MANUSCRIPT CHART OP TASMANIA. 411 



1643, it was quite possible for any Eng'lishman wlio may 

 have been there at the time to have obtained by some means 

 or other one of the charts, or a copy of one of the charts, on 

 board the Zeeliaan ; and it is Hkely enoug-h that he woukl 

 try to do so, to secure in the interest of his own country 

 such important information as it would contain. I know of 

 no other way of satisfactorily explaining- the English endorse- 

 ment on the " draught" and its existence in the old records 

 of the company that was just then establishing the founthi- 

 tions of its power in the east. 



I think it will be safe to go a step further, and point out 

 that in all probability this "draught" is not a copy but the 

 original, or one of the original charts made on board the 

 Zeehaan. I have called attention to the squares made upon 

 it, one of which is occuj^ied by the quadrant of the compass. 

 The squares were made to facilitate the ])lotting of the chart 

 from the compass observations, as is still done when parallel- 

 rulers are not used. No one copying the chart would copy 

 these squares, as they are of no further use when the chart is 

 completed, seeing that the lines forming them are not, as 1 

 have remarked already, coincident with the meridians or 

 parallels of latitude. Their presence on the chart is there- 

 fore evidence that the chart was made by their use, and 

 consequently is an original chart. And that it was made on 

 board the Zeehaan and not on board the Heemskirk is 

 evident from the fact that it contains features, such as the He 

 des Phoques, that were not seen from the latter vessel, as 

 they are not marked on the charts made on board of it. 

 This fact also makes it probable that the Zeehaan was much 

 further inshore than her consort while sailing northward 

 from the anchorage. 



Another probability is that tiie chart was commenced 

 before the Order of the Council held on the 26th November, 

 1642, with reference to the longitude to be adopted for a 

 new departure, was communicated to the draughtsman, as 

 that Order is not obeyed on the chart. If he was the official 

 draughtsman of the ship he probably made another chart in 

 obedience to the new instructions, and probably also the new 

 chart was that kept as the official record, li this were so, 

 it would greatly facilitate any Englishman's efforts to get 

 this " Draught of the South Land lately discovered," as it 

 would not then be considered as the ship's chart. The fol- 

 lowing is the Order of the Council as given in Burney : — 

 *'The officers of the Zeehaan are directed to mark in their 



