_Vianen_, one of the seven which returned to Europe under the command of
the Governor-General, Carpenter. In this year, the Dutch recital informs
us that the coast was seen again accidentally, in the year 1628, on the
north side, in the latitude 21° south, by the ship _Vianen_, homeward
bound from India, when they coasted two hundred miles without gaining
any knowledge of this great country; only observing “a foul and barren
shore, green fields, and very wild, black, barbarous inhabitants.”
This was the part called De Witt’s Land; but whether the name were
applied by the captain of the _Vianen_ does not appear. The President De
Brosses, whose account, however, is too full of blunders to follow very
implicitly, says, “William de Witt gave his own name to the country
which he saw in 1628 to the north of Remessen’s River; and which Viane,
a Dutch captain, had, to his misfortune, discovered in the month of
January in the same year, when he was driven upon this coast of De Witt,
in 21° of latitude, and lost all his riches.” The name of De Witt was
subsequently retained on this part of the coast in all the maps.
In Thevenot’s _Recueil de divers Voyages curieux_, 1663, is given an
account, translated from the Dutch, of the shipwreck of the _Batavia_,
Captain Francis Pelsart, in the night of June 4, 1629, on the reef still
known as Houtman’s Abrolhos, lying between 28° and 29° S. lat., on the
west coast of Australia. A loose and incorrect translation of this
account, is given in vol. i, p. 320, of Harris’s _Navigantium atque
Itinerantium Bibliotheca_ (Campbell’s edition), but a new translation is
supplied, in its proper chronological place, in the present volume. At
daylight, the shipwrecked sailors saw an island at about three leagues
distance, and, still nearer, two islets, to which the passengers with
some of the crew were sent. As no fresh water was found on these islets,
Pelsart put to sea on the 8th of June, in one of the boats which he had
had covered with a deck, and sailed to the main land for the purpose of
seeking for water. He found his latitude at noon to be 28° 13´ south.
The coast, which bore N. by W., he estimated to be eight leagues from
the place of shipwreck. It was rocky and barren, and about of the same
height as the coast of Dover. He essayed to put in at a small sandy bay,
but the surf and unfavourableness of the weather compelled him to keep
off the shore. He then steered north, but the abruptness of the shore,
and the breakers which he found along the coast, prevented his landing
for several days, till at length on the 14th of June, being then in 24°
latitude, he saw some smokes at a distance, and steered towards them,
but the shore was still found to be steep and rocky, and the sea broke
high against it; at length six of his men leaped overboard, and with
great exertion reached the land, the boat remaining at anchor in
twenty-five fathoms. The sailors, while busily engaged in seeking for
water, perceived four natives creeping towards them on their hands and
feet; but suddenly, on one of the sailors appearing on an eminence, they
rose up and fled, so that those who remained in the boat could see them
distinctly. They were wild, black, and entirely naked.
The search for water was unsuccessful, and the sailors swam back to the
boat, though much bruised by the waves and the rocks. They then again
set sail, keeping outside of the shoals. On the morning of the 15th,
they discovered a cape, off which lay a chain of rocks, stretching out
four miles into the sea, and beyond this another reef, close to the
shore. Finding here an opening where the water was smooth, they put into
it, but with great risk, as they had but two feet of water with a stony
bottom. Here in the holes of the rocks they found fresh rain water, of
which they collected forty gallons. There were evident traces of the
natives having been there but a short time before. On the 16th of July,
they endeavoured to collect more water but without success. There were
no signs of vegetation on the sandy level country to be seen beyond, and
the ant hills were so large, that they might have been taken for the
houses of the natives. The quantity of flies was so great, that they
could with difficulty free themselves from them. Eight savages, carrying
sticks or spears in their hands, came within musket shot, but fled when
the Dutch sailors moved towards them. When Captain Pelsart found there
was no hope of procuring water, he again weighed anchor, and got outside
of the reef by a second opening more to the north; for having observed
the latitude to be 22° 17´, his intention was to seek for the river of
Jacob Remessens near the north-west cape, but the wind changing to
north-east, he was compelled to quit the coast. Being now four hundred
miles from the place of shipwreck, and having barely water enough for
their own use, he determined to make the best of his way back to Batavia
for assistance.
