The Mother
Seemed Much Concerned At Parting With Her Daughter, Yet Went Into The
Boat Without Resistance Or Noise.
She was carried to the shore, a league
west from the ship, to a place which she pointed out, where the seamen
found a fire and some utensils, which made the seamen believe that the
savages had run away on seeing the boat.
[Footnote 90: They had no means to ascertain his age, and must have
concluded him only six months old from his small size; but from his
teeth and walking alone, he was more likely to have been two years old,
and his diminutive size was probably occasioned by the miseries of the
climate, and wretchedness of every kind to which these outcasts of
nature are subjected. - E.]
When the boat returned, a new storm arose, during which the waves often
overtopped the masts, and tossed the ship so violently that they
momentarily expected she would have been overset or split in pieces;
but, by the blessing of God, she got out of this bay, to which they gave
the name of Unfortunate Bay. Next day they cast anchor towards evening
in the channel of the straits, but finding the anchor had no buoy
attached, and the weather being too violent to allow of supplying one,
they had again to weigh, and put before the wind, and at length got into
the bay of Cordes, fourteen or fifteen leagues farther eastwards, near
the middle of the straits. In this passage they kept as near as possible
to the south side of the channel, that they might be seen by the
Fidelity, and even fired a gun off the mouth of a bay in which they
supposed she lay, as a signal, to which they imagined that they heard
another gun in answer from their consort, and continued their course in
the full belief of being followed by the Fidelity. In this passage the
strength of the wind drove them so fast, that they had to fasten their
boat astern with two strong hawsers to preserve her, and to diminish the
velocity of their course; but the heavy rolling waves broke both
hawsers, and they lost their boat, by which they were reduced to great
difficulty, having now no means of getting on shore in search of
provisions.
Next day, being the 16th December, they saw a boat making towards them
from the westwards, which occasioned various conjectures; but at length
turned out to belong to the fleet of Van Noort. This unexpected meeting
gave great joy to the seamen, and the men in this boat were received
with much respect by de Weert. They were all in perfect health and
vigour; and, among other things respecting their voyage, told of having
caught above 2000 birds at the great Penguin Island. This intelligence
made the sailors in the Faith extremely anxious to get there, and
several of them were bold enough to tell Captain de Weert, that it was
necessary they should go there, where they might as well wait for a fair
wind as in any other place, and besides, that it was only a league out
of their way.
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