13 



pushed out again into the great ocean further than any one 

 before them, to a distance of some 2000 miles east from Japan. 

 For two months longer they cruised backwards and forwards 

 in those far northern seas, between 37tj° and 46° north 

 latitude, straining their eyes in vain for some indication of the 

 golden island. They were in a wretched condition. Many of 

 the crew had died, and the number of sick increased daily. 

 The remnant were worn out with the hardships of the voyage,' 

 and barely able to do the incessant pumping necessary to keep 

 their leaky vessels afloat. Their provisions were running 

 short, and there was still no faintest sign of land. Dis- 

 appointed and dejected, the commanders and ships' council 

 reluctantly resolved to give up a fruitless search. On the 25th 

 October they turned their ships for Formosa to obtain refresh- 

 ment for the sick, and to refit. Taking the coast of Japan on 

 their way, they c;une to an anchor on the 24th November, 

 before Fort Zealandia, on the island of Tayouwan or Formosa, 

 then a Dutch possession. They had been nearly six months 

 at sea, and out of a crew of ninety had lost nearly forty men. 

 No further search was ever made for the wonderful island. 



In the following year Tasman made another voyage to Japan, 

 this time for the purposes of trade, as skipper of the fly-ship 

 Oostkappel (Eastchapel). The fleet with which he sailed con- 

 sisted of eleven ships, carrying freight valued at .£525,000 ; 

 The OostkappePs cargo alone was worth ,£80,000. This gives 

 us an idea of the value of the Japan trade. The Hollanders 

 were now the only Europeans allowed to trade with the 

 country. The Portuguese had for nearh r a century carried on 

 a most profitable trade, but their arrogance and intrigues, and 

 above all the proselytising zeal of the Jesuit missionaries — who 

 had made many thousand converts, and acquired an enormous 

 influence — excited the jealousy and hostility of the Govern- 

 ment. Christianity was suppressed. Foreigners were excluded 

 from the Empire, and only allowed to trade with Firando and 

 Nagasaki. In 1639 an insurrection led to a general massacre 

 of the Christians, and the absolute expulsion of the Portuguese 

 under pain of death. 



The Oostkappel arrived at Firando on 25th August, 1640, 

 and lay there for some three months. During her stay the 

 Dutch got into serious trouble with the Japanese Government 

 and were compelled to demolish their factory, which was too 

 much like a fort, to satisfy the susceptibilities ef the Imperial 

 Government. Mr. Lauts has given us the resolutions -of the 

 Council of the Dutch Factory at Firando in 1640. When the 

 Imperial rescript arrived, Tasman, in virtue of his commission 

 as captain of the Ooxthappel, sat as a member of the Council, 

 and signed its resolutions. The situation was most perilous, 