Meanwhile, by a fortunate accident, one of them who had been left on the
Abrolhos chanced to taste the water in two holes, which water had been
supposed to be salt, as it rose and fell with the tide. To their
inexpressible joy it proved to be fit to drink, and afforded them an
unfailing supply. Captain Pelsart afterwards returned to the Abrolhos in
the yacht _Saardam_, from Batavia; but finding a shameful conspiracy on
foot, he was compelled to execute some, and two men were set on shore on
the opposite main land. In the instructions subsequently given to Tasman
for his voyage in 1644, he was directed “to inquire at the continent
thereabouts after two Dutch men, who, having forfeited their lives, were
put on shore by the Commodore Francis Pelsart, if still alive. In such
case, you may make your enquiries of them about the situation of those
countries; and if they entreat you to that purpose, give them passage
hither.”
Gerrit Tomaz Pool, or Poel, was sent in April of this year from Banda,
with the yachts _Klyn_, _Amsterdam_, and _Wezel_ upon the same
expedition as Carstens; and at the same place on the coast of New Guinea
he met with the same fate. Nevertheless, “the voyage was assiduously
continued under the charge of the super cargo Pieterz Pietersen; and the
islands Key and Arouw visited. By reason of very strong eastwardly
winds, they could not reach the west coast of New Guinea (Carpentaria);
but shaping their course very near south, discovered the coast of Arnhem
or Van Diemen’s Land, in 11° south latitude; so named from the governor
general Van Diemen, who was sent out this year, and sailed along the
shore for one hundred and twenty miles (thirty mijlen), without seeing
any people, but many signs of smoke.”
A short account of this voyage is given by Valentyn, in his volume on
_Banda_, p. 47, a translation of which will be found at p. 75 of the
present volume.
Abel Janszen Tasman, who, in the year 1642, had made the two great
discoveries of south Van Diemen’s Land—in these days more correctly
named after himself, Tasmania,—and of New Zealand, was again sent out in
1644, for the express purpose of examining the north and north-western
shores of New Holland. His instructions, of which we have already
repeatedly spoken, say, that “after quitting Point Ture, or False Cape,
situate in 8 degrees on the south coast of New Guinea, you are to
continue eastward along the coast to 9 degrees south latitude, crossing
prudently the cove at that place. Looking about the _high islands or
Speults River_, with the yachts for a harbour, despatching the tender
_De Braak_ for two or three days into the cove, in order to discover
whether, within the great inlet, there be not to be found an entrance
into the South Sea. From this place you are to coast along the west
coast of New Guinea, to the furthest discoveries in 17 degrees south
latitude, following the coast further, as it may run west or southward.
But it is to be feared you will meet in these parts with the south-east
trade winds, from which it will be difficult to keep the coast on board,
if stretching to the south-east; but, notwithstanding this, endeavour,
by all means to proceed, that we may be sure whether this land is
divided from the great known south continent or not.” Thus it became
part of Tasman’s duty to explore Torres Straits, then unknown, though
possibly suspected to exist. That they had unconsciously been passed
through by Torres, in 1606, we have already seen. Tasman, however,
failed, as will be presently shewn, in making the desired exploration,
and it was not till 1770 that the separation of New Holland from New
Guinea was established by Captain Cook. In the remaining portion of his
duty, Tasman fully succeeded, viz., in establishing the continuity of
the north-west coast of the land designated generally “the great known
south continent,” as far south as about the twenty-second degree. It is
greatly to be regretted that the account of this interesting voyage has
not been published. The Burgomaster Witsen, in a work on the migrations
of the human race, which appeared in 1705, gives some notes on the
inhabitants of New Guinea and New Holland, in which Tasman is quoted
among those from whom he gained his information; thus showing that
Tasman’s narrative was then in existence. M. Van Wyk Roelandszoon, in a
letter addressed to the editor of the _Nouvelles Annales des Voyages_,
dated 26th July, 1825, states, that many _savans du premier ordre_ had
for a long time sought in vain for the original papers of Abel Tasman.
