the land in sight, in the day time, at the distance of four to six
leagues; but the shore being low, this was too far for him to be certain
whether all was main land which he saw; and what might have been passed
in the night was still more doubtful.

Aug. 30, being in latitude 18° 21', and the weather fair, captain Dampier
steered in for the shore; and anchored in 8 fathoms, about three-and-half
leagues off. The tide ran "very swift here; so that our nun-buoy would
not bear above the water to be seen. It flows here, as on that part of
New Holland I described formerly, about five fathoms."

He had hitherto seen no inhabitants; but now met with several. The place
at which he had touched in the former voyage "was not above forty or
fifty leagues to the north-east of this. And these were much the same
blinking creatures (here being also abundance of the same kind of flesh
flies teizing them), and with the same black skins, and hair frizzled,
tall and thin, etc., as those were. But we had not the opportunity to see
whether these, as the former, wanted two of their fore teeth." One of
them, who was supposed to be a chief, "was painted with a circle of
white paste or pigment about his eyes, and a white streak down his nose,
from his forehead to the tip of it. And his breast, and some part of his
arms, were also made white with the same paint."

Neither bows nor arrows were observed amongst these people: they used
wooden lances, such as Dampier had before seen. He saw no houses at
either place, and believed they had none; but "there were several things
like haycocks, standing in the savannah; which, at a distance, we thought
were houses, looking just like the Hottentots' houses at the Cape of Good
Hope; but we found them to be so many rocks." *