming on, they had been forced to return to the yachts.
17 ...towards the evening, it fell a calm, so that we dropped anchor with the ebb, after which I went ashore myself with the two pinnaces duly provided with men and arms; we went a considerable distance into the interior, which we found to be a flat, fine country with few trees, and a good soil for planting and sowing, but so far as we could observe utterly destitute of fresh water. Nor did we see any human beings or even signs of them; near the strand the coast was sandy with a fine beach and plenty of excellent fish.
18 ...about noon, as we saw persons on the beach, we cast anchor ... the skipper of the Pera got orders to row to land with the two pinnaces, duly provided for defence ... when the pinnaces returned, we were informed by the skipper that as soon as he had landed with his men, a large number of blacks, some of them armed and others unarmed, had made up to them; these blacks showed no fear and were so bold as to touch the muskets of our men and to try to take the same off their shoulders, while they wanted to have whatever they could make use of; our men accordingly diverted their attention by showing them iron and beads, and espying vantage, seized one of the blacks by a string which he wore round his neck and carried him off to the pinnace; the blacks who remained on the beach, set up dreadful howls and made violent gestures, but the others who kept concealed in the wood remained there. These natives are coal-black, with lean bodies and stark naked, having twisted baskets or nets round their heads; in hair and figure they are like the blacks of the Coromandel coast, but they seem to be less cunning, bold and evil-natured than the blacks at the western extremity of Nova Guinea; their weapons, of which we bring specimens along with us, are less deadly than those we have seen used by other blacks; the weapons in use with them are assagays, shields, clubs and sticks about half a fathom in length; as regards their customs and policy and the nature of the country, Your Worships will in time be able to get information from the black man we have got hold of, to whom I would beg leave to refer you.