A Voyage to Terra Australis. Matthew Flinders

islands" seen by Torres, at the 11th degree of south latitude, were the hills of Cape York; or that his two months of intricate navigation were employed in passing the strait which divides Terra Australis and New Guinea. But the account of this and other discoveries, which Torres himself addressed to the King of Spain, was so kept from the world, that the existence of such a strait was generally unknown, until 1770; when it was again discovered and passed by our great circumnavigator Captain Cook.

      Torres, it should appear, took the precaution to lodge a copy of his letter in the archives of Manila; for, after that city was taken by the British forces, in 1762, Mr. Dalrymple found out, and drew from oblivion, this interesting document of early discovery; and, as a tribute due to the enterprising Spanish navigator, he named the passage TORRES' STRAIT; and the appellation now generally prevails.

      ZEACHEN. 1618.

      ZEACHEN is said to have discovered the land of Arnhem and the northern Van Diemen's Land, in 1618; and he is supposed, from the first name, to have been a native of Arnhem, in Holland; and that the second was given in honour of the governor-general of the Indies.* But there are two important objections to the truth of this vague account: first, no mention is made of Zeachen in the recital of discoveries which preface the instructions to Tasman; nor is there any, of the North Coast having been visited by the Dutch, in that year: secondly, it appears from Valentyn's lives of the governors of Batavia, that Van Diemen was not governor-general until January 1, 1636.

      [* Hist. des Navigations aux Terres Aust. Tome 1. p. 432.]

      CARSTENS. 1623.

      The second expedition, mentioned in the Dutch recital, for the discovery of the Great South Land, "was undertaken in a yacht, in the year 1617, with little success;" and the journals and remarks were not to be found. In January 1623, the yachts Pera and Arnhem, under the command of JAN CARSTENS, were despatched from Amboina, by order of His Excellency Jan Pieterz Coen. Carstens, with eight of the Arnhem's crew, was treacherously murdered by the natives of New Guinea; but the vessels prosecuted the voyage, and discovered "the great islands ARNHEM and the SPULT."* They were then "untimely separated," and the Arnhem returned to Amboina. The Pera persisted; and "sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, to a flat cove, situate in 10° south latitude; and ran along the West Coast of this land to Cape Keer-Weer; from thence discovered the coast further southward, as far as 17°, to STATEN RIVER. From this place, what more of the land could be discerned, seemed to stretch westward:" the Pera then returned to Amboina. "In this discovery were found, every where, shallow water and barren coasts; islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations; and of very little use to the (Dutch East-India) Company."

      [* In the old charts, a river Spult is marked, in the western part of Arnhem's Land; and it seems probable, that the land in its vicinity is here meant by THE SPULT.]

      POOL. PIETERSEN. 1636.

      GERRIT TOMAZ POOL was sent, in April 1636, 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 supra-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; and sailed along the shore for 120 miles (30 mijlen), without seeing any people, but many signs of smoke."

      TASMAN. 1644.

      This is all that appears to have been known of the North Coast, when ABEL JANSZ TASMAN sailed upon his second voyage, in 1644; for the instructions to him say, that after quitting "Point Ture, or False Cape, situate in 8° on the south coast of New Guinea, you are to continue eastward, along the coast, to 9° south latitude; crossing prudently the Cove at that place. Looking about the high islands or Speult's 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. (Carpentaria,) to the furthest discoveries in 17° south latitude; following the coast further, as it may run, west or southward."

      [* The Great Inlet or Cove, where the passage was to be sought, is the north-west part of Torres' Strait. It is evident, that a suspicion was entertained, in 1644, of such a strait; but that the Dutch were ignorant of its having been passed. The "high islands" are those which lie in latitude 10°, on the west side of the strait. Speult's River appears to be the opening betwixt the Prince of Wales' Islands and Cape York; through which captain Cook afterwards passed, and named it Endeavour's Strait. This Speult's River cannot, I conceive, be the same with what was before mentioned under the name of THE SPULT.]

      "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."

      The Dutch had, by this time, acquired some knowledge of a part of the south coast of Terra Australis; of the west coast; and of a part of the north-west; and these are the lands meant by "the Great Known South Continent." Arnhem's, and the northern Van Diemen's Lands, on the North Coast, are not included in the expression; for Tasman was directed "from De Witt's Land (on the North-west Coast,) to run across, very near eastward, to complete the discovery of Arnhem's and Van Diemen's Lands; and to ascertain perfectly, whether these lands are not one and the same island."

      It is a great obstacle to tracing correctly the progress of early discovery in Terra Australis, that no account of this voyage of Tasman has ever been published; nor is any such known to exist. But it seems to have been the general opinion, that he sailed round the Gulph of Carpentaria; and then westward, along Arnhem's and the northern Van Diemen's Lands; and the form of these coasts in Thevenot's chart of 1663, and in those of most succeeding geographers, even up to the end of the eighteenth century, is supposed to have resulted from this voyage. The opinion is strengthened by finding the names of Tasman, and of the governor-general and two of the council, who signed his instructions, applied to places at the head of the Gulph; as is also that of Maria, the daughter of the governor, to whom our navigator is said to have been attached. In the notes, also, of Burgomaster Witsen, concerning the inhabitants of NOVA GUINEA and HOLLANDIA NOVA, as extracted by Mr. Dalrymple; Tasman is mentioned amongst those, from whom his information was drawn.

      THREE DUTCH VESSELS. 1705.

      The President De Brosses* gives, from the miscellaneous tracts of Nicolas Struyck, printed at Amsterdam, 1753, the following account of another, and last voyage of the Dutch, for the discovery of the North Coast.

      [* Hist. des Nav. aux Terres Aust. Tome I. page 439.]

      "March 1, 1705, three Dutch vessels were sent from Timor, with order to explore the north coast of New Holland, better than it had before been done. They carefully examined the coasts, sand banks, and reefs. In their route to it, they did not meet with any land, but only some rocks above water, in 11° 52' south latitude:" (probably the south part of the great Sahul Bank; which, according to captain Peter Heywood, who saw it in 180l, lies in 11° 40'.) "They saw the west coast of New Holland 4° to the eastward of the east point of Timor. From thence they continued their route towards the north; and passed a point, off which lies a bank of sand above water, in length more than five German miles of fifteen to a degree. After which, they made sail to the east, along the coast of New Holland; observing every thing with care, until they came to a gulph, the head of which they did not quite reach. I (Struyck) have seen a chart made of these parts."

      What is here called the West, must have been the North-west Coast; which the vessels appear to have made somewhat to the south of the western Cape Van Diemen. The point which they passed, was probably this same Cape itself; and in a chart, published by Mr. Dalrymple, Aug. 27,