Inasmuch as for a long time past the “Heeren Majores” have been very instantly recommending to us the discovery of the South-land, and still continue to do so, and we have frequently discussed the matter with...even before his departure, therefore it has been resolved and determined in the Council of India that you shall be employed with the Yachts Cleen Amsterdam and Wesel in the said discovery of the lands east of Banda and of the South-land extending to westward.

You will set sail from Amboyna for Banda, in the name of God, With the said yachts Cleen Amsterdam and Wesel on the first of April next, and when you shall have arrived there, you will communicate these Orders and Instructions to the Lord Governor Acoley.

Whom by these presents we enjoin to hand you in writing all such ampler information as during his residence at Banda His Worship shall have collected touching the {Page 65} lands and islands situated east of Banda, at the same time letting you know where and in what islands His Worship thinks some profit to be obtainable for the Company, or how massoye bark and fitting men may be got, which order will in that case have to be first executed.

And in case you should obtain no additional information, we would have you set sail from Banda as speedily as possible for Arnhems- and Speults land, situated between 9 and 13 degrees Southern Latitude, discovered A.D. 1623, as you will more fully see from the appended chart; these are the large lands; you will endeavour to ascertain what may be obtained from there, whether these lands are peopled, and what the natives subsist on.

After touching at the said islands you will cross over in order to strike the land of Nova Guinea likewise discovered A.D. 1623, by the Yachts Pera and Arnhem as far as 17 deg. 8’ Southern Latitude, which we surmise to be the South-land extending to westward from the said latitude as far as 26 degrees or as far as the land of de Eendracht.

The men of the Yachts Pera and Arnhem have, as before mentioned, sailed along this coast from about 4 degrees to 17 degrees 8 minutes, and have landed at various places, where they found nothing but barren coasts and lands, and utterly barbarian, cruel, wild natives, who surprised nine of our men fishing, and assassinated the same.  The various strands, rivers, bays, points and the trend of this coast you will gather from the chart aforesaid.

From the farthest point discovered, which as before mentioned, is in Lat. 17 deg. 8’ South, you will skirt the coast as far as Houtmans Abrolhos in 28 and 29 degrees, and farther still, if your provisions hold out, if the condition of your crews will allow of it, and if your Yachts are proof against the rough seas that prevail in the Southern Ocean in 33 and 34 degrees; after which you will return to Batavia through Sunda Strait, trying in passing to touch at the Trials, that further information about this rock and its situation may in this way be obtained.