Page:Early voyages to Terra Australis.djvu/223

 VOYAGE OF GERRIT THOMASZ POOL TO THE

SOUTH LAND.

p. 47.

On the 26th of March, 1636, there arrived two shallops, the Amsterdam and the Weasel, sent from Amboina, with orders to Governor Acoley at Banda, to give to the commander of these ships, Gerard Thomasz Pool, such information concerning the South Land as might be necessary for him to perform a voyage thither, under the orders of the honourable Company.

After he had received the desired instructions, and had been furnished with sufficient provisions and other necessaries, he sailed with those vessels on the 17th of April.

On the 30th of June following both these vessels returned, and informed the governor that, having reached the Flat Point in about 4½ degrees of south latitude on the 18th of April, they had determined to send some of their people on shore to take a view of the country. The Commander Pool, desirous to see everything himself, resolved to be of the party, and took with him his steward, Andries Schiller, a native of Nuremberg. They were scarcely landed, when a large body of wild Southlanders, who at first appeared friendly, but acted afterwards in a hostile manner, surrounded them, in so much that it was not in their power to escape. The Commander Pool perceiving the danger greater