Soon after leaving the islands of the South Seas we encountered heavy
weather, a tempest, the worst we had experienced, driving us before it
to the south. The storm lasted for more than a week without abatement,
and during this time we covered many leagues of sea. Owing to the sun
being obscured, it was impossible to ascertain our whereabouts, but
Hartog reckoned we had passed through the Straits set down on an early
chart as named after Le Maire. But for skilful handling we would have
lost our ship, so prolonged was the gale, and when, at length, the
weather moderated, we found that much damage had been done to our
rigging and deck-gear. This made it necessary for us to effect repairs,
and while so engaged we continued to run before the wind to the south.
As we proceeded, the cold became intense, while the wind gradually
decreased. One morning, at sunrise, a snow-covered land rose before our
astonished eyes. The sun shining upon it produced an effect which, for
beauty, I had never seen, equalled. Immense ranges of mountains rose
from a flat surface, their summits lost in fleecy clouds, while from
one of the mountain tops, incredible as it may appear, belched smoke
and fire as from the crater of an active volcano. It may well be
believed with what astonishment we beheld a burning mountain in the
midst of snow and ice. We coasted for some distance along the shore of
this new continent, which formed an ice barrier rising in a long
perpendicular line from the sea, making a landing impossible.

When the repairs to our ship had been effected, we hauled our wind, and
stood away northward, when we found ourselves surrounded by masses of
floating ice. In no record of any voyage that Hartog or I knew of is
any mention made of this phenomenon, so we concluded we were the first
to see it. The farther we went the more numerous became the icebergs,
and the more difficult the navigation owing to fogs and mists. The