to the eilimate o f our later navigators) to all Europe. I fee no*
reafon why it ffiourcT not'Ee'calTed a f if th "contin en tAmerica'
itfelf is but an infulated continent, fuperior as it may be to that
of New Holland.
In tracing the difcovery o f that immenfe region, I lhall begin
at the very northern extremity, ep^efite to'-tire -ifles o f Arrou*.
The name it bears in that part is Arnheinis Hand, and the difcovery
fixed in the year 16x8- I- fliall proceed to the weftern-
fide, and then furround the country till I arrive at the point
I am now leaving,
Dampier’sBay, - ’tjf Lat. i6° ¿o' fouth, 1 iq® Eaii Long, f r om Lo'hdfon. is land
b y D a m p i e r i n ■ j L b i i i l i l j r i l n n v g r f l l n 1 b f i t c.I j j a 'iC O v n i j i t
»68«. dilcovered In 1680 hy^our great navigator Dampier * , Geographers
have not even honored" tfte/IpoTwith a name;.Twill
therefore ftyle it DampterpJay. { Our countryman took his departure
from Timor, and paifing by a fhoal of fand and rock, ip»
Lat. 13° 50', in water fo deep that he . could, not fathom ft with
his, line, on 'January ¿th he anchored in a . deep bay, full o f
fmall.iflands, about two miles. from more. The land"was low
and even;. with' aunit. at the water edge ikirted with rocky
points.
N a t i v e s . T h e inhabitants were the molf rniferable our countrymen ever
law ; without any cloathing, except the rudeft .cover for their nakednefs,
cbrilifting Of nothing more thin the llip o f the rind o f
a tree for a girdle, and a little grafs fluffed into it before as an
apron. They were tall, ftrait, and thin, their limbs very
fmall and long; their heads large, their foreheads round; they
had great bottle nofes, wide mouths, full lips, and their eyes-
* Voyages, i, 462,
perpetually
D is co v e r e d .
IN l6 l8 „ .
perpetually winking or kept ihut, from their being fo greatly
annoyed with flies, that from habit they never open them like
other people, but are obliged to hold up their heads i f they wifh
to fee any thing above their level. They have no beards, and
the people o f both fexes univerfaily want two of the upper fore
teeth, which they draw out; their vifages are long; and their
general afpeft the moil difagreable imaginable ; their ikins are
coal black; their hair ihort and frizzled like the African negroes.
They had neither houfes or dwellings, but lay in the open air,
and affociated in companies o f twenty or thirty, men, women, and
children ; their arms were wooden fwords and lances ; Dampier
found many on one of the iflands ; they had not the appearance
Oven o f a canoe, but raiift have fwam from place to place; and
as to food, they could only collect the fhells and animals flung
up by the fea.- They were exceedingly timid. Dampier attempted
to make them work in carrying water to the ihip, but
they had not ftrength or dexterity enough to carry as much as
a boy Often years o f age. -
Sea tortoifes and Manatee were found in plenty on the coaft, m a n a t e e .
and abundance of filh ; the tides rofe here about five fathoms.
T he trees were neither large nor numerous; one kind,
exuding a red gum like the Sanguis draconis, was frequent; we
fhall take notice o f it hereafter.
G. F. de Witt's Land, in Lat. 19° fouth, was difcavered, accord- D e W i t t ’ s
ing to Arrowfmith, in 161b, according to others in 1628.
. I n about Lat. 20° Dampier thought he had difcovered a
ftreight or paflage to the eaftward; but in all probability (fee
his voyage, vol. iii. p. 135) it was no more than a channel be->
Q z , tween