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Frederick Houtman's Abrolhos were sighted on January 17th, and the passage or channel between the Abrolhos Bank and the coast has been distinguished by the name of Vlaming's ship, the GEELVINK, since she was the first vessel that passed there, 1697.
It is worthy of remark that most of those I killed were does, with young ones of different ages, which afforded Mr. Bynoe the means of making some interesting observations on the manner in which they are brought forth, which will be found further on in the part of the work relating to Houtman's Abrolhos, where more opportunities occurred of arriving at a satisfactory result. Mr.
Coming so close to the date of Dampier's voyage, it is worth noting that he does not allude to the book, and so probably, notwithstanding the little knowledge Englishmen then had of the southern continent, Dampier was shrewd enough to detect the imposture. The Roebuck struck soundings on the night of August 1st, 1699, upon the northern part of the Abrolhos.
The gale of May, 1840, at Houtman's Abrolhos, commenced in a similar manner with that already described, but being in a lower latitude, was of shorter duration, and the indications did not precede it such a length of time; still they were in every respect similar. After noon a light breeze sprang up from North-West which gradually freshened; and during the night the barometer fell 17-hundredths.
We were detained in Recruit Harbour until May 21st, determining the position of the number of small islands and detached reefs to the south-east of Wallaby Islands; but at length, after completing the soundings on the north-east and north side and ascertaining the extent of the reef to the north-west, we proceeded to the isolated patch of land before mentioned as seen from Flag Hill, and which, from its relative position to the remainder of Houtman's Abrolhos, we called North Island.
The improved state of the colony enabling us to get supplies, it was resolved that we should return to the North-west coast, examining on the way, Houtman's Abrolhos, a coral group that had very rarely been visited, since the Dutch ships were lost on them, one 120 and the other 220 years ago, and of which next to nothing was known.
When the SARDAM, with Pelsart on board, hove in sight of the Abrolhos, the smoke rising from the islands assured the captain, who was naturally tormented with anxiety, that some, at any rate survived. To their surprise, a boat came off to meet them, pulled by men dressed in rich uniforms, made from the silks and stuffs that had formed part of the BATAVIA'S cargo.
I have seen them in the wallaby frequently two inches in length, and with pouches so large, that you could with ease thrust your hand into them; the uteri with their appendages enlarged and apparently very vascular, as well as thickened; but in no one instance at the Abrolhos could I detect a gravid uterus; but I have seen the young adhering to the nipples less than half an inch in length, and in a perfectly helpless state.
After several ineffectual attempts to procure refreshments for their men on the coast of Africa and the island of Annobon, they put to sea on the 3d January, 1599, from that island, with the intention of sailing direct for the Straits of Magellan. The 22d they passed the shelves and rocks on the coast of Brazil, called the Abrolhos.
At the Abrolhos Islands on the coast of Brazil, where also there is much birds' dung, I found a great quantity of a brown, arborescent substance adhering to some trap-rock. In its arborescent form, this substance singularly resembles some of the branched species of Nullipora.
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