The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-22
Z4A :
6A5
, to the native chiefs of the is

mage increased in her hold.
| Clnging to the southern shores Of
the long chain of islands. the captain
| today as the Floris Sea.
The islands were not so FREQUENT
now. and those they met with were
| small. and not so good for trade, and
so they pushed on eastward, and the
bluff rounded bows of the good ship
Dove burst their way noisiIy farther
and farther into that unknown and
silent sea.
At last there came a change. It
was the time of the change of the
monsoon. and Master Stefan looked
anxiously at the driving masses OF
threatening cloud that came rushinl
up from the northwestern horizon. \
The storm came on at last. with all
the violence which characterizes that
part of the ocean. and in a few hours
the Dove was running helplessly be-
fore the gale stripped almost to her
trough OF the seas.
II was an anxious time. Master
Stefan never left the deck, and tho
sailors chung helplessly to the bull
warks or rigging. as the waves wash
ed heavily across the low maindeck
or broke with Earring blows AGAINST
the tall poop. For three days the
storm continued. with hardly a sign
OF abatement, and not for a ouarter
OF an hour at a time did the captain
venture to leave the deck. and never
for single moment was the lookout
Withdrawn from the foretop, wher.
ne watched with straining eyes for
the hrst sign of land rising out Of
the dim world of the heavinE wafer
IL was nearly shutdown on the third
DAY OF the gale when a change came.
almost as suddenly as the gale b,A
commenced First there was ,,,1y
IN the wind then Master Steffan's~
quick eye caught the first sign of -,
break in the clouds down near tba
eastern horizon; and then the wind
died away, leaving the Dove rolling
heavily between the seas In q li,,ra
hortheast' sails were unfurled once
more and before nightfall the Dove
ran merrily once more into the deptbs
or the undiscovered ocean.
The sound that awoke Master st.r-
lan from his well-earned s1een w,.
the startling cry of Land" Still ba1-
asleep. he hurried on deck The n.v
day was just breaking in the east
And there before him lay the land
nigh wooded point. backed almost
at right angles by higher and still
higher ranges of wooded hills bebi,a
which there was the reddsrir H.,
framing the outline of the mountain,
peaks. To north and south. as far az
'he eye could reach. the new land ex-
'ehoed' barring the eastern course.
and II was necessary to change il IN.
WIND decided the question of the III.
rection. and the Dove ran down -.
coast almost before the breeze
Master Stefan had sighted MANY ISL.
ands on his voyage since he left Ratav,.
and had named them all. but now as bs
watched the long reaches of the sbors n
II seemed TO him as if this was some
thing different. 1t might be an island ,,-
deco, Ike the others he had seen. butt
he would see
For three days the Dove sailed south- :
ward down the coast. More than once
she was brought up into the wind. and a
boats crew went ashore but always with
the same resuI,-tba saiIo-- ~ &C.,,
streams of water. and flowers. and palm
trees. They had heard the harsh screams
Of great white golden-crested birds Soma
Of them had seen strange leaping forms
OF animals that disappeared among the
trees: but no village had been seen. and
no sign Of human inhabitant had been
found. On the third afternoon they ap-
preached wooded cape. longer than any
they had yet seen-it might be the south.
ern limit of this strange. lonely land. AZ
last the Dove drew abreast OF the points
and there. far to the south. as far as thS
eye could see. still stretched onward tha
wooded shore. and the high ranges ofun
the forest-covered mountains. glowing
the light of the sinking sun. 1t was with
reluctant sigh that Master Stefan
gave the order to put the ship about and
sail away to the northwest once more,
while he marked upon his chart the name
Cape Keer-Weer" or Turnagain
And so it happened that Hans Stefan
came. and saw. and sailed away. hia
chart telling of the new land he had dis
covered: his sailors ready to tell strange
stories OF the great island they had
found. where there were beautiful birds
that had no songs. bright flowers that
gave no scent, and curious beasts that
leaped but never walked, but with no
man nor sign OF man upon its shores.
But to the master of the Dove as he
went about his trading, the memory Of
that strange country came back again
and yet again. and he wondered slowly,
as he smoked his pipe and pondered,
whether. after all, it might not have
fallen to him to be the first to discover
the great southern land which had been
dreamed OF by navisators ever since the
great land OF the West had been found !
by Columbus more than a hundred yearg
before.
Thus found by an accident. and unrec-
ognized when 1t was found. the master Of
the little Dove was the frst to discover
the shore Of the great southern land
which We call Australia II Is unlikely
that he ever knew what he had found.
1t is certain that he never dreamed Of ~
value.