326 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



Rosemary 

 Island. 



Are there 

 passages 



and 

 Eastward ? 



Hence Dampier sailed northward along the coast, 

 keeping at a distance, however, and believing that what 

 he saw was more probably a screen of islands than a con- 

 tinuous coast. He came to the " range of islands " that 

 is now called " Dampier's Archipelago." They all looked 

 dry, rocky, and barren. Dampier despaired of getting 

 water, but thought he might find " some sort of rich 

 mineral or amber-greece." But he found nothing of 

 interest save beautiful wild-flowers, and he named the 

 island Rosemary Island after one of the shrubs. But 

 the great multitude of islands, and the strong tides running 

 between them, were putting questions. Dampier was 

 sailing by Tasman's Chart, and was growing dissatisfied 

 with it. " The shore is laid down as all along joining 

 in one body or continent, with some openings like rivers ; 

 and not like islands as they really are." He concluded 

 that Tasman " came not so near the shore as his line 

 shows," and that his hard outline of coast was founded 

 on ignorance and guess-work. It is unlucky that the 

 loss of Tasman's Journal for the voyage of 1644 makes 

 it impossible to know what his answer to this criticism 

 would have been. Dampier, at least, could only see islands. 

 There might be continent behind them, but Dampier 

 doubted. All he saw from about 27 to about 20 looked 

 like " nothing but ranges of pretty large islands against 

 the sea, whatever might be behind them to the Eastward, 

 whether sea or land, continent or islands." His own guess 

 was that " here might be a kind of archipelago of islands, 

 and a passage possibly to the South of New Holland and 

 New Guinea into the great South Sea Eastward." It 

 was possible indeed, that " the high tides and great in- 

 draught " were " occasioned by the mouth of some great 

 river." But it seemed more likely that there was " a 

 channel or strait." It was impossible to make further 

 exploration, for there was urgent need of water. But 

 he thought that on his way home he might be able to seek 

 the Eastern entrance of the supposed channel, which might 

 be in the region of New Guinea, and to sail through it 

 back to Rosemary Island. 



