Dutch Discoveries
In the Malay Archipelago and the Spice Islands both Portuguese and
Spanish were attacked by the Dutch, and gradually dispossessed from
the end of the sixteenth century onwards. The Dutch had established
themselves in the Moluccas in place of the Portuguese between 1604
and 1609, in which year the Portuguese were driven from the Nutmeg
Islands of Banda. The Hollanders were followed almost immediately
by the English. The merchant adventurers of both nations (who were
seamen, soldiers, and pirates at will) soon penetrated to the
western peninsulas of New Guinea and ousted the Portuguese from
Java, Celebes, and southern Timor, but at first made little or no
attempt to pass beyond Malaysia in search of the southern continent.
By the conquest of Malacca in 1641 the Dutch had become practically
masters of the Malay Archipelago, the Spaniards being confined to
the possession of the Philippines (which they administered from the
west coast of America across the Pacific),[44] and the Portuguese
only lingering on in the islands of Timor and Flores, while the
English had been expelled from the Spice Islands and Java, and
merely retained a precarious foothold in Sumatra. Encouraged by
these successes to seek for further lands that might be conquered,
settled, or traded with, the Dutch began to take up the quest for
the Terra Australis as soon as they were established as the masters
of the Moluccas and Banda.
[44] As a matter of fact, the Spanish really only acquired something
like mastery over the Philippine Islands at the beginning of the
eighteenth century. Up till that time the islands were mostly
governed by native chiefs, who paid tribute to Spain, and submitted
very willingly to the direction of the Spanish friars or missionary
brethren, who acquired considerable influence over the northern part
of the Philippine archipelago, where Muhammadanism was not in any
way established. The Spaniards never succeeded in finally conquering
the whole of the Philippines. This task has only been achieved by
their successors, the people of the United States.
In 1615 a bold Dutch navigator, JACOB LE MAIRE (of French
extraction), determined, in spite of the prohibition of the Dutch
East India Company, to find his way independently to the seas and
lands of southern Asia by way of the extremity of South America. He
sailed in company with another sea captain, SCHOUTEN, and together
they discovered and named Staten Island and the celebrated Cape
Horn, the southernmost extremity (a little island) of South America,
and since famous as the stormiest cape in the world's seas. From
this point they followed closely the coast of South America till
they got into equatorial latitudes, and then steered boldly across
the Pacific Ocean, either not noticing or actually not seeing the
many islands or islets that must have been near their course.
Apparently the first land they sighted was the north-east coast of
New Guinea, after which they got among the Spice Islands and thus
eventually reached Batavia, where they were so severely punished by
their fellow countrymen for their splendid adventure that Le Maire
ultimately died before he could reach Holland. Previous to this
date, however, the Dutch had evidently known something about the
Australian Continent[45] (of which it was generally believed that
New Guinea was a portion), and they no doubt derived this knowledge
from information given to them by Malay pilots, and picked up
from the Portuguese; for in a work published in 1598 by the Dutch
historian, Cornelius Wytfliet, the following passage occurs: "The
Terra Australis is the most southern of all lands, and is separated
from New Guinea by a narrow strait.... It is ascertained by some
to be of so great an extent that if it were thoroughly explored
it would be regarded as a fifth part of the world." There is a
tradition also that in 1606 a Dutch ship, the _Duyfken_ or _Little
Dove_, which was on its way from Java to the western part of New
Guinea, was driven out of her course by a typhoon and sighted the
north-east coast of Australia (Cape York Peninsula) as far south
as Cape Turnagain. Some of the crew landed, but were repulsed by
the savage natives. In the year following the arrival of le Maire
at Batavia, a Dutch ship, the _Eendracht_, under the command of a
navigator called Hertoge, or Hartog, by a similar cause was blown
out of his course and touched the north-west coast of Australia
at points now known as Shark Bay and Hartog Island. In 1622-3 the
_Leeuwin_ (Lioness), another Dutch vessel, penetrated along the
west coast of Australia about as far south as Cape Leeuwin. In
1623 an expedition, under a captain named CARTENZ, set out for the
Southern Continent and explored and named the Gulf of Carpentaria,
in north Australia, the name being derived from Carpentar, who was
then the Governor of the Dutch East Indies (the authority says
"West" Indies). Between 1622 and 1628 other Dutch expeditions, one
of them under PIETER NUYTS, explored the South Australian coast
("Nuytsland") as far as the Eyre Peninsula. But from here to Cape
York the east coast of Australia remained absolutely unknown till
the coming of Captain Cook.
