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[Page 8]
the Coast of new Guinea, in order to ascertain whether or no ye Chart has laid down that Country in a right Position: & accordingly on ye 3d. of Sepr. fell in wth. it about the Island of Vteer Moyen, [also spelt Moyenne] as it is laid in the Charts of the ingenious President de Brosses (note) author of L'Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes. From hence we coasted along round the cape St. Augustin: finding the land very low every where, & shoaling off so far, short in 6 fathoms of water we sometimes could not see it from ye deck, nor could we ever get nearer it than a league, tho' our Ship did not draw above 13 feet of Water.
Nearly about the place call'd Keer Veer in ye Dutch Charts, we landed with our Boat, & Saw Cocoa nut trees, & a fertile or at least a Rich Soil: the natives soon attack'd us wth. their arrows, & we being but 8 in number not able to bring our ship nearer, than a League, or our Boat than a quart of a Mile of the Shore, we were oblig'd to retire: wch. we did in Safety, tho' followed by near 300 of ye inhabitants; who to our great surprise threatened us with fire thronk out of reeds. I