TASMAN'S VOYAGE: OF 1642 269 



left Mauritius on the 8th of October, having spent thirty- 

 three days there instead of the fifteen or twenty allowed 

 by Visscher's time-table. They were still, however, 

 in good time. His point had been that they must be 

 at work far South by the beginning of November ; and 

 on the 1st of November they were already in 47. On 

 the 6th they were in 49 4', which was to be their furthest The 

 South. The weather had not been as good as weather 

 should be in early summer. A few days before they had 

 been beset by " dense fog and darkness," that made it 

 " hardly possible to survey known shores, let alone 

 to discover unknown land." And now " the sea ran 

 very high, and our men began to suffer badly from severe 

 cold." This was discouraging. The plan had been 

 to sail as far South as 52 or 54. But now, on the 6th 

 of November, Visscher handed in a formal note advising 

 that they should make for 44, should sail along that line 

 of Latitude to the i5Oth degree of Longitude (i.e. the i3Oth 

 from Greenwich), then Northward to 40 S. Lat., then 

 once more Eastward to the 22Oth degree of Longitude 

 (the i6oth from Greenwich), whence they should make 

 Northward for the Solomons. 1 



Visscher's advice was accepted by the Council of Officers Tasman 

 on the Heemskerk. In order to get the opinion of those salls East ' 

 on the Zeehaen, the documents were enclosed " in a wooden 

 canister-shot-case duly waxed, and closely wrapped up 

 in a tarred canvas, which was set adrift from the stern- 

 part of the poop " ; and " those of the Zeehaen hoisted 

 the Prince-flag in sign of approbation." So, by the 9th 

 of November, they were in Latitude 44, and sailing an 

 Easterly course. It was noted that the sea was " still 

 running high from the South- West," which seemed to 

 show that there was no mainland in that direction. On 

 the 1 7th, they calculated that in Longitude they had 

 " already passed the South-land, known up to the present, 

 that is so far as Pieter Nuyts had run to Eastward." 

 There seems to have been no thought of taking advantage 

 of the permission that had been given to pick up the 

 1 Walker, p. 203. 