[45] New Guinea (Nova Guinea) appears duly named on Mercator's first
maps of the world, published in 1569. On the other side of a narrow
strait (Torres Straits) is a jagged coastline obviously representing
North Australia.
ABEL JANSZOON TASMAN, the greatest Dutch explorer of Australasia
(his middle name was equivalent in English to Johnson), was born
about 1603 at Lutjegast, near Groningen, in Friesland, not far from
the modern German boundary. He was married twice, first when a young
man (the second time when he was twenty-nine years old), and about
the age of twenty-one joined the service of the Dutch East India
Company and started for Java. He revisited Holland in 1637 and
returned to the Malay Archipelago in 1638. Although he had started
in life as a common sailor he must have acquired a good education
by some means or other, for his journals show him to have been
possessed of a singularly beautiful and even handwriting, he was a
clever draughtsman (assuming the many sketches in the logbook to be
by him), and he had thoroughly mastered the science of navigation,
so much so, that soon after his arrival in the East Indies in 1634
he was singled out for work of importance and responsibility. In
1638 he made, in company with another commander, a remarkable voyage
of exploration to Japan along the coasts of China, and in 1642
he was selected to command the expedition which was to make such
important discoveries in Australasia.
His principal vessel, the _Heemskerk_[46], described as a yacht, was
probably of only 150 tons capacity; the second of the two ships, the
_Zeehaen_ (Seahen) was a third smaller than the _Heemskerk_. With
these two small ships he left Batavia (Java) on 14 August, 1642, and
sailed right across the Indian Ocean to the Island of Mauritius (the
home of the Dodo), then occupied by the Dutch, wishing, no doubt,
to take as wide a scope as possible for the discovery of the great
Southern Continent. From Mauritius he sailed east and south, and
did not sight the West Australian coast at all, his course trending
so much to the south that instead he crossed the great Australian
Bight[47] and first saw land off the west coast of Tasmania, in
the vicinity of what is now known as Macquarie Harbour. He at
once conferred on this land the name of Anthonij Van Diemen, the
Governor-General of the Dutch Indies, and the principal promoter of
this exploring expedition. He overlooked the passage to the north
(Bass's Strait), and directed his course southwards. On 25 November,
1642, the two ships came to an anchor off the west coast of Tasmania
for consultations between the commanders. On the succeeding days
they sailed round the south coast of Tasmania, and on 2 December
stopped again and sent a pilot in a pinnace with four musketeers
and six rowers (all of them well armed) together with another boat
commanded by an officer, and containing six more musketeers, to the
shore of a large bay (probably Storm Bay) to see if fresh water,
vegetables, and timber could be obtained. On the return of these
boats the officers reported that they found the land covered with
vegetation, but with no signs of cultivation. They brought back with
them various wild vegetable products which seemed suited for use
as pot-herbs, besides a good supply of fresh water. They reported
that they had heard certain human sounds, and noises resembling the
music of a trumpet or small gong, but they saw no human beings,
though there were notched trees, the notches having been made
with implements of sharpened stone, to form steps enabling persons
to climb the trees and take the birds' nests. These notched steps
(very wide apart) were so fresh and new that they could only have
been cut a few days before. On the ground they saw the footprints
of clawed animals and other traces showing that there were beasts
in the forest. In the interior numerous trees were observed which
had deep holes burnt into them, as if to make of them fireplaces and
shelters. They also saw smoke rising in clouds from natives' fires.
On 3 December a flagstaff was set up on the shore of Frederick Henry
Bay, and possession of this new land was solemnly taken on behalf of
the Dutch East India Company.
[46] The master of the _Heemskerk_ was Captain Yde Tjercxzoon
Holman, a Frisian from the Grand duchy of Oldenburg; and the
pilot-major, or principal steersman, was a very noteworthy person
in the expedition--Frans Jacobszoon Visscher, a native of Flushing,
who had made some very remarkable voyages round about Japan, and had
resided a good deal in that country.
