222 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



The danger 

 of explora- 

 tion South 

 of New 

 Guinea. 



They sail 

 along the 

 North coast 

 of New 

 Guinea. 



Link 

 between 

 Quiros and 

 Cook. 



island, Fly island, Cocoa island, Water island, Horn island, 

 and the like in singular contrast with the saint-names 

 of the Spaniards. The islands answered so closely to the 

 descriptions of Quiros, that it seemed to Le Maire they 

 must already be near the Solomons, or the Bay of Quiros, 

 on the edge of Terra Australis. In fact, in terms of modern 

 geography, they were between the Fijis and Samoa. Le 

 Maire, the optimist, was eager to complete the discovery 

 by sailing Westward on a course which might have taken 

 them to the New Hebrides and to the Eastern coast of 

 Cape York peninsula. But Schouten, the practical sea- 

 man, declared the plan unsafe. A Westerly course would 

 bring them on the South side of New Guinea among 

 unknown and dangerous coasts. The route of Torres 

 was unknown. All would depend on the discovery of 

 the " uncertain " passage between New Guinea and Terra 

 Australis, and if they found no passage they must be lost. 

 The only safe plan now, so Schouten argued, was to sail 

 on a North-West course, in order to round New Guinea by 

 the North, and so reach the Moluccas. The argument pre- 

 vailed. Once more the search was abandoned. The Dutch 

 ships" sailed North-West on a course that took them along 

 the coasts of New Ireland, New Hanover, and New Guinea. 

 At length they came to Java, where Governor-General 

 Coen required them, by virtue of his commission from the 

 East India Company, to deliver up the ships and cargoes. 

 The voyage is memorable, in the story of exploration, 

 as the first voyage round Cape Horn, and as the voyage 

 that revealed with some definiteness of detail the long 

 North coast of New Guinea. It is still more memorable 

 as the Dutch link between Quiros and Cook. Like both 

 these seamen, Le Maire definitely sought for Terra Australis, 

 and, if he had sailed according to his wish, he would have 

 discovered the East coast of Australia. But in fact he 

 discovered only a few coral islands, whose geography 

 remained a puzzle to his successors. Nor did the voyage 

 lead to other voyages of discovery by this route. A 

 century passed before Roggeveen's endeavour to accom- 

 plish the task in which Le Maire had failed. For the present, 



