one of the seven which returned to Europe under the command of the
governor-general Carpenter. The Dutch recital speaks of this discovery in
the following terms. The coast was seen "again accidentally in the year
1628, on the north side, in the latitude 21° south, by the ship Vianen,
homeward bound from India; when they coasted two-hundred miles, without
gaining any knowledge of this Great Country; only observing a foul and
barren shore, green fields, and very wild, black, barbarous inhabitants."

This was the part called DE WITT'S LAND; but whether the name were
applied by the captain of the Vianen does not appear in the recital. De
Brosses says, "William de Witt gave his own name to the country which he
saw in 1628, to the north of Remessen's River; and which _Viane_, a Dutch
captain, had, to his misfortune, discovered in the month of January in
the same year; when he was driven upon this coast of De Witt, in 21° of
latitude, and lost all his riches." The confusion that reigns in the
president's account does not render it improbable, that the country might
have received its _name_ in the way he describes, and in the year 1628;
for, in 1644, _De Witt's Land_ is used as a known term for this part of
the North-west Coast.

PELSERT. 1629.

Thus far, the parts of the Western Coasts have been distinguished by
little else than the dates and limits of their discovery; for, in fact,
this is all that has reached us from these early navigators. The
following account is of a different character: it is extracted from the
twenty-first piece in Thevenot's collection; and, in the table of
contents, is said to be translated from the Dutch.

The _Batavia_, commanded by FRANCISCO PELSERT, struck, in the night of