[47] In crossing this bight Tasman was clever enough to surmise that
they must be passing to the south of the land discovered by Pieter
Nuyts in 1627 (the south coast of Australia); and owing to the
tremendous swell setting in from the south he felt sure that there
was no continent near him in that direction.
Then they sailed away from what they believed to be the southernmost
extremity of Australia, and on 13 December, 1642, they saw "a large
high-lying land bearing south-east ... at about 16 miles distance".
This was the great southern island of New Zealand,[48] but it was
encountered by Tasman at its northernmost extremity and close to
the North Island. He sailed, in fact, right into the gulf (then
named the _Zeehaen's_ Bight) between two islands, which finds its
outlet to the south in Cook's Strait. He overlooked this outlet
and believed the gulf to be only a great indentation. Ultimately
he sailed northwards past the west coast of the North Island to
its northernmost extremity, which he named Cape Maria Van Diemen.
At some distance from this were three tiny islets, the size of
which he exaggerated. He named them the Three Kings' Islands. On
18 December the two ships came to an anchor about a mile from the
shore, off the coast of what is now called Massacre or Golden Bay,
not far from the modern settlement of Waitapu. It was sunset, and
calm, and as the twilight faded they saw lights on shore and two
native boats coming towards them, the men in which began to call to
them in rough, "hollow" voices. This people also blew several times
on an instrument (probably a conch shell), the sound from which was
like that of a Moorish trumpet. The seamen from the ships trumpeted
back to them in reply, but when it was dark the native canoes
paddled back to the shore. Early the next morning a canoe manned by
fifteen natives approached to within a short distance of the ships
and called out several times. But the Dutchmen could not understand
their language, as it bore no resemblance to the vocabulary of words
used in the Solomon Islands, which had been collected through the
industry of Anthonij Van Diemen and supplied to Tasman with his
other instructions.[49] As far as they could observe, these New
Zealanders were of ordinary height, with rough voices and strong
bones, the colour of their skin being between brown and yellow.
They wore tufts of black hair right on the tops of their heads,
tied fast in the manner of the Japanese, but somewhat longer and
thicker, each topknot of hair being surmounted by a large white
feather. Each of their boats consisted of two long, narrow canoes
fastened side by side. Over these twin canoes were placed planks on
which the paddlers sat. The New Zealanders, though naked from the
shoulders to the waist, wore some kind of clothing (in contrast to
the nearly always naked Melanesians). This seemed to be made of a
stuff something like woven cotton, or else matting.
[48] Any sensible person looking at the map of New Zealand would
say that this Dominion was divided into two great islands, the
North Island and the South Island. But, ridiculously enough, the
great South Island is constantly referred to by writers on New
Zealand as the Middle Island, the term South Island being applied
to a (relatively) very small island just off the extremity of the
southern half of the Dominion, while the South Island is called the
Middle Island. It should really be known as the South Island and the
small island beyond it as Stewart Island.
[49] In noting this difference of speech Tasman unconsciously laid
stress on the great distinction between the Melanesian tongues of
the Oceanic Negroids and the Polynesian speech of New Zealand and
nearly all the other Pacific islands and archipelagoes south of Fiji
and New Caledonia and east of the Ladrones.
In spite of offered presents and friendly greetings these two boats
would not come alongside the ship. Later on, seven more canoes came
off from the shore, one of which was high and pointed in front. With
these nine canoes paddling round and round the two ships, and manned
by a number of able-bodied armed men, the Dutchmen became a little
uneasy, and the skipper of the _Zeehaen_ sent out his quartermaster
in a small boat with six seamen to advise the officers of the
_Heemskerk_ not to allow too many natives to come on board, if they
wished to do so. But suddenly the little boat of the _Zeehaen_ was
violently attacked by one of the New Zealand canoes, with the result
that one Dutch seamen was knocked overboard, four were killed,
while the remainder, thrown into the sea, swam back to their ship.