One young, but very able fellow-countryman of his, had even made a
voyage for that express purpose to Batavia, in the hope that they might
be found there, but he unfortunately died shortly after his arrival at
that place. M. Van Wyk continues, “we still live in the hope of
receiving some of these documents.” This hope, however, was not
realized, and the efforts of the editor of the present volume, which
have been exerted in influential quarters for the same object, have been
equally unsuccessful. But, although we have to regret the loss or
non-appearance of any detailed account of this most important voyage,
the _outline_ of the coasts visited by Tasman is laid down, though
without any reference to him or his voyage, on several maps which
appeared within a few years after the voyage was performed. The earliest
representation which the editor has found anywhere mentioned, although
in all probability it was preceded by others published in Holland, was
on the mappemonde of Louis Mayerne Turquet, published in Paris in 1648.
It was also represented on a planisphere, inlaid in the floor of the
Groote Zaal, in the Stad-huys at Amsterdam, a building commenced in
1648. The site adopted for this remarkable map was peculiar, and
scarcely judicious; for though it gratified the eyes of the enterprising
burghers, with the picture of the successful explorations of their
countrymen, it exposed the representation itself to almost unceasing
detrition from the soles of their feet. This outline was also given in
the map entitled Mar di India, in the 1650 edition of Janssen’s Atlas, 5
vol. supplement. It also occurs in a large Atlas in the King’s Library
in the British Museum, by J. Klencke, of Amsterdam, presented to King
Charles the Second, on his restoration in 1660, and also in a chart
inserted in Melchisedech Thevenot’s _Relation de divers voyages
curieux_, 1663. From these maps it is apparent that it was from this
voyage that the designation of New Holland was first given to this great
country. In a map by Van Keulen, published at the close of the
seventeenth century, _a portion_ of Tasman’s track with the soundings is
given, but this also is without reference to Tasman himself. It has,
however, been the good fortune of the editor of the present volume to
light upon a document which, in the absence of Tasman’s narrative, and
his own original chart, is the next to be desired: viz., an early copy,
perhaps from his own chart, with the tracks of his two voyages pricked
thereon, and the entire soundings of the voyage of 1644 laid down. A
reduction of this chart is here given. It forms Art. 12 in a
miscellaneous MS. collection marked 5222 in the department of MSS. in
the British Museum. It bears no name or date, but is written on exactly
the same kind of paper, with the same ink, and by the same hand, as one
by Captain Thomas Bowrey, in the same volume, done at Fort St. George in
1687. It is observable, that in the preface to a work by Captain Bowrey,
on the Malay language, he says, that in 1688, he embarked at Fort St.
George, as a passenger for England, having been nineteen years in the
East Indies, continually engaged in navigation and trading in those
countries, in Sumatra, Borneo, Bantam, and Java. The twofold blunder,
both as to fact and date, contained in the sentence inserted in the
middle of the chart, “This large land of New Guinea was first discovered
_to joyne to y^e south land_ by y^e Yot Lemmen as by this chart Francois
Jacobus Vis. Pilot Major Anno 1643” is self-evidently an independent
subsequent insertion, probably by Bowrey himself, and therefore by no
means impugns the inference that the chart is otherwise a genuine copy.
The soundings verify the track, and show that Tasman regarded the first
point of his instructions as to the exploration of the “great inlet,”
either as of less importance or of greater danger than the subsequent
portion, as to establishing the continuity of the lands on the north and
north-west coasts of “the great known southern continent.”
[Illustration: Tasman’s Track]
It is worthy of remark, that the map by Klencke, already referred to,
leaves the passage towards Torres Strait open, while in the map here
given it is closed. The missing narrative of Tasman alone could explain
this discrepancy, or show us the amount of authenticity to be ascribed
to either of these maps; but it appears to the editor, that the track
laid down with the soundings, gives to the map here given the claim to
preference, while the very depth of the imaginary bight here drawn,
instead of the strait, throws it out of the line of exploration in the
voyage whose track is described. From the notes of the Burgomaster
Witsen (1705), we derive the only fragment of an account of this most
important voyage. From thence we gain the earliest information
respecting the inhabitants. The translation is given by Dalrymple, in
his volume on _Papua_. It is as follows: “In latitude 13 degrees, 8
minutes south, longitude 146 degrees, 18 minutes (probably about 129½
degrees east of Greenwich), the coast is barren. The people are bad and
wicked, shooting at the Dutch with arrows, without provocation, when
they were coming on shore. It is here very populous.”
