great reason to fear, that such as give evident proofs of capacity and
civility in the common affairs of life should be guilty of treachery that
must turn to their own disadvantage.



CHAPTER XVIII: PROSECUTES HIS VOYAGE TO CERAM.


On the 12th of May, being then in the latitude of 54 minutes south, and
in the longitude of 153 degrees 17 minutes, we found the variation 6
degrees 30 minutes to the east. We continued coasting the north side of
the island of William Schovten, which is about eighteen or nineteen miles
long, very populous, and the people very brisk and active. It was with
great caution that Schovten gave his name to this island, for having
observed that there were abundance of small islands laid down in the
charts on the coast of New Guinea, he was suspicious that this might be
of the number. But since that time it seems a point generally agreed,
that this island had not before any particular name; and therefore, in
all subsequent voyages, we find it constantly mentioned by the name of
Schovten's Island.

He describes it as a very fertile and well-peopled island; the
inhabitants of which were so far from discovering anything of a savage
nature, that they gave apparent testimonies of their having had an
extensive commerce before he touched there, since they not only showed
him various commodities from the Spaniards, but also several samples of
China ware; he observes that they are very unlike the nations he had seen
before, being rather of an olive colour than black; some having short,
others long hair, dressed after different fashions; they were also a