The natives then started for the shore, taking one of the dead
bodies with them (which they no doubt afterwards ate in a cannibal
feast). None of the shots fired from the _Zeehaen_ or _Heemskerk_
took effect. The small boat of the _Zeehaen_ was recovered, and
the two Dutch ships then set sail, despairing of entering into any
friendly relations with these people, or getting fresh water at this
place. As they sailed out of the bay they saw twenty-two canoes near
the shore, of which eleven, swarming with people, were making for
the ships. They kept quiet until some of the foremost canoes were
within reach of the guns, and then fired one or two shots without
doing much damage, though the natives at once turned their canoes
back, hoisted a kind of sail, and made with all speed for the
shore. "To this murderous spot we have accordingly given the name of
Moordenaers Bay."[50]
[50] Murderer's Bay, a name subsequently changed to Massacre Bay, or
Golden Bay--from the later discovery of gold in this region.
[Illustration: TASMAN'S MEN ATTACKED BY NATIVES OFF THE COAST OF NEW
ZEALAND]
On this same day, 19 December, 1642, Tasman bestowed on this
new country the name of Staten Landt, "in honour of their high
mightinesses the States-General of Holland". This name seems
really to have been bestowed on account of the much earlier
discovery by the Dutch navigator, le Maire, of an island off the
south-easternmost extremity of South America (Tierra del Fuego),
which Tasman seems to have thought to be the beginning of an
Antarctic continent, of which New Zealand was the north-westernmost
extremity. But after Tasman's return to Java the Governor-General
considered that the two regions were too far separated and distinct
to be parts of the same land surface; so he changed the named to
Nieuw Zeeland (New Zealand), in honour of the Zeeland (Sealand)
province of south-west Holland.
On 5 January, 1643, they attempted to land on one of the Three
Kings' Islands to fill their water casks before directing their
course once more across a wide stretch of unknown ocean, but the
heavy surf and the rocks made such an attempt too dangerous. The
natives, moreover, were very threatening, standing about on the
high land armed with long sticks shaped like pikes, and shouting
every now and again what seemed to be hostile utterances. So it
was decided to do without the fresh water, in the hope that they
might reach other islands farther north where it could be obtained.
Accordingly, on 6 January the two ships once more set sail across
the Pacific Ocean, directing their course as nearly as possible for
the Solomon Islands. On 19 and 20 January they sighted Tropic Bird
Island, and two other small islands, which they named Amsterdam and
Middelburgh. These were the southernmost islands of the Tonga or
Friendly group, probably those which are now known by the names of
Tongatabu (Amsterdam, "because of the abundance of refreshments we
got there"), Eua (Middelburgh), and Cattow.
"About noon", wrote Tasman on 21 January, "a small canoe with three
men in it put off from land and came near our ship. These men were
naked, of a brown colour, and slightly above the ordinary stature;
two of them had long, thick hair on their heads." The Dutchmen
showed white linen to these Polynesians, throwing overboard a piece
of 2½ yards. Seeing this, the natives paddled towards it; but as it
had sunk to a considerable depth under the water the foremost man in
the canoe jumped out and dived for it. He remained under water for
a very long time, but at last reappeared with the linen, and when
back in the canoe put this several times on the top of his head in
sign of gratitude. The natives then came nearer and received from
the ships' crews a few more presents, amongst which was a small
looking-glass. The Dutchmen then showed them an old coconut and a
fowl, and attempted to make enquiries about water, pigs, &c. At last
they understood, to a certain extent, and after returning on shore
a canoe came back with a white flag, the occupants of which were
painted black from the waist to the thighs, and wore necklaces of
large leaves. A white flag was fastened to the stern of one of the
Dutch boats. The Dutchmen filled a rummer with wine, of which they
first drank a little themselves, to show that it was not poison. The
Polynesians, however, drank the wine without hesitation, and took
the cask back with them on shore. Soon afterwards a great number of
canoes came alongside with coconuts, which they bartered for old
nails. Other natives swam the whole way from the land to the ships
with coconuts for trade. At last an old man came on board one of
the Dutch ships who was thought to be a chief. He paid reverence
to the Dutchmen by bowing his head down to their feet. They showed
him a cup containing fresh water; the native chief implied by signs
that plenty of water could be obtained on shore. Meantime other
natives had come on board the ship, and exhibited the same shameless
thievishness as had angered Magellan. Among other things they stole
a pistol and a pair of slippers. The Dutchmen wisely took these
articles away from their dishonest visitors without any display of
anger. Towards evening twenty canoes came up to the ship, making a
great deal of noise and crying out repeatedly: "Wu, wu, wu!" They
had brought a present from the king consisting of a pig, a number
of coconuts, and some yams. The Dutchmen gave as a return present a
common dish and a piece of copper wire.
