The expedition headed north-northwest and soon approached a stretch of coast, apparently in the middle of a huge bay surrounded on three sides by land. The topography of the seaside is high and steep rock faces, and the land inside is high mountain peaks, and the terrain here is mountainous, and the surface is mostly covered with trees and greenery.

There are several canoes at the mouth of the river in the distance, there are people on the banks, and there are dwellings in the fields on both sides of the river. In the afternoon, the flotilla sailed into the sea where the mouth of the river was located, and measured the depth of the water, 10 fathoms, the bottom of the water was fine sand, 1 nautical mile offshore.

After the ship was stopped, as it was clearly a more promising land area than Van Diemen's Land, Tasman organized a larger landing party. Still led by Fishair, a total of 4 landing craft and more than 40 people. Enzo and Fishaire landed on the east bank of the river in a longboat.

Some of the natives shouted excitedly on the other side of the river, and Fishair wanted to talk to them, but they could not wade across the river. Fishair had two boats carrying Enzo, Wu, the Yang brothers, and other sailors across the river. The natives quickly disappeared into the jungle, leaving four sailors to guard the boat, and walked into the natives village with Wu and the others.

Behind the village, Enzo spotted a fortification on a distant hill, not far from the river upstream. Turning the telescope to the past, Enzo was secretly a little frightened. It was very much like a wooden Japanese mountain town, and there were places where people couldn't get close to it, and there were places where it could be approached but it was difficult, and only the narrow ridge of the hill facing it had a sheep's gut. Two trenches were dug around the mountain city, a protective embankment was built, and two rows of pointed pile fences were enclosed. A row of fences inside was built on a protective embankment, but it was not built on an embankment. An outer row of fences was built between two trenches. On both sides of the gate, there are also wooden platforms.

Yang Wei was next to Enzo, and he said, "That's the high platform used for shooting. ”

In addition to the defenses, there is also a solid fence of stakes at the lower point, which is enclosed along the foot of the hill, and the whole mountain is like a terrace, and there is some fence between each platform. There are roads between the floors, and these roads can easily be blocked. The ridge road facing the main gate was obviously the main access to and from the mountain city, and although it was impossible to judge accurately, it would certainly not be wide. The high platforms on both sides of the gate overlook the moving passage, and only a few people can defend it.

Wu Zhixiang: "A fortress. ”

Enzo put down his binoculars, "Everyone, I feel bad. ”

Yang Wei shook his head: "I've never seen Daoyi who can build such a fortification. ”

By the level of the natives, such strong and scientific fortifications show that they often fought wars. The mountain fortress was laborious to build, and Enzo saw no trace of iron in the village.

Yang Bang's scolding voice came from behind, "TMD, what the hell is this." ”

The three of them looked at each other and immediately walked over. Lao Wu drew his old sword, and Yang Wei raised his crossbow.

Yang Bang picked up some bones between two branches and walked out, "Look, what the hell is this place? ”

Yang Bang threw the bones to the ground in disgust. The human upper arm bone also has a muscle on it, and there are obvious bite marks on the bones. The soldiers found more bones in other huts, some fresh, the flesh of which had just been cut off.

The natives of the village have just enjoyed a feast of human heads. A few soldiers who had just figured out the situation were holding on to the wood and vomiting.

Yang Wei pulled out his Hidden Blade and stuck it in his right arm, "I don't like it here. ”

Enzo head, "Let's get your heart, we've met cannibals." ”

The village was more than 300 meters from where the boat was docked, and with a few strange shouts, a dozen natives armed with boomerags and javelins rushed out of the woods and rushed towards the boat. The remaining soldiers fired two shots at the natives, the first shot missed, and the natives stopped and looked around, they had never seen a musket. Before they could figure out what was going on, a second shot rang out, killing one of the natives instantly. The other three natives were stunned, and for two or three minutes they remained motionless. The natives did not understand what strange thing had killed their companions.

Enzo heard the shots and immediately retreated to the boat. By this time the natives had come to their senses, and they ran away, dragging their dead companion for some distance, and then leaving behind the body. Before Enzo could reach the boat, more natives rushed out of the woods and threw javelins, rocks, and boomerang at the retreating expedition. There were too many natives, and Enzo had only 6 arquebuses and could not organize effective fire, and it was too late to fire the second shot after the first shot. Two soldiers were hit by javelins, and they had to pick up the wounded soldier one by one, turn around and continue running towards the boat. A stone knocked down Enzo, and his face turned white with pain. Lao Wu grabbed a few steps and grabbed Enzo and carried it on his body.

