The Mauritius, an outward bound ship, appears to have made some discoveries upon the west coasts, in July 1618, particularly of Willem's River, near the north-west cape, but no further particulars are known.
It would seem that another of the outward bound ships referred to in the Dutch recital, as visiting the coasts of New Holland, was commanded by Edel, and the land there discovered, which was on the west coast, was named the land of Edel. From Campbell's edition of Harris's voyages, we learn that this discovery was made in 1619. It appears from Thevenot's chart, published in 1663, to have extended from about 29° northward, to 261⁄2, where the land of Eendragt commences, but in Van Keulen's chart, published near the close of the century, it is made to extend still more southward, to 32° 20', which Thevenot's chart would attribute rather to the discovery made three years later (1622) by the ship Leeuwin (the Lioness).
The great reef lying off the coast of Edel's Land, called Houtman's Abrolhos, was discovered at the same time. The name was doubtless given after the Dutch navigator Frederick Houtman, although we find no trace of his having himself visited this coast. The Portuguese name Abrolhos, meaning "open your eyes," was given to dangerous reefs, implying the necessity of a sharp look out.
The name of the commander of the Leeuwin has not yet appeared in any published document that has met the editor's eye. The land to which the name of that vessel was given, extended from 35° northward,