The next day a quantity of canoes came off with coconuts, yams,
bananas, plantains, pigs, and fowls. There also came on board a
leper and a bearded woman. The natives were at first frightened by
the discharge of the big guns, but soon reassured when they saw
that no harm came from this noise. They were entertained with Dutch
and German music, at which they were greatly astonished. At last
the Dutchmen decided to send a party on shore to get fresh water,
and, although the natives seemed to be so friendly, they took the
precaution of adding a number of musketeers to defend the watering
party. Nothing disagreeable happened, however. Wells were pointed
out to them, and they were most hospitably entertained in what
seemed to be pleasure houses, where they were invited to sit down on
handsome mats. However, the amount of water supplied was perfectly
trivial. The next day the chiefs set their men to work to dig larger
wells, and the Dutchmen got all the water they wanted. Tasman noted
in his journal that the natives here had no knowledge of tobacco or
smoking of any kind. Neither men nor women went completely naked
(a characteristic feature of the Melanesians), but wore clothing
round the waist, which in the case of the women extended to the
knees, and was made of the leaves of trees. The women wore their
hair shorter than the men, and the latter, as a rule, grew beards
about 4 inches long, with very short moustaches, the hair of which
was kept clipped. No arms were worn by these people, and all seemed
peace and amity in their lives (the "Friendly Isles"). Starting
away again on 24 January the two ships passed through the rest of
the Tonga Islands, one of which, Nanuka, was named by Tasman the
Island of Rotterdam. On one of the islands of the Haapai group the
Dutchmen again landed to get fresh water. The party sent to the
beach reported on landing that they had seen about seventy persons,
apparently the entire male population of the island; they had no
arms, and seemed kind and peaceable, and there were many women and
children. Nevertheless, these people were very thievish, for they
stole everything they could lay hands on--men and women alike. This
was a characteristic of nearly all the Pacific islanders when these
lands were first discovered, and was a trait which gave rise to many
troubles between them and the European explorers, who did not view
this practice--not regarded by the natives as being very wrong--with
sufficient patience.
At the watering place they saw numbers of wild duck swimming, not
at all shy or afraid of men. On this island were noticed many
enclosures or gardens, with plots elegantly squared and planted with
all sorts of fruits and vegetables. There were groves of bananas
and other fruit trees, most of them growing so straight that they
were a pleasure to look on (to a Dutch eye enamoured of tidiness),
while they gave forth a most agreeable odour and fragrance. Though
the natives of these Friendly Islands did not seem to have any
well-defined religion, they were very superstitious. Tasman noticed
one of them take up a water snake which came floating alongside his
canoe, lay it on his head with reverence, and put it back on the
water. Above all, they had a great dislike to killing flies, though
they were so abundant here as to cause considerable trouble. Whilst
the Dutchmen were at anchor one of them had the misfortune to kill
a fly in the presence of a native chief, who showed himself greatly
angered and upset.
On 2 February the voyage was continued, the ships being now
well supplied with fresh water and fresh provisions. A period
of rough winds followed, and although the outlying islands of
the north-eastern part of the Fiji group (which Tasman named
after Prince Willem of Orange) were sighted, the weather was too
dangerous for any attempt at landing or investigation. Desirous
of reaching New Guinea, the course of the vessels was directed to
the north-west. It was not until 15 March that they sailed into
smooth water and sunshine, after many days of rain, fog, and rough,
south-westerly wind. On 22 March they saw land straight ahead of
them at four miles distance--about thirty small islands surrounded
by reefs. These, and others farther west, were little archipelagos
of minute islands to the north of the Solomon group and near the
great island of Bougainville. Probably owing to the very stormy,
thick, rainy, and misty weather, Tasman's expedition saw nothing of
the islands or islets of the Santa Cruz and New Hebrides groups, or
the Solomon Islands, very near to which he must have passed.