The soldiers who stayed behind cut the cables, and the natives who rushed to the front were already in front of them. Yang Wei turned around and raised his hand to shoot down one person with an arrow. Then dodging the wielding bone club in the hands of the second native, the Hidden Blade pierced him in the abdomen. Yang Bang hugged his brother's waist and dragged him onto the boat, and Yang Wei was the last person to leave the riverbank.

The natives frantically threw their weapons at the boat, and they threw their spears with great agility.

The expedition retreated to the opposite bank with some confusion. Fishair's face turned pale, and hundreds of natives gathered around the shore, raising their weapons in protest. Among them were several chiefs who were noticeably more well-dressed, dressed in dog skins. Almost all of them had tattoos on their faces, and a few had tattoos on their backs, which seemed to be warriors of the tribe.

The natives had boats, and Fishair felt that it would be dangerous to stay on shore at night. At this time, they could not continue the further exploration, and the landing party took the wounded soldiers and hurriedly withdrew the battleship.

Enzo apologized to Fishair, "Mr. Navigator, these natives are running too fast for us to reload. ”

Fishair: "I see it, these savages are different from the natives we've seen before, they see their companions knocked down, and they think about doing it again so quickly. ”

Wu Zhixiang sent Pinzo's shoulder, "Look over there." ”

Enzo turned his head to look over the shore and saw more than 100 barbarians, heavily armed, lined up on the shore. The most of their weapons were short spears with shafts about 5 feet long, and a 4-foot-long tomahawk with a pointed tip. The rest of the men carried large sticks made of bone and stone, which were basically similar in shape, with round handles, thick and wide in the middle, and thinner on both sides. Yang Wei was very close to one of these big sticks just now, and the native obviously smashed it at his head. The deadliest were those spears that were 10 to 12 feet long. Five men, including Enzo, were wounded, four of them were shot with spears, and two of the soldiers now look dead.

The natives begin to jump left and right rhythmically, falling backwards. They brandished javelins and bone and stone clubs in their hands, their mouths twisted, their tongues sticking out, their eyes rolling, and they shouted a hoarse song. These natives are completely different from the islands of the South Seas, they are tall, athletic, and powerful in battle.

Fishair's face was even more ugly: "Are the barbarians celebrating victory?" "As a Dutch officer, retreating in front of the natives was difficult for him to accept for a while.

But what was even more difficult for him to accept was still to come, and Enzo observed for a moment and said, "Sir, I think it may be more than just celebration. ”

He pointed to the upper reaches of the estuary, "The barbarians are declaring war on us through war dances. ”

More than a dozen single and catamaran canoes run down the river.

Lao Wu looked to the port side and left, "There are more of them." ”

On either side of the flotillary moorings, more Barbarian ships came into view.

Fishair: "They want to attack the big ship, and we'll have to work harder and join the expedition ship before they catch up." ”

The navigator also grabbed an oar and rowed hard with the sailors.

By the time the landing party joined the expedition ship, the Hemskek and Zehan were ready for battle. The artillery officer and the various artillery crews were in position, the sub-guns of the gyroscope guns were loaded, and the cannon was pushed out of the muzzle of the black hole.

Cannons are the best tool for communicating with cannibals.

Enzo was pulled onto the deck, and on the way to the infirmary, he shook hands with Lao Wu, "Thank you just now, I owe you a life." Lao Wu didn't say anything, but he lowered his head heavily, grabbed the arquebus, and walked to his position by the bulwark.

The Hemskeek's infirmary was not large, and Enzo's leg was hit by a stone, and the medic examined him with a broken bone, and he was given a broken bone and immobilized with a splint.

The cannon sounded, a slight vibration was heard from the hull, and a rapid burst of fire erupted. Enzo was not worried, as the dozen or so members of the expedition were ambushed and attacked near the indigenous village. The possibility of indigenous canoes climbing the bulwark of the Hemskek is almost non-existent.

Soon after, the rate of fire gradually slowed down and finally stopped completely. The signal corps came to the infirmary, simply conveyed the message, won, and rightfully so.

There is no honour in beating the natives, and Tasman and Fisher don't care about it. But they were shocked by the aftermath of the war, and the natives took some of the corpses with them as they retreated. They made a fire on the shore and dismembered the corpses and roasted them on the fire for today's dinner.

The setting sun shone on the cliffs, staining the bay with a touch of blood. Disgusted by what was happening in front of him, Tasman decided to mark it on the map as Murderer's Bay.

The flotilla went on, and the rest of the coast was somewhat barren, except for the white sand, which was still white sand, and only in the valley there were low ferns. Some residents on the shore did not see the carefully tended Grange.

