HocKB's.— Abel Tasman and Jiis Journal. 119 



and soon after his arrival in the settlement, under the com- 

 mand of Captain Matthys Kwast, who was instructed to 

 proceed through the Western Pacific to the Philippines, and 

 there to make search for the fabled Gold and Silver Islands. 

 These are now known as the Bonin Islands, east of Japan. 

 This was most probably Tasrnan's first voyage under the aus- 

 pices of the company ; at its close he sailed in the Indian 

 seas until 1612, and then commenced his great voyage of dis- 

 covery. 



Here it will be interesting to contrast the mode of present- 

 day sailing with that whereby those who went down to 

 the sea in ships in Tasman's time made their truly perilous 

 voyages. Now navigation has been reduced to a fine art, as 

 well as to a precise science — so fine and so precise that it may 

 be generally affirmed that disaster at sea is the result of care- 

 lessness, often of gross carelessness. Those floating palaces 

 which now cross the waste of waters in every direction are timed 

 to reach their destination with the punctuality and almost the 

 speed of a railway-train. A few days, or weeks at most, of 

 safe and pleasant travel now represent the weary months of 

 discomfort, dangers real and imaginary, and the scourges of 

 scurvy and dysentery which w^ere too often the lot of those 

 who led the way. All this was first rendered possible by the 

 invention of those instruments, the sextant and chronometer, 

 which now daily tell the sailor his exact position on the track- 

 less ocean. Add to these his accurate chart and nautical 

 tables, and what evil can befall him, unless through great 

 neglect or rare misfortune ? When undertaking early voyages 

 of discovery it was usual that two, three, or more vessels 

 should form the fleet. This was a precaution in all ways 

 wise, contributing as it did to mutual courage, safety, and 

 companionship. The commanders and officers formed a com- 

 mittee, or council as they termed it, and whenever any diffi- 

 culty or dilemma arose the members of this council were 

 summoned by signal aboard the principal vessel of the expe- 

 dition, and there decided what course was best to follow. 

 These occasions seem to have been frequent, as we can well 

 fancy. The vessels, with their high poop, high forecastle, and 

 round bows must have looked picturesque enough. They were 

 greatly foreshortened, too, for it was considered that a vessel 

 whose length much exceeded its breadth was absolutely 

 unsafe and not unlikely to capsize. Four or five knots an 

 hour was good average sailing ; much more frequently the 

 distance traversed in a day did not exceed fifty or sixty miles. 

 The tonnage of those early vessels varied much : some mea- 

 sured 300 or even 100 tons; but the perils of many a long 

 voyage were encountered in little vessels of no more than 

 10, 60, or 120 tons burthen. The dietary scale in Tasman's 



