During the week which followed this adventure, which had almost proved
disastrous to our voyage, we lightened the ship as much as possible,
and made our camp ashore. We judged we had now come to the coast of New
Holland, and since I had been the first to observe it on the morning
after we had struck upon the reef, Hartog named that part of the coast
Peter's land.
The ship being safely careened, the carpenters set to work to repair
the damage done to the hull by the sharp rocks, and, as this would
occupy some time, we decided to overhaul our stores, of which we made
an inventory. At this work we found the services of Pedro de Castro of
great value. De Castro was a man well versed in figures, and able to
enumerate with surprising facility. Indeed, I think he spent most of
his spare time in mental arithmetic, calculating the riches and
treasure which he hoped some day to obtain.
One evening, when Hartog and I were seated together in front of our
tent, de Castro brought us a paper which he said had been given him by
a relative at Lisbon, who informed him that it was an extract from an
ancient Portuguese manuscript, supposed to have been written by
navigator Van Nuyts in 1467.
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