TASMAN'S VOYAGE OF 1644 293 



The Directors, who had hitherto urged a policy of explora- 

 tion, had changed their minds. The land of " Beach " 

 was not what Marco Polo had proclaimed. The dream 

 of Quiros had .been proved to be vanity and vexation. 

 The Company's New Netherlands was no second Peru. 

 It was a land as useless as it was huge, providing not even 

 food and water, and its people were beach-roving wretches, 

 the poorest in the world, and among the most malignant. 

 The prospect of trade and booty in Chili ceased to attract ; 

 for the Dutch West India Company regarded these things 

 as covered by their Charter. In short, the shoemaker 

 must stick to his last. The Company's business was trade, 

 and trade in the East. They already traded with " the 

 whole of India." That sufficed, provided that they main- 

 tained their monopoly. 



So Tasman's work in the South was finished. He Tasman's 

 was busy enough, however, in other directions. Governor- ate 

 General and Council had damned his second voyage with even 

 fainter praise than that with which they had damned the 

 first. But, on further thought, they were willing to admit 

 that he had " given reasonable satisfaction," and possessed 

 " the courage required to do additional good service to the 

 Company." They raised his salary from eighty guilders a 

 month to one hundred. He was employed to devise 

 a better plan for the waylaying of Spanish ships at the 

 Ladrones. He was made a member of the Court of Justice, 

 with the duty of inspecting the ships' journals, and reporting 

 on them to the Council. He planned better courses 

 for ships sailing" from Batavia to Ceylon, and to Manila. 

 He was sent to Djambi " to steal a march on our English 

 friends " by buying up pepper in enormous quantities 

 and at any price. In 1648 he was sent as "an intelligent, 

 experienced, and courageous leader," in command of 

 a fleet of warships, to " harass and injure our hereditary 

 enemy the Castilian " in the Philippines, the Moluccas, 

 and the Malay Peninsula. He achieved some " notable 

 feats " ; captured a Spanish fortress, intercepted a 

 silver-ship, and did considerable damage in the Spanish 

 islands. 



