338 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



The reasons. Thus, so far as action is concerned, the first half of the 

 eighteenth century was a period of singularly little interest 

 in our story. The Dutch had already discovered far 

 more than they could use, and thought that further ex- 

 ploration would be a mistake. " To reduce a continent 

 near three thousand miles broad," explains an English 

 writer in 1744, " is a prodigious undertaking, and to settle 

 it by degrees would be to open to all the world the impor- 

 tance of that country." The day of the Dutch as a pro- 

 gressive world-power was waning. They stood nervously 

 in defence of a gigantic monopoly, that was wonderfully 

 out of proportion to their numbers and their strength. 

 The day that was coming was the day of the British and 

 the French. But, in the early eighteenth century, British 

 and French were fighting out their rivalry in the Atlantic. 

 When America's question was settled, they would have 

 spare time for Australasia. Meanwhile the Dutch were 

 allowed another century's lease of their monopoly. 

 The growth And yet this period has an interest of its own an 

 of plans. interest that consists, not in voyages, but in the growth 



of ideas which led to voyages. 



Purry In 1717 and 1718 Jean Pierre Purry, a servant of the 



Duteh 868 a Dutch East India Company, wrote two Memorials, which 

 colony in urged the Company to found a colony in Nuytsland. 

 He po mte d to the enormous length of the country that 

 had been discovered in the South. There were five 

 or six hundred leagues from Edelsland to the islands of 

 St. Francis and St. Peter ; and who could say what lands 

 existed between these islands and New Zealand, another 

 six or seven hundred leagues away ? All this huge country 

 was in the best climate in the world. It must contain 

 many excellent lands, and the trouble would be to choose 

 the best. True, the country bore a bad reputation. But 

 all that was known about it was that the bare coast-line 

 was inhabited by ignorant savages. Of course, here as 

 elsewhere, must be deserts and mountains, but who could 

 reasonably say that the whole country was worthless ? 

 Exploration would probably show that it contained mines 

 of gold and silver as rich as those of Mexico and Peru. 



