237 



ward." An amazing proposal which, in terms of modern 

 geography, seems to suggest a voyage from Adelaide 

 Westward, then Northward, then Eastward, and then 

 Southward to Sydney and Melbourne ! 



The chief object of the voyage was to be the systematic 

 exploration and survey of this huge coastline ; and the 

 " Instructions " are a good example of the businesslike 

 thoroughness of Dutch methods. " You will have to dis- 

 cover and survey all capes, forelands, bights, lands, islands, 

 rocks, reefs, sand-banks, depths, shallows, roads, winds, and 

 currents, and all that pertains to the same, so as to be 

 able to map out and duly mark everything in its true 

 Latitude, Longitude, bearings, and conformation. You 

 will, moreover, go ashore in various places, and diligently 

 examine the coast in order to ascertain whether or no Dutch 

 it is inhabited, the nature of the land and the people, 1 n n e ^ lisitivc ' 

 their towns and inhabited villages, the divisions of the 

 Kingdom, their religion and policy, their wars, their rivers, 

 the shape of their vessels, their fisheries, commodities, 

 and manufactures, but specially to inform yourselves 

 what minerals, such as gold, silver, tin, iron, lead and copper, 

 what precious stones, pearls, vegetables, animals and 

 fruits, these lands yield and produce." One wonders 

 what it is that these Dutch seamen are not to observe ! 



Further they were to keep a " careful record or daily 

 journal," that the Company may obtain " due and per- 

 fect knowledge of the situation, and the natural features 

 of these regions, in return for the heavy expenses to which 

 she is put by this expedition." They were to give appro- 

 priate names to their discoveries, and were to " take 

 formal possession " by erecting a stone column recording 

 " in bold, legible characters the year, the month and 

 the day of the week and the date, the persons by whom 

 and the hour of the day when such possession has been 

 taken." They were to " endeavour to enter into friendly 

 relations, and to make covenants with all such kings 

 and nations as you shall happen to fall in with, and try 

 to prevail upon them to place themselves under the pro- 

 tection of the States of the United Netherlands." Articles 