In the valley area, there will be some low hills with a lot of tree vegetation that looks more fertile. In these hilly areas, the trees are lush and the scenery is beautiful.

The level of development of indigenous civilization here is not on the same level. The most advanced aborigines, measured by their military prowess, were hundreds of years more advanced than the aborigines of Australia. Subsequent voyages were accompanied by fortifications of the kind Enzo had seen, usually built on a hill near a freshwater river, overlooking the surrounding ground. Even if European engineers were to build it, there would be no better site. At the mouth of the river, the coast is mostly covered with mangroves and other shrubs, and further inside are excellent forests, the trees of which are tall and thick, no worse than anywhere else in the world.

The flotilla sails along the coastline in the bay and does not approach the shore except to replenish fresh water. The boat was not fast enough for the cartographer to draw the map. Overall, the scenery is spectacular, and the flora and fauna are abundant, making it a great piece of land. There are many deep headlands in the bay, some of which should be good havens.

The opening of the bay where the fleet is located faces west, and the westerly wind will sweep the waves into the bay, forming storms, and turbulence is more noticeable here. If you get too close to the shore, the boat can get out of control, and the result is that it crashes into the rocks and cliffs on the shore and is shattered.

The land is generally characterized by a high number of mountains, especially in the southern part of the bay. The expedition had every reason to believe that an entire towering mountain range stretched over the land, from south to north, with the tips of the peaks inserting into the clouds. The mountain is rocky and has a large area of snow, which can be confirmed to be a permanent snow-capped mountain. The peaks of these peaks are next to each other. In the entire known civilized world, there are not many rugged and majestic mountains like this. In the valley between the mountains and the sea, there is generally forest cover. Especially in those places where there are rivers, the land is more fertile.

Since their encounter with cannibals, Tasman and Fisher have completely lost interest in going ashore again.

The fleet was on a peninsula deep into the sea on the northern land and saw a snow-capped mountain. According to Dutch sailors who have been to Japan, it looks very much like Mt. Fuji in Japan. The base of the mountain is quite large, and the slope gradually rises to the peak, and the mountain is covered with snow all year round, and the shape of the whole mountain is well-proportioned and beautiful. In the area near the sea, the grass and trees are lush, and the majesty of the mountain peaks is highlighted.

The blue sea, the yellow beaches, the green forests, the black mountains and the white peaks create a strong color contrast here, like an oil painting created by the most outstanding masters. All the sailors let out an exclamation of amazement, such a beautiful view, it is rare to see in this life. (Mount Taranaki)

It was the last snow-capped mountain the expedition saw on land, and the two expedition ships made their way north along the coast. Enzo was glad that it was only a stone that hit him. The rest of the wounded soldiers died in the following days, and the natives smeared their javelins with poison.

January 4, 1643, the night of the Epiphany. The land disappeared on the starboard side of the flotilla, and the big surge reappeared in the east. Tasman and Fishair looked at the Americas, sighed, and gave up the idea of looking east for the Chilean coast. What they don't know is that at this latitude, if the westerly wind is taken to the east, the voyage to the Patagonian plateau will be unimpeded.

In front of them were three islands, and two attempts by the expedition to land failed due to swells and high winds. Tasman and Fishair convened a council of officers and decided that the expedition to find land would end there. The bow of the ship was pointing northeast, and the westerly wind was blowing from behind the port side.

Near 17 degrees south latitude, the expedition encountered an archipelago (Tonga) where the natives were so friendly that the exhausted crew rested for ten days.

After recovering his vitality, Tasman and Fishair discussed and gave up their plans to go east to the Americas for the last time.

In the reefs and rapids of the Fiji Islands, the expedition was almost as finished as the Spanish predecessors. The collision led Tasman to abandon his plans to sail west to the Torres Strait and the north-east coast of Australia, which was likely to be blown downwind by trade winds to the shores and reefs, which the Dutch least liked to happen at sea.

Tasman passed by with the honor of drawing out all of Australia. All the officers agreed to take the safest north-west course, using the eastern corner of the island of New Guinea as a marker, reaching a certain latitude in the north, and returning west to Batavia.

Perhaps it was a punishment from the gods, and for 12 days, the sky was shrouded in fog and clouds, unable to observe the sun, and the fleet lost its grip on latitude. In mid-March 1643, despite being close at hand, the Tasman had not discovered the Solomon Islands. For safety, the fleet was also far enough from the New Guinea coastline that nothing was found that should have been discovered.

After walking the island of New Guinea, you entered the territory of the Dutch, the waters of the Spice Islands. After a delay, Tasman cancelled his final voyage and returned directly to the Maluku Islands.

On June 14, 1643, Enzo returned to Batavia.

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