First of all the natives of the bay paddled out to view his ships, and, falling on a boat's crew, clubbed four out of seven of the men.

Tasman's account--which I take leave to doubt--makes the attack senselessly wanton and unprovoked.
He tells how a fleet of canoes, each carrying from thirteen to seventeen men, hung about his vessels, and how the strongly-built, gruff-voiced natives, with yellowish-brown skins, and with white feathers stuck in their clubbed hair, refused all offers of intercourse.

Their attack on his boat as it was being pulled from the _Zeehan_ to the _Heemskirk_ was furious and sudden, and the crew seem to have been either unarmed or too panic-stricken to use their weapons.

Both ships at once opened a hot fire on the canoes, but hit nobody.

It was not until next day, when twenty-two canoes put out to attack them, that the Dutch marksmen after much more firing succeeded in hitting a native.