On February 6th, being in 17 degrees 19 minutes
of south latitude, and in the longitude of 201 degrees 35 minutes, we found
ourselves embarrassed by nineteen or twenty small islands, every one of which
was surrounded with sands, shoals, and rocks. These are marked in the charts by
the name of Prince William’s Islands, or Heemskirk’s Shallows. On the 8th we
were in the latitude of 15 degrees 29 minutes, and in the longitude of 199
degrees 31 minutes. We had abundance of rain, a strong wind from the north-east,
or the north-north-east, with dark cold weather. Fearing, therefore, that we
were run farther to the west than we thought ourselves by our reckoning, and
dreading that we should fall to the south of New Guinea, or be thrown upon some
unknown coast in such blowing misty weather, we resolved to stand away to the
north, or to the north-north-west, till we should arrive in the latitude of 4,
5, or 6 degrees south, and then to bear away west for the coast of New Guinea,
as the least dangerous way that we could take.
It is very plain from hence, that Captain Tasman had now laid aside all thoughts
of discovering farther, and I think it is not difficult to guess at the reason;
when he was in this latitude, he was morally certain that he could, without
further difficulty, sail round by the coast of New Guinea, and so back again to
the East Indies. It is therefore extremely probable that he was directed by his
instructions to coast round that great southern continent already discovered, in
order to arrive at a certainty whether it was joined to any other part of the
world, or whether, notwithstanding its vast extent, viz., from the equator to 43
degrees of south latitude, and from the longitude of 123 degrees to near 190
degrees, it was, notwithstanding, an island. This, I say, was in all appearance
the true design of his voyage, and the reason of it seems to be this: that an
exact chart being drawn from his discoveries, the East India Company might have
perfect intelligence of the extent and situation of this now-found country
before they executed the plan they were then contriving for preventing its being
visited or farther discovered by their own or any other nation; and this too
accounts for the care taken in laying down the map of this country on the
pavement of the new stadthouse at Amsterdam; for as this county was henceforward
to remain as a kind of deposit or land of reserve in the hands of the East India
Company, they took this method of intimating as much to their countrymen, so
that, while strangers are gaping at this map as a curiosity, every intelligent
Dutchman may say to himself, “Behold the wisdom of the East India Company. By
their present empire they support the authority of this republic abroad, and by
their extensive commerce enrich its subjects at home, and at the same time show
us here what a reserve they have made for the benefit of posterity, whenever,
through the vicissitudes to which all sublunary things are liable, their present
sources of power and grandeur shall fail.”
I cannot help supporting my opinion in this respect, by putting the reader in
mind of a very curious piece of ancient history, which furnishes us with the
like instance in the conduct of another republic. Diodorus Siculus, in the fifth
book of his Historical Library, informs us that in the African Ocean, some days’
sail west from Libya, there had been discovered an island, the soil of which was
exceedingly fertile and the country no less pleasant, all the land being finely
diversified by mountains and plains, the former thick clothed with trees, the
latter abounding with fruits and flowers, the whole watered by innumerable
rivulets, and affording so pleasant an habitation that a finer or more
delightful country fancy itself could not feign; yet he assures us, the
Carthagenians, those great masters of maritime power and commerce, though they
had discovered this admirable island, would never suffer it to be planted, but
reserved it as a sanctuary to which they might fly, whenever the ruin of their
own republic left them no other resource. This tallies exactly with the policy
of the Dutch East India Company, who, if they should at any time be driven from
their possessions in Java, Ceylon, and other places in that neighborhood, would
without doubt retire back into the Moluccas, and avail themselves effectually of
this noble discovery, which lies open to them, and has been hitherto close shut
up to all the world beside. But to proceed.
Early Australian Voyages, 1886, John Pinkerton |
