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Having now I beleive fairly Passd through between New Holland and New Guinea and having an open sea to the Westward, so that we tomorrow intend to steer more to the Northward in order to make the South Coast of New Guinea, it seems high time to take leave of New Holland, which I shall do by summing up together the few observations I have been able to make on the countrey and people. I much wishd indeed to have had better opportunities of seeing and observing the people, as they differ so much from the account that Dampier (the only man I know of who has seen them besides us) has given of them. He indeed saw them on a part of the coast very distant from where we were and consequently the people might be different; but I should rather conclude them to be the same, chiefly from having observd an universal conformity in such of their customs as came under my observation in the several places we landed upon during the run of 00 leagues along the coast. Dampier in general seems to be a faithfull relater, but in the voyage in which he touchd on the coast of New Holland he was in a ship of Pyrates, possibly himself not a little tainted by their idle examples: he might have kept no written
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) *255, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-259.html