On 25 March, 1643, the two vessels anchored off one of these islands
of Oceanic Negroes. A canoe came alongside with a number of men
whose skins were nearly black and who went quite naked. Some of
them had their hair cut short, or wore feathers arranged like horns
on the top of their heads. One had a ring through his nose. They
carried bows and arrows. From another island on the following day
came off more of these black people, "with curly hair like that of
the Kafirs", but not so woolly, nor were their noses quite so flat
as those of true Negroes. They wore white bracelets, probably of
pigs' tusks. Their faces were daubed with lime, and a small piece of
tree bark was worn on the forehead. For arms they had bows, arrows,
and javelins or stabbing spears. At last Tasman got one of the words
of his Melanesian vocabularies recognized; it was the word for
coconut (_lamas_).
By 1 April the Dutchmen were sailing along the coast of New
Mecklenburg (then thought to be part of New Guinea). Already Tasman
had recognized islands and capes seen and named by his predecessor,
le Maire. Every now and again they anchored to buy coconuts. The
people who came off from the shore were black skinned and naked.
They seemed already somewhat acquainted with Europeans and their
ways and to be afraid of guns. They had little or nothing to sell
except the pith of the sago palm. Some of these people at a later
date (from the island which we now know as New Hanover) came on
board and were rendered very dizzy--"intoxicated"--by the motion of
the ships, though they never suffered from seasickness in their own
canoes. They brought with them a shark and some small fish.
Turning southwards after rounding New Hanover the expedition sighted
the real north coast of New Guinea, ignorant, of course, of the
fact that hitherto they had only been following large and small
islands now known as the Bismarck Archipelago. Off the north coast
of what is now German New Guinea they noted a volcanic island with
an active volcano, round which there were clouds of smoke. As they
coasted along New Guinea, touching at the islands for fresh water
and provisions, they observed that the black Papuan natives could
imitate whatever words they heard the Dutchmen pronounce, and were
remarkable themselves for the number of "r's" which their own speech
contained.
Tasman overlooked the deep indentation of Geelvink Bay, which makes
a jagged peninsula of nearly half Dutch New Guinea; and rounding the
Island of Waigiu his ships passed through the Spice Islands to the
Island of Buru, where he found himself once more within the limits
of Dutch influence. The two vessels safely regained Batavia, where
their crews were received with much honour and rejoicing. "God be
praised and thanked for this happy voyage. Amen", wrote Tasman at
the end of his journal on 15 June, 1643.
In the opinion of the Dutch East India Company Tasman's wonderful
voyage was too imperfect in its results to merit their complete
approbation, though he and his companions received a reward in
money for their achievements as "Southland Navigators". But it
was realized by the Council of the Dutch East Indies that the
actual configuration and extent of the Southland was very little
known on the eastern side, though there remained above all things
the important fact that a passage well within the South Temperate
Zone existed between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. In 1644
Tasman and Visscher started on another great voyage of discovery
for the special purpose of surveying the regions between what was
known of New Guinea and what was already placed on the map as Nieuw
Holland, or Nieuw Nederland. This region (New Holland) was only
what we now call Western Australia, and was thought perhaps to
be an independent island. Eastern Australia, which terminated in
Tasmania, was called Zuidland or Southland. If there was a still
more easterly Australia it was thought to be united with New Zealand
under the name of Nieuw Zeeland, and it was conjectured there might
also be a separate island to the south, which in that case would be
called Nuytsland. Tasman's first expedition had thrown no light on
the products of the countries behind these strips of coast line.
All these lands in the south might be of great value, or they
might be valueless, consequently much more detailed exploration
was necessary. The vessels told off for this expedition "for the
true and complete discovery of the Southland" consisted of two
large schooners or yachts, the _Limmen_ and the _Zeemeeuw_ (Mew
or Seagull), and a much smaller boat, _Bracq_, called a galliot.