“In 14 degrees, 58 minutes south, longitude 138 degrees, 59 minutes
(about 125 degrees east) the people are savage, and go naked: none can
understand them. In 16 degrees, 10 minutes south, the people swam on
board of a Dutch ship, and when they received a present of a piece of
linen, they laid it upon their head in token of gratitude. Every where
thereabout all the people are malicious. They use arrows and bows, of
such a length that one end rests on the ground when shooting. They have
also hazegayes and kalawayes, and attacked the Dutch, but did not know
the execution of the guns.
“In Hollandia Nova [a term which seems to imply that the previously
named plans were not supposed by Witsen to be included under the name of
New Holland] in 17 degrees, 12 minutes south (longitude 121 degrees or
122 degrees east), Tasman found naked black people, with curly hair:
malicious and cruel, using for arms bows and arrows, hazeygayes and
kalawayes. They once came to the number of fifty, double armed, dividing
themselves into two parties, intending to have surprised the Dutch, who
had landed twenty-five men; but the firing of the guns frightened them
so much that they took to flight. Their canoes are made of the bark of
trees: their coast is dangerous: there is but little vegetation: the
people have no houses.”
“In 19 degrees, 35 minutes S., longitude 134 degrees (about 120 degrees
apparently), the inhabitants are very numerous, and threw stones at the
boats sent by the Dutch to the shore. They made fires and smoke all
along the coast, which it was conjectured they did to give notice to
their neighbours of strangers being upon the coast. They appear to live
very poorly; go naked; eat yams and other roots.”
This fragment of description is meagre enough; but it is all that we can
boast of possessing. It is further remarkable that those who have spoken
of the part of the coast visited by Tasman in this voyage, have led
their readers into a misconception by attributing the discovery of the
Gulf of Carpentaria to Carpenter, and of the northern Van Diemen’s Land
to the governor so named. So soon after the voyage as the year 1663, we
find Thevenot printing as follows: “We shall, in due course, give the
voyages of Carpenter and Diemen, to whom is due the principal honour of
this discovery. Van Diemen brought back gold, porcelain, and a thousand
other articles of wealth; which at first gave rise to the notion that
the country produced all these things: though it has been since
ascertained that what he brought was recovered from a vessel which had
been wrecked on these coasts. The mystery which the Dutch make of the
matter, and the difficulties thrown in the way of publishing what is
known about it, suggest the idea that the country is rich. But why
should they shew such jealousy with respect to a country which produces
nothing deserving so distant a journey?” La Neuville also, in his
_Histoire de Hollande_ (Paris, 1703, tom. ii, p. 213), speaking of Van
Diemen, says: “This latter not only examined the coasts of this great
land, but had two years previously sailed as far as 43 degrees towards
the antarctic pole, and discovered, on the 24th of November 1642, a new
country in the other continent, which now bears the name of Van Diemen’s
Land.” Here the very details clearly expose the nature of the mistake,
since the maps and the instructions to Tasman shew his second voyage to
have been in 1644, and the discovery of Van Diemen’s Land in 1642 is
known to be his beyond all dispute. The fact is moreover confirmed by
the identity of the names given to the tracts discovered in these two
voyages, viz. those of the principal members of the council and of Marie
van Diemen, to whom Tasman is supposed to have been attached.
