ABSTRACT
EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE MADE TO THE UNEXPLORED SOUTH LAND, BY ORDER
OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY, IN THE YEARS 1696 AND 1697,
ON the morning of the 29th December (1696) at half-past two o'clock, we discovered the South Land, to east northeast of us at from four to five miles distance. We found the country low, the main coast stretching from south to north. Our people observed a remarkable fish here, about two feet long, with a round head and a sort of arras and legs and even something like hands. They found also several stems of plants. They cast anchor in from fourteen to fifteen fathoms. At nearly half a league from the island on the south side they had good holding ground. The wind south-west by south.
