38 



moreover, that we find in him the spirit to render further good 

 service to the General Council on like occasions in searching 

 for rich countries and profitable trade." 



IV. — Tasman's later Years, 1644-1659. 



Tasman's failure to find what the Governor-General and the 

 East India Company wanted — immediate and profitable trade — 

 seems to have brought him under a cloud. He remained 

 at Batavia, but without any important employment. In 

 October, 1644, he and Frans Visscher laid down a route for an 

 expedition fitted out to attack the Spanish ships coming from 

 America to Manilla. But Visscher only was employed on the 

 expedition, and Martin de Vries in a subsequent one. Tasman 

 was passed over. 



Governor-General Van Diemen died in 1645, and with him 

 the era of great discovery expeditions closed. His successors 

 in the government were not animated by the same zeal for 

 exploration and adventure, but devoted their attention to strictly 

 commercial matters, and Tasman found small opportunity for 

 distinguishing himself. He was not wholly neglected. JJe 

 was appointed (2nd November, 1644) a member of the Council 

 of Justice at Batavia. It seems a somewhat inappropriate 

 post for a sailor, but the special functions allotted to him may 

 explain the appointment, for the resolution proceeds, " Commis- 

 sioning and qualifying the said Tasman to demand and search 

 for the journals of all incoming ships, and to report to us 

 therefrom what is proper." He still held this post in Decem- 

 ber, 1646, but this did not prevent his occasional employment 

 on more important and doubtless more congenial expeditions. 

 Thus, in September, 1646, we find him sailing as Captain 

 Commander in a mission to Djambi in Sumatra, and in 

 August, 1647, going to Siam charged with letters from the 

 Company to the King. He still kept up his relations with 

 the Home Country, as there is mention on more than one 

 occasion of his remitting sums of money to Holland. That he 

 was a man of good repute amongst his fellow citizens is 

 evidenced by the fact that in January, 1648, he was elected 

 an Elder of the Reformed Congregation at Batavia.* 



After four years of comparative inactivity, he was once 

 more entrusted with an important expedition. On 14th May, 



* The Church Consistory at Batavia was a body which exercised a great 

 influence in the Dutch East Indies. During 1 the time Tasman sat, as a 

 member, a subject much discussed by the Consistory was a proposal foe 

 the suppression of Chinese idolatry, the destruction of all Chinese temples, 

 and the punishment of file Priests. In April, 1648, the Consistory sent a 

 Missionary, Dr. Hambroek, to Formosa, where he was shortly afterwards 

 killed by the natives.— (Lauts, p. 290.) 



