88 ACCOUNT OF THE WRECK, ETC.
age under a projecting corner of the island in twenty fathoms water. The skipper, steersman, with the sergeant and six soldiers went ashore, and found three black men round a fire, dressed in skins, like the natives of the Cape of Good Hope. They could not, however, get to speak to them. Three small hammers were also found there, with wooden handles and heads of hard stone, fastened to the stem by a sort of gum-lack, strong enough to break a man's skull. A little further inland stood some huts, but no more men were seen. In several places they found fresh water, and here and there a great quantity of this gum. The small hammer brought here was found, when rubbed, to be of an agree- able odour and of a reddish colour.
Lastly, we have to notice, that, according to certain printed accounts, the ship Batavia, having sailed hence to Batavia, ran very unexpectedly, on the 4th of June of the following year, 1659, in the morning hours, latitude 28i°, on the dan- gerous shoals of the Abrolhos, commonly called with us Frederick Houtman's Cliffs, and was wrecked. The crew, however, reached in safety some small islands which lay near. No fresh water was found there, but the boat with some men having left the island, saw, in 24° latitude, smoke rising, and observed black men on the shore.