On 29 January, 1644, these vessels started, "in the name of God"
and under the command of Tasman, assisted by Visscher and other
officers, including a draughtsman to make maps of the coast and
drawings of any remarkable objects or peoples. Directing his course
to the little Banda Islands south of the big island of Ceram,
so as to commence his new venture from the westernmost limits of
New Guinea, Tasman skirted pretty closely the southern coast of
that enormous island, sailing eastwards with the express purpose of
finding if it was separated from the mainland of New Holland by a
strait of water. In fact--knowing nothing of the previous voyage of
Torres--he was in search of the celebrated Torres' Straits, and yet,
amazing to relate, though he pushed his ships into the beginning of
Torres' Straits he allowed himself to be deceived, by the somewhat
numerous islands and islets which dot the waters of this not
particularly narrow passage, into believing that the gulf before him
was land-locked and not worth further investigations. The strait
is in reality about 140 miles wide at its narrowest. Nor is it so
thickly covered with islands as to be devoid here and there of far
sea horizons, suggesting the existence of wider waters beyond. It is
therefore very difficult to understand how Tasman can have allowed
himself to be so easly misled. It recalls the similar blunder which
so long impeded access to Canada, when Jacques Cartier and others
overlooked the Cabot Straits between Cape Breton and Newfoundland,
and laboriously sailed all the way north of the last-named territory
in order to get into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
[Illustration: Double Canoe of the Polynesians Simple Outrigger Canoe
THE TWO DUTCH SHIPS UNDER TASMAN'S COMMAND (THE _HEEMSKERK_ AND THE
_ZEEHAEN_) AT ANCHOR IN THE TONGA ISLANDS, PACIFIC NATIVES BRINGING
OFF SUPPLIES OF BANANAS
(From a drawing by Tasman)]
The rest of Tasman's voyage, consequently, is not of very great
interest to us as regards his pioneering work in Australasia. He
made a fairly accurate survey of the Gulf of Carpentaria and of the
northern coast of Australia (Arnhem Land), and passing to the west
connected this up with the West Australian coast, whence he sailed
due north to Java.
The rest of his active life was spent in voyages to the Philippine
Islands and Indo-China. He got into disgrace on one of these
expeditions by losing his temper and trying to hang several of
the seamen who had disobeyed orders. For this he was punished
in various ways, amongst others by being obliged to resign his
position as one of the elders of the Church. Eventually, however,
his affairs righted themselves, and he retained the respect of his
fellow countrymen in Java till the time of his death, which occurred
probably in the year 1659, at Batavia. In his will he remembered the
poor people of his native village, Lutjegast, in Friesland, and left
them out of his property a sum equivalent to about £10 each.
Why the Dutch should have discontinued their explorations of
Australasia after the return of Tasman in 1644 is not easily
understood, since their appetite for a colonial empire was
enormous. But, so far as records go, no further ships were sent for
a considerable time in that direction, and the Dutch interested
themselves a good deal more either in the settlement of South Africa
or attempts to secure a monopoly of the trade with China and Japan.
It should be mentioned, however, that in 1696 an expedition was sent
to search for a missing East India Company's ship which had sailed
twelve years previously from the Cape of Good Hope for Java, and
this expedition, under Commander WILLEM DE VLAMINGH, in examining
the West Australian coast for traces of the ship, made a far more
thorough survey of that region than had been effected by the chance
visits of Dutchmen in the early part of the seventeenth century.
It penetrated as far south as the Swan River (on which the West
Australian capital of Perth now stands); and de Vlamingh thus named
the river because on it he saw wonderful black swans, thought until
then to be such an impossibility that amongst Latin writers a black
swan was regarded as a symbol of improbability.
Previous to de Vlamingh's voyage, however, the West Australian coast
had been visited by an English ship in 1688, the _Cygnet_, a vessel
practically manned by pirates, though they bore the more polite
designation of buccaneers, and hailed from the coasts of Tropical
America, where they had been plundering the Spaniards. On board this
ship was a remarkable pioneer, WILLIAM DAMPIER, who held the post
of supercargo, and who spent all his spare time in examining the
natural history and native races of the regions he visited as an
associate of the pirates.