Prévost, in his _Histoire des Voyages_ (Paris, 1753, tom. ii, p. 201),
says that Carpentaria was discovered by Carpenter in 1662. We then find
De Brosses correcting this statement (p. 433) by saying, “the Abbé
Prevost ought not to have stated that, in 1662, Carpentaria was
discovered by Pieter Carpenter, since he was Governor-General of the
Company of the Indies, and returned to Europe in June 1628 with five
vessels richly laden.” He then quotes the above passage from Thevenot,
and continues: “Unfortunately Thevenot has not fulfilled his promise
respecting Carpentaria. That learned collector was engaged in preparing,
at the time of his decease, a fifth volume of his collection, of which
some incomplete portions of what he had already published were found in
his cabinet. From amongst these I have extracted the journal of Captain
Tasman, who discovered Van Diemen’s Land. There was, however, nothing
respecting the voyage of Captain Carpenter, nor that of the
Governor-General, Van Diemen, even if he had left one: at least, if the
manuscripts of these voyages were there originally, it is not known what
has become of them.” De Brosses concludes by saying that his researches
in private collections and in printed geographical works had been
unsuccessful in procuring further information on the subject. Subsequent
geographers continued to attribute to Carpenter the discovery of
Carpentaria, and many of them to Van Diemen the discovery of the north
Van Diemen’s Land. In Dubois’ work, _Vies des Gouverneurs Généraux_,
already quoted, which was compiled in Holland from the manuscript
journals and registers from Batavia, he says expressly, p. 82, in
speaking of Carpenter, who was governor between 1623 and 1627: “Some
writers attribute to him personally the honour of the discovery of
Carpentaria, the southern land lying between New Guinea and New Holland;
but this is without any apparent foundation, inasmuch as they fix this
discovery in the year 1628, in which year he returned to Holland, on the
12th of June, with five vessels richly laden, having sailed from Batavia
on the 12th of November of the previous year.” It should, moreover, be
observed, that no evidence has been adduced of his having been on the
coast at all, while there is every reason to believe that the
exploration of the Gulf of Carpentaria was not only “achevé,” as M.
Eyriès suggests (p. 12, art. 1, vol. ii, of _Nouvelles Annales des
Voyages_), by Tasman in 1644, but accomplished by that navigator for the
first time. It might then be asked how comes it that Tasman, who had in
both his voyages so largely complimented the governor Van Diemen, by
giving his name and that of his daughter Maria, to whom he was attached,
to various points of his discovery, should finally give the name of
Carpenter to an important gulf and tract of country, when the governor
bearing that name had left Batavia sixteen years before? The answer is
readily given. The Governor and Company of Batavia formed a local
administration under the presidency of the Company of the Indies at
Amsterdam, which latter consisted of seventeen delegates from the
seventeen provinces of the Netherlands. In the year 1623, in which
Carpenter commenced his governorship in the east, an event occurred in
Amboina which threatened to produce a war between Holland and England.
Some English officials, in concert with some Japanese soldiers, had
formed a conspiracy to kill the Dutch in the island and to gain
possession of the fortress. The conspiracy was discovered, and the
governor had the conspirators put to death. In England the governor’s
conduct was regarded as a piece of heartless cruelty. Mutual
recriminations ensued, and for several years a contest between the two
countries was imminent. After Carpenter’s return to Holland in 1628, he
was sent out as one of a deputation to London on this subject despatched
in the year 1629. He was also appointed president of the Company of the
Indies in Amsterdam, which post he occupied till his death in 1659. It
need, therefore, no longer be subject of surprise that Tasman should
have given the name of Carpenter, the president of the Home Company of
the Indies, to an extensive country and gulf discovered by him in 1644.
We cannot dismiss our notice of this important voyage, which thus gave
the name of New Holland to the great South Land, without quoting the
remark of Thevenot in the _Relation de l’estat présent des Indes_,
prefixed to the second volume of his _Relation de Divers Voyages
Curieux_. He says: “The Dutch pretend to have a right to the southern
land which they have discovered.... They maintain that these coasts were
never known by the Portuguese or the other nations of Europe.... It is
to be noticed that all this extent of country falls within the line of
demarcation of the Dutch _East_ India Company, if we are to believe
their maps, and that this motive of interest has perhaps made them give
a false position to New Zealand, lest it should fall within the line of
demarcation of the Dutch _West_ India Company; for these two companies
are as jealous of each other, as they are of the other nations of
Europe.... It is to be observed, that although the Portuguese possess
many places in the Indies, they are extremely weak, by reason that their
enemies are masters of these seas and of the traffic which they
themselves formerly possessed.”
The observation would seem to imply that Thevenot, a Frenchman, was not
wanting in the belief that these coasts had really been discovered by
the Portuguese before they were visited by the Dutch, while it passes by
in silence any thought of a claim thereto on the part of his own
countrymen, a point worth noticing in connexion with the evidence of the
early French manuscript maps of which we have already so fully treated.