A.D. 1623.

In the name of God Amen.

JANUARY.

In the morning of Saturday the 21st we weighed anchor before Amboyna and set sail with the western monsoon together with the yacht Arnem...

MARCH.

On the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th we skirted the land with the wind and course aforesaid, and came to anchor at about a mile’s distance from the land.  I went ashore in person with the pinnaces duly manned and armed...[*]

[* What follows in the original is an almost verbatim transcript of the corresponding passages in the authentic journal.]

(Keerweer formerly mistaken for islands)

To this place or part of the land where the aforesaid happened, we have in the new chart given the name of Keer-Weer [Turn-again], seeing that the land here bends to S.W. and West, in 7 deg.  Latitude; the place, which has formerly been mistaken for a group of islands by the men of the yacht Duijfken in the year 1606 [*], lies about 50 miles S.E. by East of Aro...

[* The passage in the text furnishes interesting evidence respecting the voyage of the yacht Duifken in 1606; a fact that has so often been called in question, or even flatly denied.]

On the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st [of March] [*] with a W.N.W. wind in 2, 21/2, 3 and 4 fathom, we got clear of the shallows which we had previously run into as into a trap; we managed to do so by tacking and taking advantage of the current, so that in the evening of the 21st aforesaid we came to anchor in 7 fathom near an islet situated one mile or upwards S. and N. of the mainland...

[* A comparison with the authentic journal at the dates given, will enable the reader to ascertain the points which the yachts had then reached.]

On the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th [of April] we tried on divers courses, such as S.E. and S.E. by E., to make the land of Nova Guinea, until on the 8th aforesaid in the night-time we ran in between certain reefs, where by God’s providence the yachts were preserved from taking harm; after which on the 12th aforesaid we sighted the land of Nova Guinea in 11 deg. 45’, our yachts being in 131/2 fathom, clayey bottom.

On the 18th [of April], after running southward between 5 and 6 miles, we saw a large number of blacks on the beach; we therefore dropped anchor and sent the skipper ashore with the two pinnaces; who, by offering them pieces of iron and strings of beads, caused some of the blacks to draw near, so that he could lay hold of one of them, whom with the help of his men (who met with little resistance) he carried on board...

On the 5th, 6th and 7th [of May] we skirted the coast as before on a northward course, and repeatedly endeavoured to effect a landing, but were in every case treated by the savages in hostile fashion, and forced to return to the yachts...

On the 11th [of May] we sailed close inshore past a large river (which in 1606 the men of the yacht Duijfken went up with the boat, on which occasion one of them was killed by the arrows of the natives), situated in 11 deg. 48’ Lat., to which river we have in the new map given the name of...[*]