TASMAN'S VOYAGE OF 1642 281 



smooth water, so that there is no objection to following 

 it." It seemed to him that he had achieved the main 

 object of his voyage. His employers, the Governor- 

 General and Council, however, took a different view. 

 To them it seemed that the existence of the 'passage 

 had not been proved. If Tasman had run a few more 

 degrees to the South he might, not unlikely, have come 

 upon land again ; for Staten Land itself might extend 

 to Le Maire's Straits on the East of Tierra del Fuego, 

 and there was no information about the region between 

 the discoveries of Tasman and Le Maire. " All this," 

 they said, " is mere guess-work, and nothing positive 

 can be laid down respecting unknown matters." Tasman 

 had been " somewhat remiss " in his investigations, 

 and " as regards the main point, had left everything 

 to be more closely inquired into by more inquisitive 

 successors." * 



Tasman little expected these arm-chair criticisms. Search for 

 To him it seemed that he had been sufficiently inquisitive ^a^g^n 

 in murderous Staten Land, and that he had made a good the Solo- 

 voyage. He now determined to sail Northward for home. "' 

 Anyone who wishes to understand the incredible difficulties 

 of navigation in the Pacific at this time should read the 

 baffling account that is given in the Journal of this part 

 of the voyage. The plan was to call for water and refresh- 

 ments at Le Maire's islands of Horn and Kokus, and thence 

 to sail by way of the Solomons for New Guinea. But 

 though they had fair knowledge of their Latitudes, their 

 Longitudes were x a matter of wild guess-work. They did 

 not know where Le Maire's islands were ; they did not 

 know where the Solomons were ; and they did not know 

 where they themselves were. And on all these insoluble 

 problems learned skippers and pilots debated and reported, 

 as they groped a way through the huge, unknown, and 

 highly dangerous ocean. 



Their first object was to make sure that they were 

 to the Eastward of the islands which they sought. They 

 therefore sailed North-East, and, on the ipth of January, 

 1 Heeres' Tasman, p. 114. 



