On the 14th, in the latitude of 10 degrees 12
minutes south, and in the longitude of 186 degrees 14 minutes, we found the
variation 8 degrees 45 minutes to the east. We passed some days without being
able to take any observation, because the weather was all that time dark and
rainy. On March 20th, in the latitude of 5 degrees 15 minutes south, and in the
longitude of 181 degrees 16 minutes, the weather being then fair, we found the
variation 9 degrees eastward. On the 22nd, in the latitude of 5 degrees 2
minutes south, and in the longitude of 178 degrees 32 minutes, we had fine fair
weather, and the benefit of the east trade wind. This day we had sight of land,
which lay four miles west. This land proved to be a cluster of twenty islands,
which in the maps are called Anthong Java. They lie ninety miles or thereabouts
from the coast of New Guinea. It may not be amiss to observe here, that what
Captain Tasman calls the coast of New Guinea, is in reality the coast of New
Britain, which Captain Dampier first discovered to be a large island separated
from the coast of New Guinea.
Early Australian Voyages, 1886, John Pinkerton |
